MySpace Developer Team : developer

MySpace Developer Platform Wiki

Jon — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:05:00 GMT

All MySpace Developer Platform (MDP) documentation is now available from one centralized location. We've recently revised a good majority of the existing content and have a lot of new documentation on the way.

Let's take a walk though some of the new features and changes to the MySpace Developer Platform.

Developer Platform Navigation Bar

The following has changed for navigation site-wide:

Learn and Reference buttons replaced by a single Documentation button.
Test button renamed Tools.

Developer Wiki Main Page

Our new Developer Wiki is accessible by clicking on the Documentation button in the blue site navigation bar.

There are serveral methods to find documentation. Featured articles and categories are accessible from the Main Page:

Featured Content – new and popular articles
The Basics – introductory articles to learn about the platform
Getting Started – set up a developer account and learn how to create a MySpace app
In Depth – select links to detailed reference documentation

Left-hand Navigation

Direct links to Application Platform (OpenSocial) docs, MySpaceID docs, MDP Videos, FAQs and the Site Map are available throughout the Wiki from the left-hand navigation.

Site Map

Our new documentation Site Map updates automatically whenever content is assigned to a category.

Search

Are you having trouble finding specific documentation on our site? Use the Search box in the left-hand navigation of the Wiki, type in a keyword for a complete list of related documents.

Content Navigation

Let's say you are reading "What's New in OpenSocial 0.8" by Chad Russell. Since document is the Articles category and the OpenSocial category, both paths are displayed at the top of the page.

FAQ Index

We've revised and reorganized the entire FAQ into groups, then created an FAQ Index that will help guide you to the information, if available.

External contribution to the Wiki documentation is unavailable at this time. We are currently using our Wiki as a powerful collaboration tool between teams within MySpace to provide higher quality, accurate documentation for developers.

Questions, comments, feedback and suggestions are always welcome!

Jonathan Kramm

SIGN UP: devJAMs - San Francisco (Sat, March 1st) & Seattle (Sat, March 15th)

Allen — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:36:00 GMT

The MySpace Developer Platform team warmly invites you to join us for our inaugural devJam events:

San Francisco, CA - Saturday, March 1st 9AM - 9PM

Seattle, WA - Saturday, March 15th 9AM - 9PM

(don’t worry, other cities and countries coming soon!)

Schedule

Each day will be run to this skeleton schedule:

9AM - 12PM Welcome, Tutorials and Code Walk-Throughs led by MySpace Developers

12PM - 1PM Lunch

1PM - 7:30PM Development & Breakout Sessions

7:30PM - 9PM Show-n-Tell, Beer and Pizza, & Prizes

Places are free but limited! Book your ticket now! San Francisco (March 1st), Seattle (March 15th).

Tutorials

The day will kick off with a morning of tutorial and workshop sessions led by the senior architects of the MySpace Developer Platform. They will walk you step-by-step through the process of creating a MySpace App. You will follow them from creating the initial account on the site to cutting the code with the API hooks and finally to uploading your app to MySpace!

devJamin'

After a break for lunch we'll open the space up for app hacking. Feel free to kick off a new app at the event or bring your existing project along to continue developing. Code on your own or collaborate with others - it's up to you. MySpace developers will be on hand to answer all your questions.

Breakout sessions

During the afternoon we'll also run ad-hoc breakout sessions led by MySpace developers on any of the aspects of the platform you have questions about.

Show-n-tell

At the end of the event we'll offer everyone the opportunity to take part in the show-n-tell session. Over a cold beer and a slice of pizza, of course! Those who have something to show will be able to demo their app at the end of the event. Or alternatively you can complete your app at home, and come back to one of the regular follow-up 'show-n-tell evening sessions' that we'll be holding soon after.

There may even be a prize or two for the most promising app(s) built during the event!

PLACES ARE LIMITED! Book soon if you want to join us for one of the days. But please, for the benefit of the wider developer community, please only book if you know you can make it - so that we can have as many developers at possible at the event!

Reserve your place: San Francisco (March 1st), Seattle (March 15th).

We look forward to seeing you all. If you have any questions about the event, or the platform itself, please contact developerrelations@myspace.com

Let me see my app!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Here's a walkthrough on how to work with some of the restrictions during the current developer sandbox phase that Kyle pointed out here.

So let's assume you've gotten on the whitelist, logged in to the developer site, started creating an app and you're at the point of saving your chunk of code (for a walkthrough of that process, see here )... now how do you actually see your app live?

First you need to install it by getting to the App Profile:

An App Profile (see "Anatomy of a MySpace App" for a more complete explanation) is your app's very own MySpace profile. It's automagically created along with each app. Most importantly, it's the *only* place where anyone (including yourself as the developer) can install the app.

To get to it from the Application Builder, click on the "Edit App Information" link on the left nav:

From the Edit App Information page you can click the "Visit Profile Link"

From the app profile you can click the "Install Application" button and the page will redirect you to the app after installing.

Great! Now you have your app installed and YOU can see it… but how come no one else can see it!?

All apps are hidden from viewers unless the viewer is friends with the app's profile during the developer sandbox phase. Likewise, App Profiles are private by default. Keep in mind that the app’s friends are not the developer’s friends. Remember your app has its OWN distinct profile! As the developer of the app, you're automatically the app’s first friend and that's why you're allowed to see the app.

Thus, in order for another user to install or view an app, they must be:

logged in to MySpace (even if the app is on a publicly viewable profile)
a friend of that app

So the natural question that follows is: "How does my app add friends?"

Well you can actually login to MySpace as your app. Remember the email and password you entered when you first created your app on the developer site (on this very first page)?

Hopefully you have them handy... just use those credentials to sign back in to MySpace as your App Profile:

Now you're logged in under the app’s profile and can add friends:

To add a someone as a friend of the app, go to their profile, for example:

Click "Add To Friends" and continue to follow the standard MySpace procedure for adding friends.

Once your app's new friend accepts the request, she can install the app (if the three installation limit hasn't been reached yet!) or view the app on profile's where the app is installed.
Understandably, some of the above can be somewhat cumbersome and confusing, however in the future this “private” state is fundamentally designed to allow your app to be in “stealth” development mode, while still allowing for your app to be shared amongst a controlled set of users.

-- Chris