Facebooker talk - Mar 2008 - Setting :canvas => false for URL generation doesn''t always work?

I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code that point to our
main
site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way to do this was to
use ":canvas => false" as a parameter to url_for and link_to and so
on.
 However, that doesn''t seem to generate the proper URL''s.  The
URL''s still
point to apps.facebook.com (because they don''t have a host/are
relative).
 Interestingly, if I use a named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then
it generates the proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true,
it sets it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it into
account).

I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I have a fix, but
I''m
not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just solving the symptom or
improper use
on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change
 Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in
facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to
look like this:


    def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
      option_override = options[:canvas]
      if option_override == false # important to check for false. nil should
use default behavior
        options[:only_path] = false
        RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to false"
        return false
      end
      option_override || @request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] ==
"1" ||
 @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
    end


The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add the
"only_path" option and set it to false.


I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the Publisher class, but
I''ll
bring that up separately, as it''s a different kind of issue.

-- 
Christopher Bailey
Cobalt Edge LLC
http://cobaltedge.com
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This is a problem that comes because the developer (me) doesn''t use  
url_for. I''ve used named routes only for more than a year now.

What version of rails are you using? That''s probably the first thing  
we''ll need to track this down. Also, any sample code would be helpful,
especially if you can make it fail in a test.

Mike


On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:12 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
> I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code that point
to
> our main site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way to  
> do this was to use ":canvas => false" as a parameter to
url_for and
> link_to and so on.  However, that doesn''t seem to generate the  
> proper URL''s.  The URL''s still point to apps.facebook.com
(because
> they don''t have a host/are relative).  Interestingly, if I use a  
> named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then it generates the  
> proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true, it sets  
> it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it into
account).
>
>
> I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I have a fix,
> but I''m not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just solving
the symptom
> or improper use on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change   
> Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in  
> facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to look like this:
>
>
>     def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
>       option_override = options[:canvas]
>       if option_override == false # important to check for false.  
> nil should use default behavior
>         options[:only_path] = false
>         RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to
false"
>         return false
>       end
>       option_override || @request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"]
==
> "1" ||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
>     end
>
>
> The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add the  
> "only_path" option and set it to false.
>
>
> I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the Publisher
class,
> but I''ll bring that up separately, as it''s a different
kind of issue.
>
> -- 
> Christopher Bailey
> Cobalt Edge LLC
> http://cobaltedge.com
> _______________________________________________
> Facebooker-talk mailing list
> Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
--
Mike Mangino
http://www.elevatedrails.com

:canvas => true/false will not work in any version of rails  
if :only_path => true. The rails docs state that by default url_for  
sets :only_path => true. So if you wanted url_for to give you a full  
url and not a path you would have to do url_for(blah, :only_path =>  
false). And if you wanted to use :canvas you''d have to do  
url_for(blah, :only_path => false, :canvas => true/false).

Since canvas only correctly when :only_path => false, it might make  
sense to check if :canvas is not nil and then set :only_path => false.  
Although, that has the side effect of having something_path(:canvas =>  
true/false) return a fully qualified url instead of a path.

If it is decided that have something_path(:canvas => true/false)  
return a url instead of path is better than having to explicitly  
set :only_path => false when using url_for with :canvas then the  
method should probably look more like the following, since you will  
want the host to be added both when 1) linking to a facebook url from  
a non facebook page and 2) linking to a non facebook url from a  
facebook page.

def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
      option_override = options[:canvas]
      options[:only_path] = false if !option_override.nil?
      if option_override == false # important to check for false. nil  
should use default behavior
        return false
      end
      option_override || @request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] ==   
"1" ||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
end

