Jozef Chúťka's blog

It may be not popular, but it is possible to substitute / override whole class from .swc file. Lets say you are using some public api, in our case Facebook actionscript api. I admire work of developer team, but I would like to have some things different. My facebook application requires publish_stream extended permission right after user login (authorize) my application. Even if official facebook api documentation says it is possible to ask for extended permission with login.php call (req_perms parameter), our facebook actionscript api does not offer setting this parameter.

After few moments of research it was clear that login.php call makes DesktopSession class, method onLogin()…

... some code ...

protected function onLogin(p_event:FacebookEvent):void {
	p_event.target.removeEventListener(FacebookEvent.COMPLETE, onLogin);

	if (p_event.success) {
		_auth_token = (p_event.data as StringResultData).value;

		//now that we have an auth_token we need the user to login with it
		var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
		var loginParams:String = '?';

		if (_offline_access) {
				loginParams += 'ext_perm=offline_access&';
		}

		request.url = login_url+loginParams+"api_key="+api_key+"&v="+api_version+"&auth_token="+_auth_token;

		navigateToURL(request, "_blank");

		_waiting_for_login = true;
		dispatchEvent(new FacebookEvent(FacebookEvent.WAITING_FOR_LOGIN));
	} else {
		onConnectionError(p_event.error);
	}
}

... some code ...

Now lets do the dirty work. If it were possible, I would extend DesktopSession class and override just onLogin function, but api creates and uses DesktopSession inside its whole logic, so there is no way to succeed. However, it is possible to override whole class. First, in your flex project (with facebook swc in library path), create directory structure com/facebook/session/ (the same as DesktopSession package defines), than copy DesktopSession.as file inside. Well, thats it … From now, when you publish your application, compilator uses your DesktopSession instead of the one in .swc.

To make the new class working for my needs, onLogin function needs to be changed into something like this:

... some code ...

protected function onLogin(p_event:FacebookEvent):void {
	p_event.target.removeEventListener(FacebookEvent.COMPLETE, onLogin);

	if (p_event.success) {
		_auth_token = (p_event.data as StringResultData).value;

		//now that we have an auth_token we need the user to login with it
		var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest(login_url);
		var variables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();

		variables.req_perms = 'publish_stream';
		variables.api_key = api_key;
		variables.v = api_version;
		variables.auth_token = _auth_token;
		variables.fbconnect = "true";
		variables.connect_display = "page";

		request.data = variables;
		navigateToURL(request, "_blank");

		_waiting_for_login = true;
		dispatchEvent(new FacebookEvent(FacebookEvent.WAITING_FOR_LOGIN));
	} else {
		onConnectionError(p_event.error);
	}
}

... some code ...

By asking extended permissions with login.php, facebook opens more step authorization dialog where each permissions is separated into own step and user can allow or dont allow each.

Important:

• Even if you send req_perms=publish_stream with login.php, facebook only accepts it when your app is live (not from your desktop testing) … Functionality already bugged in facebook bugzilla
• Even if it is possible to override class this way, consider using it. Next time there may be newer version of .swc with some changes in your overriden class!