Mastering Facebook application development, using PHP, RAD, was, and DB2, part 1th

Installation Settings Component

Introduction: Develop a Facebook application using the PHP and Java™ programming languages. This tutorial takes you through a preliminary overview of Facebook and then steps you through the process of creating the components needed to create a Facebook application. Next, you'll learn more about Facebook, especially about how to integrate your application into your site. Finally, you complete the installation setup with an empty framework application as the beginning of the follow-up work. In the 2nd and 3rd parts of this series, you will learn how to develop the application that you created in part 1th.

Before you start

This tutorial is intended for developers who use PHP, the Java language, Javascript, HTML/CSS, and a relational database for Web site development and have some experience. They want to get a closer look at the development of the first-emerging Facebook app. You will learn about Facebook itself, the different combinations it provides for applications, how Facebook's applications communicate with each other, and how to develop useful and interactive behavior using Facebook's application interface.

About this series

This series of tutorials will enable you to develop your own Facebook application at the top of an existing Java enterprise:

In part 1th, you will overview the development of a Facebook application and will start with an application skeleton.

In part 2nd, you will use PHP and Java to develop a Facebook application to build the foundation you created in part 1th.

About this tutorial

In this tutorial, you will start building a Facebook application that is a stock brokerage company that allows users to manage their investments through Facebook. To make your application truly social, not just embedded in Facebook, you will also provide the option to invest in competitive games between users.

To give a more realistic technical scenario, you will assume that some of the applications are already written in the Java language, and that you will add the Facebook application in PHP and the Java language. You will perform some applications written in the Java language, use the IBM rational® application developer Java Environment, take websphere® as your Java EE application Server, and use the Facebook client library for Webspher Communication between E and Facebook.

You will also perform some applications written in the PHP language, service pages with the Zend Core engine and its bundled Apache 2, and use the Facebook PHP client library for communication with Facebook. This will give you the experience of using the Java and PHP languages so that you can make the right choice between the two, depending on your actual needs.

System Requirements

To complete the appropriate steps in this tutorial, you will need to install the following software. If you are not already installed, or do not have the latest version, please download the appropriate trial version:

Download a free trial version of rational application Developer. You will use the Rational application Developer as an IDE-enabled eclipse to develop your Java Web applications.

Introducing Facebook

In this section, you will first learn about the basics of Facebook before you install components and develop application development.

What is Facebook?

So far, few users have been isolated from the network. You can connect with servers around the world and get a lot of information. However, it is not enough that you communicate directly with other people online. Social networking sites like Facebook, the most popular of its kind today, have changed that. It allows users to create online profiles for themselves and easily reproduce their existing circle of friends. This creates a new pattern of communication between people. To make this interaction more social, applications embedded in dating sites provide a way to communicate. As users spend more and more time on social networking sites like Facebook, these sites already have the potential to become a new operating system.