Have you tried?
Rob
yup, crashes app with latest plugin build (and message set to “”)
Enterprise build or SDK build?
What error are you getting?
Rob: Can Corona fix its Android sharing mechanism so text can be shared as well as a URL?
Other Android apps including Feedly (I just tested) can do it. Right now Corona-built apps are at a disadvantage. If we add “message = headline/text/etc.” to the options table, Facebook does not appear. If we remove “message = headline/text/etc.” from the options table, Facebook does appear, but then no headline or text can be shared on Twitter, just a URL. 
My app is now in beta and my users are, reasonably, asking for this to work like other Android apps.
Again, this is not an Android limitation. Feedly can do it. It is a limitation of Corona SDK.
Also other Android apps correctly show Twitter as two different sharing icons: Direct Message and Tweet. Unfortunately Corona-build apps confusingly show both Twitter options listed twice with the same name (Twitter, not Direct Message and Tweet). This also is not an Android limitation. It is a limitation of Corona SDK.
I suspect this means it’s time for Corona to update its Android sharing mechanism. If it were just one problem, maybe you could wait, but broken sharing to the world’s two most popular social networks means it’s time for a fix. Fortunately it should be an easy one, I expect.
Thanks (from my users) in advance!
There are two techniques of accessing Facebook from a Corona App:
- Social Plugin - Not a lot of permissions, but easy to implement.
- Facebook Plugin - Requires you create a ‘facebook app’ on their server. Then, your mobile app ‘logs in’ in to facebook via the facebook app. This gives you a lot more permissions and possibilities for accessing data.
My guess is that ‘Feedly’ (as per your example) is allowed to pre-populate because they used something similar to the second technique.
Finally, Rob may say something different, but I’m also guessing that the issue here is Facebook and not Corona. Facebook very tightly controls access to their ‘network’ and APIs. This is why they, in effect, force you to use the graph library (facebook plugin option above) to do anything interesting.
While, I too wish this were easy, I think it will forever require more effort than simply using the social plugin. Again, all my opinion, but also based on some trials and experience.
that ‘Feedly’ (as per your example) is allowed to pre-populate
Thanks for your quick response! You have a habit of thoughtful posts, and I appreciate your reply. But Feedly does not pre-populate text. I’m not asking for that, and I apologize if my post above was unclear.
To try again: I’m merely asking Corona SDK-built apps to have the same sharing functionality as other Android apps. That means being able to hand off text and a URL to the Android system sharing mechanism, and having Facebook and Twitter (listed properly) appear. I am not asking Corona to send pre-populated text to Facebook. To be clear, Feedly does not send pre-populated text; only the URL appears and Facebook discards any accompanying text. That’s fine.
The problem is that Corona SDK’s implementation of Android sharing currently forces developers to choose from one of two unpalatable options: share the headline/text (which incorrectly removes Facebook as a sharing option) or don’t share the headline/text (which vexes our users because they have to retype it). Other Android apps work properly when the headline/text is shared; they send it to Facebook, which ignores it in favor of only the URL.
I’m sorry if I sound frustrated; if I do, I’m channeling what my users are complaining about for my non-game app. They want things to Just Work. Things should; I started this thread last November. Hence my requests today!
I just installed feedly, but it does appear they are using something more like the Facebook plugin,
I seems the only way we can get the functionality we need it to provide our own menu of share icons.
What I did(and I am not happy about it) I added a share icon, when tapped it drops down with two options “Facebook” and “Other”
when you tap Facebook it uses the Facebook plugin, and other used the standard Social Plugin to open the default Android share options.
There does not seems to be a point to passing only a url to the social plugin ever unless that is all you ever want to share, since you don’t know if the user will choose between Facebook or twitter etc before the social plugin open. there can only be a URL, which stinks.
So until there is a better way, I think adding “Facebook” and “Other” is the only way to get the functionality.
I noticed in Feedly, when I did not have twitter installed it asked if I want to install it since they hard coded the social selections in their app.
Ah. Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I hope I didn’t dilute the thread and question too much w/ my response.
Yes, I too would like to see the Android sharing list behave a little nicer:
- Include FB option regardless of presence of body text.
- Only show one Twitter icon.
Roger that. 
