Retrieve Information from a Facebook Search

To retrieve information from Facebook by performing a search, create a new fetch task by following these steps. The connector runs fetch tasks automatically, based on the schedule that is configured in the configuration file.

To create a new fetch task

  1. Stop the connector.
  2. Open the configuration file in a text editor.
  3. In the [FetchTasks] section of the configuration file, specify the number of fetch tasks using the Number parameter. If you are configuring the first fetch task, type Number=1. If one or more fetch tasks have already been configured, increase the value of the Number parameter by one (1). Below the Number parameter, specify the names of the fetch tasks, starting from zero (0). For example:

    [FetchTasks]
    Number=1
    0=FacebookSearch
  4. Below the [FetchTasks] section, create a new TaskName section. The name of the section must match the name of the new fetch task. For example:

    [FetchTasks]
    Number=1
    0=FacebookSearch
    
    [FacebookSearch]
  5. In the new section, ensure that you have set the parameters required to authenticate with Facebook. The OAuth configuration tool (described in Configure OAuth Authentication) creates a file that contains these parameters, and you can include them in the connector's configuration file using the following syntax:

    [FacebookSearch] < "oauth.cfg" [OAUTH]

    For more information about including parameters from another file, see Include an External Configuration File

  6. In the new section, set the following configuration parameters:

    ProxyHost The host name or IP address of the proxy server to use to access Facebook.
    ProxyPort The port of the proxy server to use to access Facebook.
    LuaConfigureScript The name of the Lua script to use to retrieve information. Set this parameter to configure_facebook_search.lua.
    Query The query to use to search Facebook.
    Type

    The type of search to perform to retrieve information from Facebook. Set this parameter to one of the following values:

    • To search for pages, set this parameter to Page.
    • To search for places, set this parameter to Place.
    MaxResults The maximum number of search results to retrieve and index.
  7. (Optional) If you set the parameter Type to Place, set the following parameters to configure the region of interest:

    Latitude The latitude of the center of the region of interest.
    Longitude The longitude of the center of the region of interest.
    Distance The radius of the region of interest, in meters.
  8. Save and close the configuration file.

    You can now start the connector.