Loading user information from Facebook profiles

The Facebook Connect authentication feature allows you to automatically download user information from their Facebook profiles. Users who log in using their Facebook accounts don’t need to fill out information about themselves. Instead, the system can do that for them automatically.

This functionality replaces the functionality of the Facebook Connect required data web part, available in Kentico CMS 7.

  1. Go to Settings -> Social media -> Facebook.

  2. Select an option in Update users using their Facebook profile:

    • Never - turns this feature off. User information that has already been downloaded is kept in the system.
    • When they log in for the first time - downloads the user information only once, when they log in for the first time.
    • Every time they log in - updates the user information every time they log in. However, this option doesn’t update fields in Kentico that the user has already changed or fields that the system already filled using the information from the Facebook profile. For example, if an existing user gets married and changes her name on Facebook, her record in Kentico is not updated because the system downloaded her name from Facebook before.
  3. Click Edit next to Mapping of Facebook user profile.

    • The Mapping of Facebook user profile dialog opens.
  4. Select how Kentico user fields relate to Facebook user fields and click Save & Close.

  5. Save the settings after you define the field mappings.

The system stores your settings. You can test the configuration by placing the Facebook Connect logon web part on a page.

Some fields in a Facebook profile can be accessed only when the user approves it. See the table below for reference.

You don’t need to take any action to gain permission to access the restricted fields. The Facebook Connect web parts show a request for permission to the user automatically. If the user doesn’t give their permission, the system doesn’t log the user in and doesn’t load any information.

Required permissions for accessing Facebook profile fields

Some fields in a Facebook profile are protected by permissions. The following table shows which Facebook profile fields require permission.

Facebook profile field

Required permission

Full name

none

First name

none

Middle name

none

Last name

none

Gender

none

Birthday

user_birthday

E-mail

email

Location

user_location

Website

user_website

Is verified

none

Culture

none

Link to profile

none

Profile last changed

none