<roaminggamer>: Thanks! What I’d like is for Corona SDK-built apps to work as well as any other Android app. Unfortunately Android sharing to both Facebook and Twitter is currently broken.
<tim.geiges>: There’s precisely zero evidence Feedly is doing anything akin to the Facebook plugin. I install Feedly. I tap on the top-right menu. I tap Android share. I get the Android system sharing panel with FB and Twitter properly listed. I’m never asked to authenticate with Facebook.
Also I just talked to an experienced native Android developer who told me this is the way any Android app should work; Corona merely needs to fix things on their end. Hoping this will happen soon!
In looking at Feedly again, I was not clicking on the standard little “fork” icon or “Android share” yes when I do this I do in fact see Facebook and any other twitter/sharing app etc, I open Facebook and it works as expected, then I open twitter and behold all the text and URL etc are all there, so there is certainly a way to tell Android’s built in sharing mechanism how to properly share regardless of network!
And yes that is what everyone is asking about, I am not sure why Coronalabs is unable to do this when others can.
Clearly nearly all devs want people to share things about their game progress, or news links etc.
The engineers are looking at the plugin again.
Rob
Any update on Android Facebook sharing fixes? does any daily build have fixes yet?
I haven’t seen it in any daily build release notes, and I’ve been checking.
It’s been nearly half a year since this thread began – and Corona SDK-built apps remain the only ones that are crippled by being unable to share with Facebook via the Android chooser. I’m astonished that, as <davebollinger> noted in November 2014, it would be “only a handful of code” if Corona staff chose to fix it, but nothing has been released to date.
Yeah I saw that same post, thought it strange that the Largest social network and the most widespread device(Android) still do not play nice together on Corona, I am sure there are many ways the problem could be fixed. I get a feeling that most everyone at Coronalabs owns a Mac and an IOS device. Whereas I do not own a Mac or an iOS device.
It does seem that stating some problem between Google and Facebook does not seem to hold back other cross platform dev frameworks. I know the devs are extremely busy folks. but Facebook is probably the number one item when it comes to sharing things with friends etc.
Tim: There is no inherent problem in Android when sharing URLs or images with Facebook. Other frameworks do it. Corona’s documentation implies there is (“On Android, this plugin does not support Facebook due to a bug…”) – but fails to note that the bug is in Corona SDK, not Facebook.
You can do it on Xamarin; I think their method is called actionbarsherlock. You can also use Phonegap’s social sharing plugin to share with Facebook on Android: https://github.com/EddyVerbruggen/SocialSharing-PhoneGap-Plugin With Appcelerator, you use shareIntent: https://developer.appcelerator.com/question/149385/sharing-image-via-androidintent
Yes, Corona developers are busy folks, but there will always be other things to do. I expect we’d all be understanding if it took a week or two or even a month or two to fix this bug in their SDK. But now that we’re approaching the half-year mark with zero resolution, well, I’m sorry if I sound frustrated, but I am…
Update: The fix has passed code review and its waiting to have the production plugin built and put on the server. The team is tracking a bug with plugins right now, so once they have that bigger problem solved, then the fix will go up.
Rob
Wow! Thanks, Rob. That is good news. My frustration is now rapidly diminishing!
Thanks, Rob. All we want is for Corona sharing to work as well as any other random Android app. As <tim.geiges> said in this thread, it’s a shame that all of our Corona-built apps are “unable to do this when others can.”
I did not think sharing both text and URL was that important to users. But then we entered beta. And they really, really care about having it work as they expect. Thanks for looking into fixing this.
Good to hear that, ill be looking forward to this fix.
Thank you Rob
Good news: Facebook sharing on Android is fixed. It is now possible to share URLs with Facebook on Android via the social popup with daily build 2015.2616 (and perhaps earlier, though I haven’t checked).
Alas, sharing local images with Facebook on Android via the social popup does not work. It is true that it’s possible to upload the image to a server and then share that URL, but that requires more network usage and remote storage, adds a delay, etc. Facebook allows sharing local images as long as text isn’t prefilled – the Photo app does that, for instance.
Still, thank you, Rob, for pushing this through. It solves 90% of my problems. I will refrain from bugging you about the remaining 10%!
I will think of a new Bi-Rite ice cream challenge going forward…