Michael Niessner

On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:43 PM, Mike Mangino wrote:
> This is a problem that comes because the developer (me) doesn''t
use
> url_for. I''ve used named routes only for more than a year now.
>
> What version of rails are you using? That''s probably the first
thing
> we''ll need to track this down. Also, any sample code would be
helpful,
> especially if you can make it fail in a test.
>
> Mike
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:12 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
>
>> I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code that
point to
>> our main site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way to
>> do this was to use ":canvas => false" as a parameter to
url_for and
>> link_to and so on.  However, that doesn''t seem to generate the
>> proper URL''s.  The URL''s still point to
apps.facebook.com (because
>> they don''t have a host/are relative).  Interestingly, if I use
a
>> named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then it generates the
>> proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true, it sets
>> it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it into
account).
>>
>>
>> I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I have a
fix,
>> but I''m not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just
solving the symptom
>> or improper use on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change
>> Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in
>> facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to look like this:
>>
>>
>>    def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
>>      option_override = options[:canvas]
>>      if option_override == false # important to check for false.
>> nil should use default behavior
>>        options[:only_path] = false
>>        RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to
false"
>>        return false
>>      end
>>      option_override ||
@request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] =>> "1" || 
@request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
>>    end
>>
>>
>> The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add the
>> "only_path" option and set it to false.
>>
>>
>> I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the Publisher
class,
>> but I''ll bring that up separately, as it''s a
different kind of issue.
>>
>> -- 
>> Christopher Bailey
>> Cobalt Edge LLC
>> http://cobaltedge.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Facebooker-talk mailing list
>> Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
>> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
>
> --
> Mike Mangino
> http://www.elevatedrails.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Facebooker-talk mailing list
> Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk

I figured that might be the case (devs only use named routes).  Named routes
are awesome, but simply not practical for our app (think thousands of
routes).  We are using Rails 1.2.3, and I will be moving up to Rails 2 when
I can, but that is not a small task, and I was hoping to get the Facebook
implementation done first (although the more I run into these things, the
more I start to think about spiking on the Rails update).

The behavior, at least as far as I can tell, actually makes sense.  If you
don''t specify the only_path = false aspect, it defaults to true as per
Rails
docs, so of course it''s not going to put the full host in there, and
thus a
relative path is going to resolve to apps.facebook.com.


I''ll see if I can''t put a simple test case together and submit
that so you
have something.  I''m wondering what other folks have seen who may be
using
url_for or link_to, if anyone is.  If folks are doing Facebook only apps,
then it''s something they won''t have come across, but for these
apps that are
their own site, as well as have the Facebook portion integrated into that
same web app, it''s an issue.


Thanks for discussing.

On 3/5/08, Mike Mangino <mmangino at elevatedrails.com>
wrote:
>
> This is a problem that comes because the developer (me) doesn''t
use
> url_for. I''ve used named routes only for more than a year now.
>
> What version of rails are you using? That''s probably the first
thing
> we''ll need to track this down. Also, any sample code would be
helpful,
> especially if you can make it fail in a test.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:12 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
>
> > I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code that
point to
> > our main site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way to
> > do this was to use ":canvas => false" as a parameter to
url_for and
> > link_to and so on.  However, that doesn''t seem to generate
the
> > proper URL''s.  The URL''s still point to
apps.facebook.com (because
> > they don''t have a host/are relative).  Interestingly, if I
use a
> > named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then it generates the
> > proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true, it sets
> > it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it into
account).
> >
> >
> > I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I have a
fix,
> > but I''m not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just
solving the symptom
> > or improper use on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change
> > Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in
> > facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to look like this:
> >
> >
> >     def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
> >       option_override = options[:canvas]
> >       if option_override == false # important to check for false.
> > nil should use default behavior
> >         options[:only_path] = false
> >         RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to
false"
> >         return false
> >       end
> >       option_override ||
@request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] => > "1" || 
@request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
> >     end
> >
> >
> > The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add the
> > "only_path" option and set it to false.
> >
> >
> > I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the Publisher
class,
> > but I''ll bring that up separately, as it''s a
different kind of issue.
> >
> > --
> > Christopher Bailey
> > Cobalt Edge LLC
> > http://cobaltedge.com
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Facebooker-talk mailing list
> > Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
>
>
> --
> Mike Mangino
> http://www.elevatedrails.com
>
>
>

-- 
Christopher Bailey
Cobalt Edge LLC
http://cobaltedge.com
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Michael, good point - I will likely at some point want to link directly into
our FB app from the product as well (right now I only link to the FB app
itself, so fairly straight forward).  Thanks!

