Building OpenSocial Apps
A Field Guide to Working with the MySpace Platform
Published on 22. October 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
408 pages
978-0-321-61906-8 (ISBN)
Description
"The authors did a great job covering the various ins and outs of OpenSocial, and especially the specific MySpace quirks. If you are a new social networking application developer or even someone who just wants to write better OpenSocial Apps, then this book has what you are looking for."
-Cassandra Doll, Software Engineer, Google
The Insider's Guide to Writing OpenSocial Applications for MySpace-and Beyond!
When you write OpenSocial applications for MySpace, you can reach millions of users overnight. Building OpenSocial Apps shows you how, one step at a time. Whether you're building casual widgets or feature-rich, professional applications, this book will teach you everything you need to know.
The authors are the leading experts on OpenSocial and MySpace and have personally helped construct the MySpace platform and OpenSocial standards. In this indispensable book, they walk you through the entire process of building apps, from signing up through building complex apps that can scale to thousands of users and interoperate on more than fifty social networks, such as Hi5, Orkut, and LinkedIn. They demonstrate today's best practices for building OpenSocial applications and present dozens of tips for leveraging both MySpace and OpenSocial to their fullest. Coverage includes
Installing and working with the MySpace Developer Platform
Retrieving, parsing, and displaying user data, friend lists, and photos
Sending App invitations and notifications
Building mashups that communicate with third-party web services
Marketing your App and building your user base
Designing for performance, scalability, and fault tolerance
Securing MySpace and OpenSocial apps, and protecting users' privacy
Building apps that display ads and accept micropayments
A companion web site (opensocialtictactoe.googlecode.com) includes an extensive library of downloadable source code and other support materials.
-Cassandra Doll, Software Engineer, Google
The Insider's Guide to Writing OpenSocial Applications for MySpace-and Beyond!
When you write OpenSocial applications for MySpace, you can reach millions of users overnight. Building OpenSocial Apps shows you how, one step at a time. Whether you're building casual widgets or feature-rich, professional applications, this book will teach you everything you need to know.
The authors are the leading experts on OpenSocial and MySpace and have personally helped construct the MySpace platform and OpenSocial standards. In this indispensable book, they walk you through the entire process of building apps, from signing up through building complex apps that can scale to thousands of users and interoperate on more than fifty social networks, such as Hi5, Orkut, and LinkedIn. They demonstrate today's best practices for building OpenSocial applications and present dozens of tips for leveraging both MySpace and OpenSocial to their fullest. Coverage includes
Installing and working with the MySpace Developer Platform
Retrieving, parsing, and displaying user data, friend lists, and photos
Sending App invitations and notifications
Building mashups that communicate with third-party web services
Marketing your App and building your user base
Designing for performance, scalability, and fault tolerance
Securing MySpace and OpenSocial apps, and protecting users' privacy
Building apps that display ads and accept micropayments
A companion web site (opensocialtictactoe.googlecode.com) includes an extensive library of downloadable source code and other support materials.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 178 mm
Width: 228 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
617 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-321-61906-8 (9780321619068)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Chris Cole is a software architect at MySpace and is a major contributor to building the MySpace Open Platform and keeping it committed to OpenSocial. He's been a core contributor to the OpenSocial 0.9 specification and is the primary architect and implementer of OSML (OpenSocial Markup Language) on the MySpace platform. Chris has been in software for fifteen years and has spent much of that time riding the various waves of the Internet and pushing the boundaries of the Web.
Chad Russell is the lead developer on the MySpace OpenSocial team. He knows the OpenSocial spec front to back, in addition to every tip, trick, and nuance of the MySpace platform itself. Chad holds an engineering degree from the University of Toronto and currently resides in Seattle, Washington.
Jessica Whyte has worked for several years as a journalist, most recently with Journalists for Human Rights, and is currently a graduate student at the University of Washington, studying Human-Centered Design and Engineering. She lives in Seattle with her husband and coauthor, Chad Russell.
Chad Russell is the lead developer on the MySpace OpenSocial team. He knows the OpenSocial spec front to back, in addition to every tip, trick, and nuance of the MySpace platform itself. Chad holds an engineering degree from the University of Toronto and currently resides in Seattle, Washington.
Jessica Whyte has worked for several years as a journalist, most recently with Journalists for Human Rights, and is currently a graduate student at the University of Washington, studying Human-Centered Design and Engineering. She lives in Seattle with her husband and coauthor, Chad Russell.
