FMenu

FMenu version 3.1 was released on January 17, 2010 and includes stability improvements, UI changes to keep up with site updates, and full Snow Leopard compatibility. Note that there are now separate downloads for users of 10.4 and everyone else.

It is now 2023 and Facebook's API has changed significantly such that this app no longer works. The way that people use Facebook has changed dramatically as well. Growl no longer exists. Perhaps one day this app will come back — or not.

Screenshot of FMenu

Screenshot of FMenu prefs window

FMenu is a program for Mac OS X and Facebook that sits in the menu bar (near the clock) and provides notifications about various events. In addition, it provides a menu to easily access common Facebook pages and keeps a count of your messages, pokes, events, friend requests, wall posts, and photo comments. It also features a "Quicklaunch" box which gives you immediate access to your friends' profiles, groups, and events, as well as Facebook searches (type a phrase and press enter). Notifications are issued using Growl and can be customized to the user's liking (including turning on/off and customizing display style). They are:

• A friend updated his profile
• A friend changed his status
• A friend wrote a new note
• Someone wrote on your wall
• You have new messages
• You have new pokes
• You have new friend requests

FMenu checks for updates by default every 7 seconds (or at whatever interval you set), but checks for each kind of notification (friend details, friend requests, wall, messages/pokes, events) separately. Consequently each particular type of notification is refreshed once every 42 seconds.

Please note: this application will work with most of your friends. However, if you are not getting notifications for some friends, it probably means that they have opted out of releasing their info to applications using the Facebook API. Tell your friends to go to Facebook's Applications & Websites privacy settings and make sure that the checkbox labeled Status updates is checked. Otherwise, FMenu has absolutely no way of retrieving that user's profile.

Download

The latest version is 3.1. It is a Universal Binary and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or better. Note that since version 3.1, there are separate downloads for users of Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 and above, due to 64-bit loading issues with Growl. However, there is no functional difference between the versions. The 10.5 and above binary is 64-bit and fully compatible with Snow Leopard.

• FMenu for users of 10.4 only and 10.5 and above who already have Growl installed on their system (.zip file)
• FMenu for all other users – if you do not have Growl installed, FMenu will prompt you to install it automatically with no additional downloads required (.zip file). Note that this is version 3.0; after installation of Growl, check for updates in the menu to update to the latest version.

FMenu is released under the GNU General Public License. Source code can be found inside the application package by going to FMenu.app/Contents/Resources/Source or checked out using SVN from SourceForge.

Older versions can be obtained below; however, they are unsupported, generally inferior, and only provided for archival purposes.

Installation

Simply download the appropriate file above, then double-click it. FMenu.app will appear in the same folder as the .zip file you just downloaded. Move FMenu.app to your Applications and double-click it to open. You might also want to add it to your startup items by going to System Preferences→Accounts, selecting your account on the left, then clicking on the Login items tab. Click the + button and choose FMenu from the window that appears.

As of version 2.5, you can have your Facebook credentials saved by checking the according checkbox on the login page. Note that FMenu does not store your actual password and that this procedure does not compromise the security of your Facebook account in any way.

Acknowledgments

This application completely relies on MKAbeFook framework written by Mike Kinney to communicate with the Facebook API. In addition, the first version of the app was written by Logan Rockmore of Logan Design.

Known issues

• If you put your computer to sleep for an extended period of time, FMenu will obviously give a large number of notifications that happened during the time that your computer was turned off the first time it updates. Make sure that the number of "sticky" notifications is not very high, because otherwise you will spend a lot of time dismissing all of them (Workaround: Alt-click on any growl notifications's close (X) button to dismiss all the messages on-screen).
• If you remove a friend while FMenu is running (or a friend disables their account, etc), you will get a notice saying they changed their profile and published a note.
• If you change your Facebook password, you will stop receiving notifications. Choose Log out… from the menu and then log back in to resume receiving notifications.

There is also a FAQ of common questions and problems. If you have other questions or problems, please follow the instructions on the discussion page.

