Using App Links Hosting API for link shared on Facebook from iOS app

Question

I\'ve honestly spent hours on this trying to get it to work. Unfortunately Facebook & App Link\'s documentation is not clear enough. Even the App Links video from F8.

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Answer 1

I don't have enough rep to comment, but check out this answer if you're still stuck:

Cannot get the new AppLinks to work on iOS or Android

Answer 2

With the help of MingLi from FB I managed to get it working with the following code:

- (void)shareToOpenGraphCountdownInvite
{
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?grant_type=client_credentials&client_id={insert your FB app ID here}&client_secret={insert client secret here}"];
    NSString *fullToken = [NSString stringWithContentsOfURL:url encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
    NSArray *components = [fullToken componentsSeparatedByString:@"="];
    FBAppAccessToken = [components objectAtIndex:1];

    NSDictionary *paramsForAppLinksHost = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                                           FBAppAccessToken, @"access_token",
                                           @"{your app name}", @"name",
                                           @"{your app's custom url}", @"al:ios:url",
                                           @"{app store ID}", @"al:ios:app_store_id",
                                           @"{your app name}", @"al:ios:app_name",
                                           @"{\"should_fallback\": false}", @"web",
                                           nil
                                           ];

    [FBRequestConnection startWithGraphPath:@"/{FB app ID}/app_link_hosts"
                                 parameters:paramsForAppLinksHost
                                 HTTPMethod:@"POST"
                          completionHandler:^(
                                              FBRequestConnection *connection,
                                              id result,
                                              NSError *error
                                              ) {
                              AppLinksHostURL_ID = [result objectForKey:@"id"]; // store this ID in an NSString
                              [self postOGStoryWithCustomURL];
                              if(error) NSLog(@"error = %@", error.description);

                          }];
}

- (void)postOGStoryWithCustomURL
{
    NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://fb.me/%@/%@", AppLinksHostURL_ID, customURL];

    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[self pathForS3ObjectWithFilename:previewImageFilename]]]];

    // Create OG object
    id<FBGraphObject> object =
    [FBGraphObject openGraphObjectForPostWithType:@"timeflyz:countdown_invite"
                                            title:eventBeingShared.eventName
                                            image:image
                                              url:urlString // fb.me app links hosted url here
                                      description:@"{insert description here}"];

    // Create an action
    id<FBOpenGraphAction> action = (id<FBOpenGraphAction>)[FBGraphObject graphObject];

    // Link the object to the action
    [action setObject:object forKey:@"countdown_invite"];

    // Check if the Facebook app is installed and we can present the share dialog
    FBOpenGraphActionParams *params = [[FBOpenGraphActionParams alloc] init];
    params.action = action;
    params.actionType = @"timeflyz:create";

    // If the Facebook app is installed and we can present the share dialog
    if([FBDialogs canPresentShareDialogWithOpenGraphActionParams:params]) {
        // Show the share dialog
        [FBDialogs presentShareDialogWithOpenGraphAction:action
                                              actionType:@"timeflyz:create"
                                     previewPropertyName:@"countdown_invite"
                                                 handler:^(FBAppCall *call, NSDictionary *results, NSError *error) {
                                                     if(error) {
                                                         // An error occurred, we need to handle the error
                                                         // See: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ios/errors
                                                         NSLog(@"Error publishing story: %@", error.description);
                                                     } else {
                                                         //                                                         NSLog(@"result %@", results);
                                                         if([[results objectForKey:@"completionGesture"] isEqualToString:@"post"]) {
                                                             NSLog(@"Posted successfully!");
                                                             [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"showShareSuccessfullMessage" object:self userInfo:nil];
                                                         } else
                                                             NSLog(@"Something else happened - user didn't post");
                                                     }
                                                 }];


    }

Note that "customURL" is an NSString that follows the pattern "?variable1=result1&variable2=result2..."

Answer 3

This is working for Graph v2.5 and SDK 4.8. Definitely not easy and not documented. But thanks Tim For inspiring. I'm using a custom graph object, I don't know how it works with default ones. I'm also using App Links Host since I don't have web app. I obtained a the {app_access_token} from Graph API Explorer, select your app then get app access token

First I created graph stories, actions and object types on Facebook developer (your facebook app). Make sure you have an app query scheme for your app in info.plist LSApplicationQueriesSchemes should contain a scheme pointing to your app I will refer to it as {app_scheme}.

Then in my iOS app I create a new link for every share.

- (void)createAppLinkHost:(void(^)(NSString* appLinkURL))success error:(void(^)(NSError* error))failure{

NSString *url = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"{app_scheme}://%li",self.object.identifier];
NSString *appAccessToken = {app_access_token};
NSString *iosLink = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"[{\"url\":\"%@\",\"app_name\":\"%@\",\"app_store_id\":%i},]",url,@"{app_name}",{app_store_id_int}];
NSDictionary *appLinkHostParams = @{@"access_token":appAccessToken,
                                    @"name":@"{link name}",
                                    @"web":@"{\"should_fallback\": false}",
                                    @"ios":iosLink
                                    };

FBSDKGraphRequest *request = [[FBSDKGraphRequest alloc]initWithGraphPath:@"/{fb_appId}/app_link_hosts"
                                                              parameters:appLinkHostParams
                                                             tokenString:appAccessToken
                                                                 version:@"v2.5"
                                                              HTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request startWithCompletionHandler:^(FBSDKGraphRequestConnection *connection, id result, NSError *error) {
    if (!error) {
        NSString *appLinkHostId = [result objectForKey:@"id"];
        NSString *urlString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://fb.me/%@", appLinkHostId];
        success(urlString);
    }
    else{
        NSLog(@"--ERROR-- [FACEBOOK APP LINK HOST] %@",error);
        failure(error);
    }
}];

}

If error, check it. Errors from App Link host make more sense than the rest of Facebook SDK. Graph API Explorer is useful to know what data you should send.

Once you get a success get that AppLinkHost and share it.

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"fbauth2://"]]){
[self createAppLinkHost:^(NSString *appLinkURL) {
    SURL *imageURL = [NSURL URLWithString:self.activity.imageURL];;
    FBSDKSharePhoto *photo = [FBSDKSharePhoto photoWithImageURL:imageURL userGenerated:NO];
    //Custom objects needs to be set from facebook first.
    //Set object properties
    NSDictionary *properties = @{
                                 @"og:type": @"{namespace}:{graph_object}",
                                 @"og:title": @"title",
                                 @"og:description": @"body",
                                 @"og:image": @[photo],
                                 @"og:url":appLinkURL,
                                 @"fb:app_id":@"{fb_appId}",
                                 @"{namespace}:{custom_property}":@(self.object.identifier), //optional
                                 };            
    //Create GraphObject
    FBSDKShareOpenGraphObject *object = [FBSDKShareOpenGraphObject objectWithProperties:properties];

    //Create Action
    FBSDKShareOpenGraphAction *action = [FBSDKShareOpenGraphAction actionWithType:@"{namespace}:{graph_action}" object:object key:@"{namespace}:{graph_object}"];

    FBSDKShareOpenGraphContent *openGraphcontent = [[FBSDKShareOpenGraphContent alloc] init];
    openGraphcontent.action = action;
    openGraphcontent.previewPropertyName = @"{namespace}:{graph_object}";

    [FBSDKShareDialog showFromViewController:self withContent:openGraphcontent delegate:self];
} error:^(NSError *error) {}];

}