What is pingFacebook method for?

[hems]

I just found out that when using this library there is a funny function call, which sends the appId to a page on facebook.

What is it for ? seems like it is unnecessary for the library to work, specially when the response is completely ignored.

https://github.com/Thuzi/facebook-node-sdk/blob/master/fb.js#L635-L663

        pingFacebook = function (appId) {
            var payload = {
                resource: 'thuzi_nodejssdk',
                appid: appId,
                version: version
            };

            try {
                var requestOptions = {
                    method: 'POST'
                    , uri: 'https://www.facebook.com/impression.php'
                    , form: {
                        plugin: 'featured_resources',
                        payload: encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(payload))
                    }
                };
                if(options('proxy')) {
                    requestOptions['proxy'] = options('proxy');
                }

                request(
                    requestOptions
                    , function(error, response, body) {
                        // ignore error/response
                    });
            } catch (e) {
                // Eat the error
            }
        };

[jarrodconnolly]

This other C# FB api does something similar, though it has comments suggesting that this should be optional.

The comments there are of interest:

            // Send analytics to Facebook
            //** This should be optional as it affects the privacy status of any app consumingthis framework

https://github.com/facebook-csharp-sdk/facebook-winclient-sdk/blob/master/Source/Facebook.Client/FacebookSessionClient.cs#L34-L79

    public class FacebookSessionClient
    {
        public string AppId { get; set; }
        public bool LoginInProgress { get; set; }
        public FacebookSession CurrentSession { get; private set; }

        public FacebookSessionClient(string appId)
        {
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(appId))
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException("appId");
            }
            this.AppId = appId;

            // Send analytics to Facebook
            //** This should be optional as it affects the privacy status of any app consumingthis framework
            SendAnalytics(appId);
        }

        private static bool AnalyticsSent = false;

        private void SendAnalytics(string FacebookAppId = null)
        {
            try
            {
                if (!AnalyticsSent)
                {
                    AnalyticsSent = true;

#if !(WINDOWS_PHONE)
                    Version assemblyVersion = typeof(FacebookSessionClient).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetName().Version;
#else                    
                    string assemblyVersion = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName.Split(',')[1].Split('=')[1];
#endif
                    string instrumentationURL = String.Format("https://www.facebook.com/impression.php/?plugin=featured_resources&payload=%7B%22resource%22%3A%22microsoft_csharpsdk%22%2C%22appid%22%3A%22{0}%22%2C%22version%22%3A%22{1}%22%7D",
                            FacebookAppId == null ? String.Empty : FacebookAppId, assemblyVersion);

                    HttpHelper helper = new HttpHelper(instrumentationURL);

                    // setup the read completed event handler to dispose of the stream once the results are back
                    helper.OpenReadCompleted += (o, e) => { if (e.Error == null) using (var stream = e.Result) { }; };
                    helper.OpenReadAsync();
                }
            }
            catch { } //ignore all errors
        }

[dirkbonhomme]

Well the description of this project says:

Modeled from the (Facebook Javascript SDK), now with the facebook-node-sdk you can now easily write the same code and share between your server (nodejs) and the client (Facebook Javascript SDK).

I think he's just trying to be feature complete :)

[hems]

okie dokie.

thanks for the info guys.