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An Update on Ning Apps

January 24, 2012 By

Hi everyone!

As you may have heard, beta testing for Ning Apps are currently underway for a select group of social networks.

Ning Apps is similar to Profile Apps in that they both use OpenSocial APIs to get data about members of a social network, but Ning Apps contain additional views to show functionality at the main page of a social network, along with additional canvas and profile page views. As Ning is unique to other social network containers, there are also some Ning-specific methods and objects specifically geared towards your social network. (And we’ll be adding more of these methods and objects as Ning Apps are further defined.)

To create a development sandbox, use the following URL:
http://www.ning.com/main/createyourown?source=networkapplications

The sole purpose of the sandbox is to test your Ning Apps XML file, not to use this as a permanent social network, and content on these social networks can and will change without notice. Also, do not review any Ning Apps through development sandboxes; the Ning Apps Directory on sandboxes are tied directly into the directory on social networks, so any reviews made through sandboxes will also show up there.

That said, developers can begin reading the Ning Apps documentation, and we plan on adding more examples and tutorials to help developers add additional functionality for social networks everywhere. Stay tuned!

- Ernie
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Started playing with OpenSocial

January 24, 2012 By

I’m working on an Ning application so I started playing with OpenSocial. I have already created a few applications using the Facebook API but I like how ‘open’ OpenSocial is. Let’s see how it goes.
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E-commerce business

January 23, 2012 By

Do you have an e-commerce Business programming software build-in in social networking site
If people want to create there own business in e-commerce
with shopping cart and post there on products and categories.

if you have how much the rate for unlimited products item to be posted.
and I need info. for other categories

I create one social networking account?
is there a limit to create another social networking account?
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Ning Apps Documentation v1.0.4 Released!

January 23, 2012 By

A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

  • Added section “Getting Ning Container-Specific information with ning.core.AppStatus”
  • Changed XML sample for section “Navigating Between Views and Passing Parameter Information”
  • Added content for the section “UserPrefs and EnumValues”
  • author_email in the ModulePrefs header is now accessible to Network Creators in the Ning Apps Directory; the “What you MUST do” section has been edited accordingly.

To download a PDF of the newest version of the Ning Apps documentation, visit the documentation page.

Thanks,
- Ernie
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Ning Apps Documentation v1.0.5 Released!

January 23, 2012 By

A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

  • Added section “What Ning Apps Can and Can Not Do”
  • Further clarified the section “UserPrefs and EnumValues” — UserPrefs are unavailable in the Profile or Canvas View.
  • All Ning Apps titles should have a maximum length of 24 characters.
  • Fixed a broken PNG file related to the subnavigation.
  • Added a PSD file that designers can use to make screenshots appropriate for submission to the Ning App Directory
  • Removed Weather Sharer, to be replaced with a different sample application in a later doc release.

To download a PDF of the newest version of the Ning Apps documentation, visit the documentation page.

Thanks,
- Ernie
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Another Update on Ning Apps

January 22, 2012 By

Hi everyone,

After a private beta period and some extensive performance and feature analysis, we’re currently planning to make Ning Apps available to all social networks on Ning in mid-August. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we finalize the last of our product testing and development, and will follow-up as the date gets closer with more specific information.

Thanks,
- Ernie
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Updating the Latest Activity Stream in Your Ning App

January 22, 2012 By

Having a Ning App write to the activity stream (using opensocial.requestCreateActivity) is the most effective way to drive visibility and traffic to your application directly from the main page of a social network.

We can see opensocial.requestCreateActivity in action by using the OpenSocial Dev App tool; you can install the OpenSocial Dev App tool on a Ning Apps sandbox by going to http://NETWORKNAME.ning.com/opensocial/ningapps/addByUrl to add an XML file manually (replacing NETWORKNAME with the name of your social network) and adding the url http://gadgetstore.ning.com/gadgets/coderunner/coderunner08.xml. Once the OpenSocial Dev App tool is installed, paste the following code into the development window:


function postActivity(text) {
var params = {};
params[opensocial.Activity.Field.TITLE] = text;
var activity = opensocial.newActivity(params);
opensocial.requestCreateActivity(activity, opensocial.CreateActivityPriority.HIGH, callback);
};

function callback(data) {
/* callback is an optional function which is called after requestCreateActivity. */
/* do what you would like with the data attribute. */
document.getElementById("dom_handler").innerHTML = "Latest activity will be shown when you refresh your profile page.";
};

postActivity("This is a sample activity, created at " + new Date().toString());

The activity object is created through opensocial.newActivity(), and that object is placed — along with a callback function — as a parameter to the opensocial.requestCreateActivity method. The callback function is optional, and is specifically called after requestCreateActivity is invoked.

Now that you understand how to ping the Latest Activity stream, you can update your OpenSocial code appropriately to ping the latest activity feed on the main page.

NOTE: The requestCreateActivity API has a quota of 5 invocations per member, per application, per day. This means that a member can call the functionality five times a day for each application. With the exception of the <a>tag, all HTML is stripped from the text before the API is invoked due to abuse prevention purposes.
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Ning Apps to launch in early September

January 22, 2012 By

(Note: This is a re-post of Nick’s post on the Ning Blog. Please direct any particular feedback there so we can manage responses more efficiently. Thanks!)

We are excited to announce that Ning Apps will debut in early September!

When you create a Ning Network around a specific interest or passion, you need a diverse feature set that allows you to be creative and customize the experience for your members. For example, if you run a Ning Network around a non-profit organization or a cause you care about, you can take a poll with a new Ning App that allows you to check the pulse of your members to better understand what moves them. Then you can use a direct donation Ning App to drive contributions to your cause within your Ning Network.

By offering more than 90 different applications, Ning Apps provide a unique opportunity for Network Creators to further customize the social experience on their Ning Network based on their goals. This flexibility will allow Ning Network Creators to spark more relevant engagement, enhance collaboration, and conduct e-commerce.

We want to thank the Network Creators who are participating in our private beta and the application developers who partnered with us to create such a diverse set of features.

We look forward to launching Ning Apps next month!
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Ning Apps Documentation v1.0.6 Released!

January 21, 2012 By

A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

  • Sandboxes must now be created by contacting the Ning Help Center.
  • Removed ning.main view, UserPrefs and EnumValues sections.
  • Added a section explaining that Network Creators and Admins can display or hide all profile views to members.

To download a PDF of the newest version of the Ning Apps documentation, visit the documentation page.

Thanks,
- Ernie
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What happens after you submit an App?

January 21, 2012 By

We here at Ning thought it would be useful to let you know a bit about the policy and usability processes we have in place to review your Apps. These processes are in place to ensure you are putting your best foot forward to in providing a quality product for all of our 1.4 million Ning Networks and 30 million members.

What happens after you submit your App? You may find the following article useful:
http://developer.ning.com/notes/After_Your_App_is_Submitted

(And if your App is still in the queue, we appreciate your patience as we continue getting caught up to speed due to our work on Ning Apps. We’ll get everyone who submitted an App a response as soon as we can.)

Thanks,
- Ernie
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