Currently I am working on an application which require Facebook authentication for it’s users. As you may guess its written in CakePHP, and I’ve searched on Internet for a plugin which integrate Facebook in CakePHP application.

There is one very good CakePHP Facebook plugin written from Nick Baker, and I give a try. It’s really good plugin which provides everything for integration of Facebook (even the Facebook API) in your site. Full list example of functionality can be seen here.

Although, I’ve notice that the site is getting slow when the user is connected on the Facebook. Digging in the code I’ve noticed that the initialize() function which is responsible for the initialisation of the plugin request every time the data for the logged user from the Facebook, and this of course slows down the Application itself, because initialize() is called on every page refresh in every site.

What I’ve did – a little optimisation of the code. Here is the explanation how the improved core works:

1. on init (initialize() function) it just assign the FB instance to the component and getting the Facebook session. This doesn’t require FB call.
2. There is an extra parameter which could be provided to the plugin’s settings – noAuth. If this parameter is set the plugin wont attempt to login using the Auth component in the site. By default this parameter isn’t set, but it’s more convenient to have it, because in some cases like mine, I don’t use user Auth on the site except the Facebook’s. Here is a sample how to set noAuth for the plugin:
   class AppController extends Controller {
   $components = array('Facebook.Connect'=>array('noAuth'=>true));
   }
3. Finally in your AppController::beforeFilter() you can use following in order to get the logged user’s details:
   class AppController extends Controller {
   function beforeFilter(){
   $fb = $this->Connect->user();
   }
   }

   This call has been already cached and you don’t need to worry about extra calls to Facebook site.

Another think which I’ve seen in the comments for the Nick’s article is the request to disconnect (unsubscribe) from the application without logging out of the Facebook. That’s why I’ve added a function disconnect() which doing exactly this.

Usage:

Possible options which could be provided in the function:

• label – string text for the link
• redirect – action to which user will be redirected after the logged out. If it’s not set the page will be reload.
• confirm – javascript confirm message (for example “Are you sure?”) before user disconnected from the application.

I’ve added the confirm option in the logout as well (with the same functionality), as well as there is a new option parameter custom which will force the link creation instead or fbml logout link, because in the original implementation custom link is used only if you pass redirect action, but in some cases it need only to reload the page without any redirection and it’s convenient to have a custom link.

And finally where is the extended plugin? Of course in guthub. CakePHP-Facebook-Plugin

Update: The changes are already accepted and included in the original author of the plugin and you can found them at Plugin’s home page