On 3/5/08, Michael Niessner <mniessner at elevatedrails.com>
wrote:
>
> :canvas => true/false will not work in any version of rails
> if :only_path => true. The rails docs state that by default url_for
> sets :only_path => true. So if you wanted url_for to give you a full
> url and not a path you would have to do url_for(blah, :only_path =>
> false). And if you wanted to use :canvas you''d have to do
> url_for(blah, :only_path => false, :canvas => true/false).
>
> Since canvas only correctly when :only_path => false, it might make
> sense to check if :canvas is not nil and then set :only_path => false.
> Although, that has the side effect of having something_path(:canvas =>
> true/false) return a fully qualified url instead of a path.
>
> If it is decided that have something_path(:canvas => true/false)
> return a url instead of path is better than having to explicitly
> set :only_path => false when using url_for with :canvas then the
> method should probably look more like the following, since you will
> want the host to be added both when 1) linking to a facebook url from
> a non facebook page and 2) linking to a non facebook url from a
> facebook page.
>
>
> def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
>       option_override = options[:canvas]
>
>       options[:only_path] = false if !option_override.nil?
>
>       if option_override == false # important to check for false. nil
> should use default behavior
>
>         return false
>       end
>       option_override || @request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"]
=> "1" ||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
> end
>
>
> Michael Niessner
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:43 PM, Mike Mangino wrote:
>
> > This is a problem that comes because the developer (me)
doesn''t use
> > url_for. I''ve used named routes only for more than a year
now.
> >
> > What version of rails are you using? That''s probably the
first thing
> > we''ll need to track this down. Also, any sample code would be
helpful,
> > especially if you can make it fail in a test.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> > On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:12 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
> >
> >> I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code
that point to
> >> our main site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way
to
> >> do this was to use ":canvas => false" as a parameter
to url_for and
> >> link_to and so on.  However, that doesn''t seem to
generate the
> >> proper URL''s.  The URL''s still point to
apps.facebook.com (because
> >> they don''t have a host/are relative).  Interestingly, if
I use a
> >> named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then it generates
the
> >> proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true, it
sets
> >> it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it
into account).
> >>
> >>
> >> I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I
have a fix,
> >> but I''m not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just
solving the symptom
> >> or improper use on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change
> >> Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in
> >> facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to look like this:
> >>
> >>
> >>    def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
> >>      option_override = options[:canvas]
> >>      if option_override == false # important to check for false.
> >> nil should use default behavior
> >>        options[:only_path] = false
> >>        RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to
false"
> >>        return false
> >>      end
> >>      option_override ||
@request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] => >> "1"
||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
> >>    end
> >>
> >>
> >> The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add
the
> >> "only_path" option and set it to false.
> >>
> >>
> >> I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the
Publisher class,
> >> but I''ll bring that up separately, as it''s a
different kind of issue.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Christopher Bailey
> >> Cobalt Edge LLC
> >> http://cobaltedge.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Facebooker-talk mailing list
> >> Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> >> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
> >
> > --
> > Mike Mangino
> > http://www.elevatedrails.com
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Facebooker-talk mailing list
> > Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
>
>

-- 
Christopher Bailey
Cobalt Edge LLC
http://cobaltedge.com
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If you find yourself always setting only_path to false, you can always  
set this as a default_url_option.

We should definitely add that to the docs.

