The fb:request-form tag creates a form that sends requests or invitations to selected Facebook users. It allows selecting multiple friends using tags like fb:multi-friend-selector. Required attributes include type, content, and optional attributes like invite. Form data like selected friend IDs is returned via POST variables. Examples demonstrate how to structure the form and handle submissions across different platforms.

1. Fb:request-form
From Facebook Developers Wiki
Description
Creates a form that sends requests to the selected users. To send requests/invitations to multiple
users, create one of these forms and include either an fb:multi-friend-selector or any combination
of fb:multi-friend-input, fb:friend-selector and fb:request-form-submit. The form is submitted
after the user confirms the sending of the request.
If you want to invite only one friend, without making the user select from a list of friends, use
the fb:request-form-submit tag within the fb:request-form tag, and make sure to set the
appropriate attributes (uid, label) on the submit button to indicate that you are sending an invite
to only one friend.
In general, use fb:multi-friend-selector in a nearly full-page invitation interface where the user is
intended to select a large number of people, and fb:friend-selector or fb:multi-friend-input in
situations where the user is selecting a smaller number of users and you want to integrate it into
the context of your own page. As a middle-ground alternative, you can use the fb:multi-friend-
selector (condensed) for places where the user might select a medium-sized list of people without
needing a full-page interstitial invitations interface.
For developers using iframes, you cannot get the full flexibility of the fb:request-form system.
However, you can still send requests using the Multi_friend_selector, or you can use the
fb_force_mode parameter to render a particular canvas page with FBML.
For developers wishing to utilize more form parameters, typical form input can be used with the
attribute fb-protected="true" within any fb:request-form-submit tag.
Attributes
Required Name Type Description
required type string The type of request or invitation to generate. This corresponds to
the word that is displayed on the home page. For example, "event."
content string The contents of the request or invitation to be sent. It should use
FBML formatting that contains only links and the special tag
<fb:req-choice url="" label="" /> to specify the buttons to be
included in the request. Make sure that you properly encode this
attribute. For example, use the PHP "htmlentities" function.

2. optional invite bool Set this to true if you want to send an invitation or false if you
want to send a request. The difference between them is in the
content that the user sees. (Default value is false.)
action string The place where a user gets redirected after submitting the form
through the fb:request-form-submit button or when they click Skip
this Step. By default the user is directed to
http://apps.facebook.com/yourapp/null. Note: This default
behavior may not be preserved.[verify]
method string Set it to either GET or POST, as you would with a form.
POST Variables
Required Name Type Description
typeahead string The string containing any content the user typed into the multi-
selector box.
ids array A zero-based array containing all of the user IDs of the people
the user invited.
Examples
Example FBML Invite Page
<fb:fbml>
<fb:request-form
action="index.php"
method="POST" invite="true" type="YOUR APP NAME" content="Your
text
goes here. <?php echo htmlentities("<fb:req-choice url="YOUR
CANVAS URL" label="Add My Application"") ?> >
<fb:multi-friend-selector showborder="false" actiontext="Invite
your
friends to use YOUR APP NAME."> </fb:request-form>
</fb:fbml>
Example Java Invite Page

3. Here is the FBML:
<fb:request-form
action="start.htm"
method="POST"
invite="true"
type="nutshOt network"
content="nutshOt network is the best place on Facebook for
viewing, sharing and giving
friends the highest quality nutshOts. Join me on
the nutshOt network!
<fb:req-choice
url='http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=<c:out
value='${apiKey}' />'
label='Check out the nutshOt network!' />
">
<fb:multi-friend-selector
showborder="false"
actiontext="Invite your friends to the nutshOt
network."
exclude_ids="<c:out value='${appUserFriends}' />"
max="20" />
</fb:request-form>
Here is the server side Java:
protected Map referenceData(HttpServletRequest request) throws
Exception {
logger.info("InviteFriendsFormController.referenceData
...");
FacebookRestClient facebookRestClient =
getFacebookUtils().getFacebookRestClient(request);
//get the list of friends who are app users so they can be
excluded from the invite page
String appUserFriends =
getFacebookUtils().getAppUsersFriendsString(facebookRestClient);