Content
Foreword xvi
Acknowledgments xviii
About the Authors xix
Introduction xxi
Part I: Building Your First MySpace Application
Chapter 1: Your First MySpace App 3
Creating the App-"Hello World" 3
Installing and Running Your App 7
Summary 7
Chapter 2: Getting Basic MySpace Data 9
The Two Concepts That Every Developer Should Know 9
MySpace Data 10
Starting Our Tic-Tac-Toe App 10
Error Handling 24
Summary 27
Chapter 3: Getting Additional MySpace Data 29
How to Fetch a Friend List and Make Use of the Data 29
Fetching Media 39
Using opensocial.requestPermission and opensocial.hasPermission to Check a User's Permission Settings 43
Summary 45
Chapter 4: Persisting Information 47
App Data Store 47
Cookies 56
Third-Party Database Storage 64
Summary 65
Chapter 5: Communication and Viral Features 67
Using opensocial.requestShareApp to Spread Your App to Other Users 67
Using opensocial.requestSendMessage to Send Messages and Communications 74
Getting Your App Listed on the Friend Updates with opensocial.requestCreateActivity Basics 79
Sending Notifications 88
Summary 90
Chapter 6: Mashups and External Server Communications 91
Communicating with External Servers 91
Mashups 92
Adding a Feed Reader to Our App 93
Adding an Image Search 112
Posting Data with a Form 114
Summary 114
Chapter 7: Flushing and Fleshing: Expanding Your App and Person-to-Person Game Play 117
Turn-Based Games 117
Supporting Person-to-Person Game Play 133
Finishing and Clearing a Game 144
"Real-Time" Play 146
Advantages and Disadvantages of
App Data P2P Play 148
Summary 148
Part II: Other Ways to Build Apps
Chapter 8: OAuth and Phoning Home 153
What Is OAuth? 153
Secure Phone Home 157
Spicing Up the Home and Profile Surfaces Using makeRequest 173
Summary 174
Chapter 9: External Iframe Apps 177
REST APIs 178
Sending Messages Using IFPC 208
Summary 212
Chapter 10: OSML, Gadgets, and the Data Pipeline 213
The Big Picture 213
Writing a Gadget 214
OpenSocial Markup Language (OSML) 225
Putting It Together: OSML Tic-Tac-Toe 226
Summary 238
Chapter 11: Advanced OSML: Templates, Internationalization, and View Navigation 239
Inline Tag Templates 239
Working with Subviews 245
HTML Fragment Rendering 248
Data Listeners 250
Internationalization and Message Bundles 255
Future Directions 260
Summary 261
Part III: Growth and How to Deal with It
Chapter 12: App Life Cycle 265
Publishing Your App 265
Managing Your App 274
Managing Developers 279
Suspension and Deletion of Your App 280
Summary 281
Chapter 13: Performance, Scaling, and Security 283
Performance and Responsiveness 283
Design for Scale 292
Stability and Fault Tolerance 299
User and Application Security 300
Summary 303
Chapter 14: Marketing and Monetizing 305
Using MySpace to Promote Your App 306
User Base and Viral Spreading 309
Ads 311
Micropayments 316
Interviews with Successful App Developers 318
Summary 326
Chapter 15: Porting Your App to OpenSocial 0.9 329
Media Item Support 330
Simplification of App Data 341
REST APIs 343
Summary 348
References 351
Index 355
Acknowledgments xviii
About the Authors xix
Introduction xxi
Part I: Building Your First MySpace Application
Chapter 1: Your First MySpace App 3
Creating the App-"Hello World" 3
Installing and Running Your App 7
Summary 7
Chapter 2: Getting Basic MySpace Data 9
The Two Concepts That Every Developer Should Know 9
MySpace Data 10
Starting Our Tic-Tac-Toe App 10
Error Handling 24
Summary 27
Chapter 3: Getting Additional MySpace Data 29
How to Fetch a Friend List and Make Use of the Data 29
Fetching Media 39
Using opensocial.requestPermission and opensocial.hasPermission to Check a User's Permission Settings 43
Summary 45
Chapter 4: Persisting Information 47
App Data Store 47
Cookies 56
Third-Party Database Storage 64
Summary 65
Chapter 5: Communication and Viral Features 67
Using opensocial.requestShareApp to Spread Your App to Other Users 67
Using opensocial.requestSendMessage to Send Messages and Communications 74
Getting Your App Listed on the Friend Updates with opensocial.requestCreateActivity Basics 79
Sending Notifications 88
Summary 90
Chapter 6: Mashups and External Server Communications 91
Communicating with External Servers 91
Mashups 92
Adding a Feed Reader to Our App 93
Adding an Image Search 112
Posting Data with a Form 114
Summary 114
Chapter 7: Flushing and Fleshing: Expanding Your App and Person-to-Person Game Play 117
Turn-Based Games 117
Supporting Person-to-Person Game Play 133
Finishing and Clearing a Game 144
"Real-Time" Play 146
Advantages and Disadvantages of
App Data P2P Play 148
Summary 148
Part II: Other Ways to Build Apps
Chapter 8: OAuth and Phoning Home 153
What Is OAuth? 153
Secure Phone Home 157
Spicing Up the Home and Profile Surfaces Using makeRequest 173
Summary 174
Chapter 9: External Iframe Apps 177
REST APIs 178
Sending Messages Using IFPC 208
Summary 212
Chapter 10: OSML, Gadgets, and the Data Pipeline 213
The Big Picture 213
Writing a Gadget 214
OpenSocial Markup Language (OSML) 225
Putting It Together: OSML Tic-Tac-Toe 226
Summary 238
Chapter 11: Advanced OSML: Templates, Internationalization, and View Navigation 239
Inline Tag Templates 239
Working with Subviews 245
HTML Fragment Rendering 248
Data Listeners 250
Internationalization and Message Bundles 255
Future Directions 260
Summary 261
Part III: Growth and How to Deal with It
Chapter 12: App Life Cycle 265
Publishing Your App 265
Managing Your App 274
Managing Developers 279
Suspension and Deletion of Your App 280
Summary 281
Chapter 13: Performance, Scaling, and Security 283
Performance and Responsiveness 283
Design for Scale 292
Stability and Fault Tolerance 299
User and Application Security 300
Summary 303
Chapter 14: Marketing and Monetizing 305
Using MySpace to Promote Your App 306
User Base and Viral Spreading 309
Ads 311
Micropayments 316
Interviews with Successful App Developers 318
Summary 326
Chapter 15: Porting Your App to OpenSocial 0.9 329
Media Item Support 330
Simplification of App Data 341
REST APIs 343
Summary 348
References 351
Index 355