Question

My goal is to have dynamic Facebook like buttons using a php variable in the url. I figured I’d first just try inserting a static like button to test it out, but I’m encountering some issues. When I first loaded the page, after inserting the FB code, the like button displayed correctly. Though, every time after that it just displays a white box, the size of the like button content, which flickers, then disappears.

My situation may be unique as this is a wordpress site, but I don’t use any of the wordpress features, such as the post loop, or any design layout features. I just use wordpress to publish posts, which get forwarded to my own database, and I display them with my own code.

Right after <?php get_header(); ?> in my index.php, I’ve put:

<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>(function(d, s, id) {
  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
  js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=293105884122762";
  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>

Then in a random place on the site I’ve put:

<fb:like href="mysite.com" send="false" layout="button_count" width="450" show_faces="true"></fb:like>

I know I need to add the XML namespace for IE, but I figured it wasn’t necessary yet.

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d really appreciate them.

Answer 1

The Facebook code just runs inline, so if it isn’t included at the bottom of the page, you have to call FB.XFBML.parse() to re-parse the page HTML looking for <fb:/> tags. Another option would be to either place this javascript at the bottom of the page, or better yet use a hook in your functions.php to include it in wp_footer.

<?php
// this function will output the facebook javascript code
function add_facebook_javascript(){ ?>
    <div id="fb-root"></div>
    <script>(function(d, s, id) {
      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
      if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
      js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
      js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=293105884122762";
      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
    </script>
<?php
}
// this will hook your function to the "wp_footer" action
add_action('wp_header', 'add_facebook_javascript');
?>