Facebook Like Button for ASP.NET

Facebook Like button is the most important component of the Facebook Graph API. Whole concept about Graph API is based on what people like. Likes make connections from people to other stuff like websites, products, movie, etc. When somebody presses like button on some product, a connection is created from this person to this product. Numerous connections from people to people as friends, and from people to stuffs they like, create a Facebook graph.

Click on Facebook Like Button not only creates connection in Facebook graph, but also shares a data about content where that button is located and links to user's friends. Sharing a data also creates a link back to website and that increases rating in search engines, if content on website is frequently shared. Owner of the website also has statistics about shared content, with lots of details.

Facebook Like Button ASP.NET control allows easy integration of Like Button in ASP.NET pages and dynamic configuration from the code behind and data sources. The control is wrapper around XFBML tag, and it also has verification if all parameters are correctly set. In case of typing error, exception is thrown, and the error is immediately seen by developer.

Compiled version and source code version of this ASP.NET control are available in C# and VB.NET programming languages, as part of Facebook iFrame ASP.NET library and Facebook Connect ASP.NET control library.

Picture of Facebook Like Button:

Following picture shows 3 types of like button. From top to bottom, there are: classic Like Button, button count and box count. All other properties for buttons on the picture are default, i.e. they are not set.

Configuration

Configuration of the Facebook Like Button ASP.NET control is done in ASPX page by setting optional properties. Default like button, which is typically used, does not have any property set. However, customizations are always possible with properties setting. If dynamic setting of properties is required, they can also be set in the code behind, for example on Page_Load method. Following table shows the list of all properties, with their types and descriptions.

Property Name

Type

Description

Url

String

URL of the like button. If it's not set, current page URL is used.

Layout

String

Layout type. Available values are 'standard', 'button_count', and 'box_count'. Default value is 'standard'.

ShowFaces

Bool

Set to true to show profile pictures of user's friends bellow the like button. Default value is true.

Width

Int

Width of the like button in pixels. Default value is 450.

Action

String

Text of the like button. Available values are 'like' and 'recommend'. It will be translated depending on user's language.

Font

String

Font inside the like button. Available values are 'arial', 'lucida grande', 'segoe ui', 'tahoma', 'trebuchet ms', and 'verdana'.

ColorScheme

String

Color scheme. Available values are 'light' and 'dark'. Default value is 'light'.

Reference

String

The reference string for tracking referrals.

Send

String

If set to true, send button will be shown right to the like button.

Usage Examples:

Following examples show registration and insertion of Facebook Like Button ASP.NET control in ASPX file. The first example shows default Like Button without any property set. The second example shows Like Button with all properties set. Examples of ASPX files show only the code required for registration and integration of ASP.NET control in a web page. To see all requirements for registered components, including JavaScript, CSS style and header setting, please look at the manual for page requirements. For following examples, all page requirements are placed in ASP.NET master page. Important parts for registration and integration of Facebook Like Button inside ASP.NET page are highlighted.

 <%@ Page MasterPageFile="~/Master.Master" AutoEventWireup="true" Inherits="FVK_Demo.LikeButton" %%>
 <%@ Register TagPrefix="fvk" TagName="likebutton" Src="~/FVK/LikeButton.ascx" %%>
 <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" runat="server"%>
    <title%>Facebook Like Button for ASP.NET</title%>
    <meta name="description" content="ASP.NET implementation of Facebook Like Button in C# and VB.NET" /%>
 </asp:Content%>
 <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server"%>
    <fvk:likebutton ID="like1" runat="server" /%>
 </asp:Content%>

 <%@ Page MasterPageFile="~/Master.Master" AutoEventWireup="true" Inherits="FVK_Demo.LikeButton" %%>
 <%@ Register TagPrefix="fvk" TagName="likebutton" Src="~/FVK/LikeButton.ascx" %%>
 <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" runat="server"%>
    <title%>Facebook Like Button for ASP.NET</title%>
    <meta name="description" content="ASP.NET implementation of Facebook Like Button in C# and VB.NET" /%>
 </asp:Content%>
 <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server"%>
    <fvk:likebutton ID="like1" runat="server"
       Url="http://vatlab.com"
       Action="recommend"
       Font="tahoma"
       Layout="box_count"
       SetColorScheme="dark"
       ShowFaces="false"
       Width="550"
    /%>
 </asp:Content%>