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Share Dialog

To use the Facebook-built sharing experiences, you want to define your content as in the modeling content section, and then call the Share Dialog.

Show​

Once you have created the content builder you then pass the output from this builder to the show function of the ShareDialog interface:

FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.show( builder.build() );

This initiates the dialog and presents it to the user. You should check the response of this function. It is a boolean value and indicates if the share dialog construction was initiated correctly. If will return false if the required dialog type / content isn't supported or if the application isn't setup correctly.

Can Show​

You can check whether a particular share dialog type can be shown by calling the canShow() method and passing the required content type.

For example, to check if the link content share dialog can be shown: 

if (FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.canShow( ShareLinkContentBuilder.TYPE ))
{

}

You can use this process with any of the content builders and their TYPE definition.

Note: this check is performed internally in the show() call as well and will cause show() to return false if canShow() is false. So you can use this check as a check before attempting to show the dialog if you wish to present an alternative.

Events​

There are three possible events dispatched after a call to show:

  • ShareDialogEvent.COMPLETE: when the share was successfully completed;
  • ShareDialogEvent.CANCEL: when the user cancelled the share dialog;
  • ShareDialogEvent.ERROR: when an error occurred during the process.
FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( ShareDialogEvent.COMPLETE, shareDialogEventHandler );
FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( ShareDialogEvent.CANCEL, shareDialogEventHandler );
FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( ShareDialogEvent.ERROR, shareDialogEventHandler );

And then your event handler:

function shareDialogEventHandler( event:ShareDialogEvent ):void 
{
}

Notes​

Your app should not pre-fill any content to be shared. This is inconsistent with Facebook Platform Policy, see Facebook Platform Policy, 2.3.

Example​

The following example shows sharing a link using the share dialog

// Construct content
var content:ShareLinkContentBuilder = new ShareLinkContentBuilder()
        .setContentUrl( "https://airnativeextensions.com" );

// Check if can show content
if (FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.canShow( ShareLinkContentBuilder.TYPE ))
{
    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.COMPLETE, shareDialogEventHandler );
    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.CANCEL, shareDialogEventHandler );
    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.addEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.ERROR, shareDialogEventHandler );

    // Display share dialog
    var success:Boolean = FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.show(
            content.build()
    );
}

function shareDialogEventHandler( event:ShareDialogEvent ):void 
{
    // Handle completion / cancellation / error

    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.removeEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.COMPLETE, shareDialogEventHandler );
    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.removeEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.CANCEL, shareDialogEventHandler );
    FacebookShare.instance.shareDialog.removeEventListener( 
        ShareDialogEvent.ERROR, shareDialogEventHandler );
}

Additional Features​

When you use the Facebook share dialog, you have additional options that aren't available when you share by using the API.

Hashtags​

You can specify a single hashtag to appear with a shared photo, link, or video. This hashtag also appears in the Share dialog, and people have the the opportunity to remove it before publishing.

The following is an example of adding a hashtag to a link share.

var content:ShareLinkContentBuilder = new ShareLinkContentBuilder()
        .setContentUrl( "https://airnativeextensions.com" )
        .setShareHashtag( "#distriqt" )
;

Quote Sharing​

You can enable people to highlight text to appear as a quote with a shared link. Alternatively, you can predefine a quote, for example, a pull quote in an article, to appear with the shared link. In either case, the quote appears in its own field separate from the user comments.

var content:ShareLinkContentBuilder = new ShareLinkContentBuilder()
        .setContentUrl( "https://airnativeextensions.com" )
        .setQuote( "Connect on a global scale." )
;

Advanced Topics​

Built-In Share Fallbacks​

In past versions of the SDK for Android, your app had to check for a native, installed Facebook app before it could open the Share Dialog. If the person didn't have the app installed, you had to provide your own code to call a fallback dialog.

Now the SDK automatically checks for the native Facebook app. If it isn't installed, the SDK switches people to their default browser and opens the Feed Dialog.

iOS Simulator and Testing​

If you are using Simulator to test sharing in your application, you will see errors if you try to share videos or Photos. This is because you need Facebook for iOS installed which provides the Share Dialog. We do not support this for Simulator.

In the case of link shares, you do not need Facebook for iOS installed so this test case is possible. To test other Sharing scenarios, set up an actual test device with with Facebook for iOS installed.