Facebook notifications API: “This method must be called with an app access_token”

Question

I am trying to send a Facebook notification from my app using Graph API Explorer. So I have selected my app, POST, and entered this string after the /

Answer 1

Try using the access token from here :

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/access_token/

I had the same problem, and I've solved like that.

Answer 2

• Change your app secret ASAP, you shouldn't include private info in these questions
• Then, check the advanced settings of your app and make app type is set to 'Web', not to 'native/desktop' - if it's set to native/desktop the app secret isn't trusted and calls which need an app access token will fail.

Answer 3

So, because I get a success using the Graph Api Explorer, I had the idea to bypass the SLRequest object, and go for the usual post request (using AFNetworking).

NSURL* url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://graph.facebook.com"];
AFHTTPClient *httpClient = [[AFHTTPClient alloc] initWithBaseURL:url];

NSDictionary *params = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys: appToken, @"access_token", @"index.php", @"href", @"hello", @"template", nil];

[httpClient postPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"/%@/notifications", theRecipientFacebookId] parameters:params success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
            NSString *responseStr = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseObject encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
            NSLog(@"Request Successful, response '%@'", responseStr);
        } failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
            NSLog(@"[HTTPClient Error]: %@", error.localizedDescription);
        }];

AND I GET A SUCCESS:TRUE! So If I have to take a guess, I would suggest that the access_token parameter (the app Access Token) is being overwritten when using an SLRequest, and that is being overwritten by the other "access_token" (the user access token). If this is the actual explanation, it does make sense of course. But why the hell those tokens should have the same name?

EDIT : I do see the notifications, now, it works. So the problem surely came from the use of SLRequest, which I believe overwrite the access_token parameter.

ADDITIONAL INFO : you can't send a notification to a user that has not installed the application yet. In order to "invite a friend", it seems the only solution for now is to use the Dialog function from the facebook SDK.

Answer 4

Try changing the Access Token in the top field of the Graph Explorer, do not add it to the URL.

Access Token: xxxxxx|YYYYYY

POST: /11093774316/notifications?template=Hello&href=index.php

Answer 5

Go to your setting => Basic => App Secret and use that key for secret key then us

Answer 6

I'm also trying to post a notification, using the graph api. I first request the app access_token, which is properly returned. I use it then as a parameter of the notification request, like it should be done. But still, I get this same error message "This method must be called with an app access_token"... and Yes, the app is configured as a Web Application.

That was fun for the first five hours, but it's getting a little bit annoying...

any other idea, world? please?

EDIT: I've been fighting with this issue for the whole night and the following morning, I eventually decide to give it up. There is definitely a problem I don't understand with this API, and I'm not able to find any solution anywhere.

A few details about what I do, in case someone comes up with an idea :

it's an iOS app, using the Facebook iOS SDK. Login, authorizing, getting friends profile, posting a message to my wall : everything is working properly.

Then, in order to send a notification, I first send a request to retrieve the app access token.

NSDictionary* parameters = @{@"client_id": [THE APP FACEBOOK ID], @"client_secret" : [THE APP FACEBOOK SECRET], @"grant_type" : @"client_credentials"};

NSURL* feedURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token"];

SLRequest *feedRequest = [SLRequest requestForServiceType:SLServiceTypeFacebook requestMethod:SLRequestMethodGET URL:feedURL parameters:parameters];
feedRequest.account = self.account;
[feedRequest performRequestWithHandler ... ]

The request answers :

NSString* tokenString = [[NSString alloc]  initWithBytes:[responseData bytes] length:[responseData length] encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSArray* chunks = [tokenString componentsSeparatedByString: @"="];
NSString* appAccessToken = [chunks objectAtIndex:1];

NSLog(@"appAccessToken '%@'", appAccessToken);

That seems to work as expected. I get :

appAccessToken '1309[HIDDEN]|-eta-nuWz[HIDDEN]'

Now, I try to post the notification

NSDictionary* parameters = @{@"href": [myHref absoluteString], @"access_token" : appAccessToken, @"template" : myMessage};
NSURL* feedURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://graph.facebook.com/%@/notifications", theRecipientFacebookId];
SLRequest* feedRequest = [SLRequest requestForServiceType:SLServiceTypeFacebook requestMethod:SLRequestMethodPOST URL:feedURL parameters:parameters];
    feedRequest.account = self.account;
    [feedRequest performRequestWithHandler: ... ]

Unfortunately, I keep getting this :

error =     {
    code = 15;
    message = "(#15) This method must be called with an app access_token.";
    type = OAuthException;
};

It's really driving me nuts....