Mike

On Mar 5, 2008, at 10:07 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
> Michael, good point - I will likely at some point want to link  
> directly into our FB app from the product as well (right now I only  
> link to the FB app itself, so fairly straight forward).  Thanks!
>
> On 3/5/08, Michael Niessner <mniessner at elevatedrails.com>  
> wrote: :canvas => true/false will not work in any version of rails
> if :only_path => true. The rails docs state that by default url_for
> sets :only_path => true. So if you wanted url_for to give you a full
> url and not a path you would have to do url_for(blah, :only_path =>
> false). And if you wanted to use :canvas you''d have to do
> url_for(blah, :only_path => false, :canvas => true/false).
>
> Since canvas only correctly when :only_path => false, it might make
> sense to check if :canvas is not nil and then set :only_path => false.
> Although, that has the side effect of having something_path(:canvas =>
> true/false) return a fully qualified url instead of a path.
>
> If it is decided that have something_path(:canvas => true/false)
> return a url instead of path is better than having to explicitly
> set :only_path => false when using url_for with :canvas then the
> method should probably look more like the following, since you will
> want the host to be added both when 1) linking to a facebook url from
> a non facebook page and 2) linking to a non facebook url from a
> facebook page.
>
>
> def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
>       option_override = options[:canvas]
>
>       options[:only_path] = false if !option_override.nil?
>
>       if option_override == false # important to check for false. nil
> should use default behavior
>
>         return false
>       end
>       option_override || @request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"]
=> "1" ||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
> end
>
>
> Michael Niessner
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:43 PM, Mike Mangino wrote:
>
> > This is a problem that comes because the developer (me)
doesn''t use
> > url_for. I''ve used named routes only for more than a year
now.
> >
> > What version of rails are you using? That''s probably the
first thing
> > we''ll need to track this down. Also, any sample code would be
> helpful,
> > especially if you can make it fail in a test.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> > On Mar 5, 2008, at 7:12 PM, Christopher Bailey wrote:
> >
> >> I generate a lot of URL''s in my Facebook related code
that point to
> >> our main site, not our FB app.  My understanding was that the way
> to
> >> do this was to use ":canvas => false" as a parameter
to url_for and
> >> link_to and so on.  However, that doesn''t seem to
generate the
> >> proper URL''s.  The URL''s still point to
apps.facebook.com (because
> >> they don''t have a host/are relative).  Interestingly, if
I use a
> >> named route, and pass :canvas=>false to it, then it generates
the
> >> proper URL (and if I leave canvas param off or set to true, it
sets
> >> it to apps.facebook.com, so it''s definitely taking it
into
> account).
> >>
> >>
> >> I''m wondering if someone can comment on this more?  I
have a fix,
> >> but I''m not sure if it''s actually a fix, or just
solving the
> symptom
> >> or improper use on my part, etc.  What I did to fix it was change
> >> Facebooker''s UrlRewriter#link_to_canvas? (in
> >> facebook_url_rewriting.rb) to look like this:
> >>
> >>
> >>    def link_to_canvas?(params, options)
> >>      option_override = options[:canvas]
> >>      if option_override == false # important to check for false.
> >> nil should use default behavior
> >>        options[:only_path] = false
> >>        RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.debug "set options[:only_path] to
> false"
> >>        return false
> >>      end
> >>      option_override ||
@request.parameters["fb_sig_in_canvas"] => >> "1"
||  @request.parameters[:fb_sig_in_canvas] == "1"
> >>    end
> >>
> >>
> >> The pertinent change is that if they sent canvas to false, I add  
> the
> >> "only_path" option and set it to false.
> >>
> >>
> >> I''m also seeing a problem related to this with the
Publisher class,
> >> but I''ll bring that up separately, as it''s a
different kind of
> issue.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Christopher Bailey
> >> Cobalt Edge LLC
> >> http://cobaltedge.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Facebooker-talk mailing list
> >> Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> >> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
> >
> > --
> > Mike Mangino
> > http://www.elevatedrails.com
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Facebooker-talk mailing list
> > Facebooker-talk at rubyforge.org
> > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/facebooker-talk
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Christopher Bailey
> Cobalt Edge LLC
> http://cobaltedge.com
--
Mike Mangino
http://www.elevatedrails.com