Title: Dave's Replies | WordPress.org

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# Dave

  [  ](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zedrdave/)

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## Forum Replies Created

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Facebook] [Plugin: Facebook] Publish as Author Doesn't Stay Selected](https://wordpress.org/support/?post_type=topic&p=2810086)
 *  [Dave](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zedrdave/)
 * (@zedrdave)
 * [13 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/?post_type=topic&p=2810086&paged=3#post-2810289)
 * [@matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matt/): thanks for the prompt response
   and updated version (haven’t had the time to test it yet, but will soon).
 * Regarding my misgiving about the state of version 1.0, as I said, it might be
   a case of high expectations: as an official plugin (twice official, since I believe
   WP put some of their weight behind it as well), I would have expected a very 
   polished and full-featured plugin. As it is, I find it is geared more at increasing
   Facebook’s reach (by replacing certain functions that can be handled by WP locally,
   by their Facebook equivalent) and not as full-featured as one might expect. Two
   examples of what I mean:
 * – The post-as-author (and I suspect all other publish actions) merely submit 
   the URL to the post, without providing specific data (such as a summary taken
   from the WP summary field, or a specific thumbnail)…
 * – The Facebook login to comment, apparently shuts down the WP commenting system
   altogether (and do not save them to the DB), meaning that if/when the FB plugin
   is turned off, all such comments disappear…
 * That and the near-absence of user-feedback throughout the code, such as when 
   an API error occurs (hopefully fixed with this update). I must admit that having
   to spend a couple hours debugging the problem and waddling through code where
   exceptions are basically caught and discarded, did not put me in a particularly
   benevolent mood toward the plugin.
 * With this, I hope this update and the next will address this type of problems
   and eagerly await future versions…
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Facebook] [Plugin: Facebook] 'Publish to author's Timeline' checkbox goes 'unchecked'](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-to-authors-timeline-checkbox-goes-unchecked-by-itself/)
 *  [Dave](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zedrdave/)
 * (@zedrdave)
 * [13 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-to-authors-timeline-checkbox-goes-unchecked-by-itself/#post-2826978)
 * [@crego3d](https://wordpress.org/support/users/crego3d/): I was able to fix the
   bug myself. Feel free to take a stab at it yourself:
 * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-as-author-doesnt-stay-selected?replies=27#post-2909243](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-as-author-doesnt-stay-selected?replies=27#post-2909243)
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Facebook] [Plugin: Facebook] Publish as Author Doesn't Stay Selected](https://wordpress.org/support/?post_type=topic&p=2810086)
 *  [Dave](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zedrdave/)
 * (@zedrdave)
 * [13 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/?post_type=topic&p=2810086&paged=2#post-2810269)
 * Ran in exact same issues after double-checking all the set-up a dozen times (
   + disabling all other plugins etc)…
 * I spent half my morning debugging this PoS of a plugin and here are the results(
   ongoing work):
 * • Checkbox gets unticked because the morons who programmed this plugin decided
   it was the appropriate response, when the posting fails due to an API error. 
   Instead of, you know, **displaying a freaking error message**.
 * • Posting fails because the plugin uses what appears to be outdated API specs.
   Gory details for debug-minded people:
    – WP’s implementation of `makeRequest`
   throws a mysterious ‘400 HTTP’ error. – when running the same query manually,
   Facebook API returns code ‘2500’: `Unknown path components: \/`_my-app-id_`:publish`–
   manually changing the API parameter to replace `/<em>my-app-id</em>:publish` 
   by `news.publishes` successfully posts. – haven’t yet figured an easy way to 
   change that in the plugin itself…
 * Either way, it looks like FB devs cannot seem to keep up with their own API.
 * **Update: THE FIX**
 * Following bit of code-tinkering did the trick for me (until FB breaks their API
   compatibility again, I guess). Use at your own risk.
 * – Edit file `fb-social-publisher.php`
    – Around line 344, replace:
 * `$publish_result = $facebook->api('/me/' . $options["app_namespace"] . ':publish','
   POST', array('message' => $author_message, 'article' => get_permalink($post_id)));`
 * By:
 * `$publish_result = $facebook->api('/me/' . 'news.publishes', 'POST', array('message'
   => $author_message, 'article' => get_permalink($post_id)));`
 * – Of course, you still need to have added the action to Open Graph in your FB
   app settings (follow the plugin instructions, except you need to create a ‘Publish
   + article’ action).
 * I suspect a similar fix can be done for the post-to-page function, but do not
   use it and do not really have the time to debug this too.
 * Incidentally: the publishing function of this plugin is quite poor: doesn’t bother
   posting a summary or suggesting a thumbnail… I threw away my own custom FB-posting
   plugin, thinking the official one would be better-supported and more advanced:
   bitter disappointment there.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Facebook] [Plugin: Facebook] 'Publish to author's Timeline' checkbox goes 'unchecked'](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-to-authors-timeline-checkbox-goes-unchecked-by-itself/)
 *  [Dave](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zedrdave/)
 * (@zedrdave)
 * [13 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-facebook-publish-to-authors-timeline-checkbox-goes-unchecked-by-itself/#post-2826914)
 * This is one of the (many) moronic bits of unexplained behaviour I understood 
   by looking at the code (presumably trying to debug the same problem as you have):
   when the plugin fails to post to the feed (i.e. gets an API error from Facebook),
   it silently disables feed posting. And doesn’t give you any other sort of information.
 * After a couple hours, looking through the code and debugging the API, my impression
   is that the current plugin uses outdated calls to their own API (???).
 * I can’t believe this is supposed to be an official plugin.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)