4. HashMap referenceData = new HashMap();
referenceData.put("appUserFriends", appUserFriends);
referenceData.put("apiKey",
PropertyUtils.getInstance().getPropertyValue("API_KEY"));
getFacebookUtils().loadUrlData(referenceData);
return referenceData;
}
You can see it in action at The nutshOt network
Example PHP Invite Page
<?php
require_once('config.php');
require_once('init.php');
require_once('lib.php');
$user
= $facebook->require_login();
// Get list of friends who have this app installed...
$rs = $facebook->api_client->fql_query("SELECT uid FROM user
WHERE has_added_app=1 and uid IN (SELECT uid2 FROM friend WHERE
uid1 =
$user)");
$arFriends = "";
// Build an delimited list of users...
if ($rs)
{ $arFriends .= $rs[0]["uid"]; for ( $i = 1; $i < count($rs);
$i++ )
{ if ( $arFriends != "" ) $arFriends .= ","; $arFriends .=
$rs[$i]["uid"]; }
}
// Construct a next url for referrals
$sNextUrl = urlencode("&refuid=".$user);
// Build your invite text
$invfbml = <<<FBML

5. You've been invited to join the PickPocket™ Guild!
<fb:name uid="$user" firstnameonly="true" shownetwork="false"/>
wants you to add PickPocket™ so that you can join <fb:pronoun
possessive="true" uid="$user"/> wily band of thieves!
<fb:req-choice
url="http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=$appapikey&next=$sN
extUrl"
label="Join the Guild!" />
FBML;
?>
<fb:request-form type="PickPocket" action="index.php?c=skipped"
content="<?=htmlentities($invfbml)?>" invite="true">
<fb:multi-friend-selector max="20" actiontext="Here are your
friends
who don't have PickPocket™. Invite them to play with you!"
showborder="true" rows="5" exclude_ids="<?=$arFriends?>">
</fb:request-form>

6. Example Overloaded Form
<fb:fbml>
<fb:request-form
method="POST" action="compare.php" content="some content"
type=""

7. invite="false"> <input id="first_overloaded_id" type="hidden"
fb_protected="true" value="first_overloaded_value"
name="first_overloaded_name"/> <input id="second_overloaded_id"
type="hidden" fb_protected="true"
value="second_overloaded_value"
name="second_overloaded_name"/> <div class="clearfix"
style="padding-bottom: 10px;"> <fb:multi-friend-selector
condensed="true" style="width:80%;" /> </div>
<fb:request-form-submit />
</fb:request-form>
</fb:fbml>
Example ASP.NET Invite Page
<p>Invite
a friend to use this application...
<fb:request-form action="default.aspx" method="POST"
invite="true"
type="Test App" content="You have been invited to the Test
Example
application. <% = Server.HtmlEncode("<fb:req-choice
url="http://apps.facebook.com/test/default.aspx" label="OK"
/>")
%> " > <fb:friend-selector showborder="false"
actiontext="Invite your friends to use this application." />
<fb:request-form-submit />
</fb:request-form>
</p>
Example Python (Django + PyFacebook) Invite Page
def invite_friends(request):
#HTML escape function for invitation content.
from cgi import escape
facebook_uid = request.facebook.uid
fql = "SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid IN (SELECT uid2 FROM
friend WHERE uid1='%s') AND has_added_app = 1" % facebook_uid

8. result = request.facebook.fql.query(fql)
# Extract the user ID's returned in the FQL request into a
new array.
if result and isinstance(result, list):
friends_list = map(lambda x: str(x['uid']), result)
else:
friends_list = []
# Convert the array of friends into a comma-delimeted
string.
exclude_ids = ','.join(friends_list)
# Prepare the invitation text that all invited users will
receive.
content = """<fb:name uid="%s" firstnameonly="true"
shownetwork="false"/>
wants to invite you to play Online board games,
<fb:req-choice url="%s"
label="Add Online Gaming and Video Chat to your profile!"/>
""" % (facebook_uid, request.facebook.get_add_url())
invitation_content = escape(content, True)
return render_to_response('facebook/invite_friends.fbml',
{'content': invitation_content,
'exclude_ids': exclude_ids })
Example Python (Django + PyFacebook) Invite Friends template
<fb:request-form
action="http://apps.facebook.com/livevideochat/?skipped=1"
method="POST" invite="true" type="Online Games" content="{{
content
}}"> <fb:multi-friend-selector max="20" actiontext="Here are
your
friends who haven't added Online Games and Live Video Chat to
their
profile. Invite them to play Games Online today!"
showborder="true"

9. rows="5" exclude_ids="{{ exclude_ids }}">
</fb:request-form>
Notes
 Make sure to include whatever attributes you would normally include if you were
creating a <form> tag, such as action and method, as mentioned above.
 The fb:multi-friend-selector tag does not show up in Internet Explorer 6.[verify][I have IE 6
and it works fine]
 The type attribute appears to have a hard limit of 20 characters. Anything else is
truncated.
Retrieved from "http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fb:request-form"
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