FB Graph API: Way to get list of fields for an object through API

Question

Is there a way how to get the list of fields for a specific facebook object programmatically?

I know there's documentation for that, but I need some introspection - we're building a tool that would enable the user to select from existing fields.

I mean something like: give me a list of fields for user, response: {"id", "name", "first_name", ...}

Or some way how to get all the fields for one object and derive it from that?

Answer 1

Facebook enables you to pass metadata=1 parameter. For example

cocacola?metadata=1

gives you all available connections and fields for the page:

  "metadata": {
    "connections": {
      "admins": "https://graph.facebook.com/cocacola/admins",
      "admin_settings": "https://graph.facebook.com/cocacola/admin_settings"
    },
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "id",
        "description": "The Page's ID. No access token or user `access_token`. `string`."
      },
      {
        "name": "name",
        "description": "The Page's name. No access token or user `access_token`. `string`."
      },
      {
        "name": "link",
        "description": "Link to the page on Facebook. No access token or user `access_token`. `string` containing a valid URL."
      },
      {
        "name": "category_lists",
        "description": "The Page's categories. No access token or user `access_token`. `string`."
      },
      {
        "name": "is_published",
        "description": "Indicates whether the page is published and visible to non-admins. No access token or user `access_token`. `boolean`."
      }

Looks like it's official, found it in the getting started manual