Question

I am trying to write a code in ruby on rails that would go into facebook and pull out data to populate my database based on key words that I manually add inside the code. Anyone has done something similar or can help me with it by pointing me towards the right direction? Also I need the code to stay “alive” after the first run in order to update my site automatically. I’ve looked for a fb API but i couldn’t find anything.

Thanks,
Crematorio

Answer 1

The Facebook Graph API is what you would use to pull out data, typically the feed. As for Ruby on Rails, many ways to interact with the FB Graph, but I think the Koala gem is your ticket: https://github.com/arsduo/koala

You would need to set up an application at the FB Developers site, then pass the ID/secret to authenticate via Oauth. I use the following to pull wall feed, this little bit might get you started…

oauth = Koala::Facebook::OAuth.new('app ID here', 'app secret here', 'website/project url')
graph = Koala::Facebook::GraphAPI.new(oauth.get_app_access_token)
feed = graph.get_connections("facebook username here", "feed")
@facebook_feed = ActiveSupport::JSON.decode(feed.to_json)

Adapt this however you like, what I would probably do is a rake task that checks the results of @facebook_feed and processes them based on criteria, keywords, etc.