Version history

3.1

released January 17, 2010 – current version download for 10.4 only and 10.5 and above (including Snow Leopard)

• Important for those automatically updating through the app: do not install this update if you are on 10.4! Instead, download the 10.4 version here and install it manually. Note that future upgrades will handle per-OS updates properly, as 3.1 includes code changes to support this.
• Snow Leopard support and 64-bit binary
• Better connection handling and stability on 10.5 and above
• Cleanup of menu items and actions to reflect current Facebook site design
• Resolves crashes on startup
• Note that alerts for "New photo comments" are no longer available as Facebook has stopped providing this functionality

3.0

released April 18, 2008 – archived download

• Leopard compatibility
• Status updates properly handle the removal of "is" as a mandatory verb in status messages
• Improved performance with more intelligent data retrieval
• Log in and log out functions now work properly
• "Could not generate auth token" login problem fixed
• Automatic updates with Sparkle
• Better detection of internet connection changes
• You can now click on Growl notifications to go to the notification's respective page. For example, clicking on a status update will open that friend's profile, while clicking on the "New message" notification will take you to your inbox. This is a preference and is turned off by default.
• Improved stability on sleep/wake events
• New, Leopard high-res application icon thanks to Travis La Marr
• Fix for bogus "new photo comments" notifications
• Growl SDK updated to 1.1.2

2.5

released July 4, 2007 – archived download

• Infinite sessions support thanks to work by Josh Wiseman at Facebook
• Better error handling
• Correctly parse number of Shares in inbox
• Better notification strings handling
• Enable customization of status phrase displayed for status notifications
• Upcoming events and groups can now be added to Quicklaunch
• Text box inside the Quicklaunch panel now always gains focus whenever the panel itself gains focus
• Messages, friends, and marketplace submenus
• Updates to menu items to reflect site redesign
• General code cleanup
• More crash-prone data retrieval procedure
• Preferences saved earlier so that data is saved in case of crashes

2.1

released Mar 31, 2007 – archived download

• Huge memory leak (finally) fixed
• Better storage of user data should reduce repeated friend notifications
• Eliminate duplicate message, shares, and pokes notifications

2.0

released Feb 26, 2007 – archived version download

• Upgraded to Facebook API v.1. Consequently some menu items have disappeared, but all the submenus are back and there is now a Shares counter as well
• All counters can be put in the menubar, including shares, photo comments, and wall posts
• "f" icon can now be hidden (note that this can be dangerous, since it can make the menu nearly inaccessible)
• Interface should be more responsive as updates are performed in separate threads
• Repeated friend notifications should hopefully be eliminated
• Errors should be handled more gracefully
• Rudimentary update checking will notify you through Growl when a new version is released
• Quicklaunch now properly loses focus after return is pressed
• New messages, pokes, and shares are detected even if the number of unreads remains unchanged

1.7

released Feb 12, 2007 – archived version download

• Thanks to tuaw.com featuring FMenu, I got a lot more users...and lot more testers. This latest version brings no new features, but disables a number of submenu items that did not (and currently cannot) work correctly. The Groups submenu, as well as the "Notes about me" and "Photos of me" items went to my (that is, the developer's) pages, instead of the currently logged in user's.

1.6

released Feb 10, 2007 – archived version download

• Friend updates (notes, profile, and status) are now actually functional (they were accidentally broken in the 1.5 release)
• Logging preferences are now available
• Blank status updates are fixed for real this time

1.5

released Feb 5, 2007 – archived version download

• Instantly update menu bar counter when preferences are changed
• Names in the Quicklaunch box are now alphabetized and fill in immediately after login
• Better handling of bad internet connections
• (Hopefully) Elimination of "blank" (i.e. no-name and no-text) status update notifications
• "Growl preferences..." button now correctly detects presence of Growl prefpane
• Keyboard shortcuts added to common destinations (however, currently only work if some element (i.e. Quicklaunch) of the program is active)
• The Photos, Shares, Groups, and Notes menu items now have submenus (which can be turned off)
• Full update no longer performed upon Pref window close (as it's no longer necessary)
• Keyboard editing shortcuts (cut, copy, paste, etc) now work properly in the Quicklaunch box

1.4

released Jan 18, 2007 – archived download

Note: due to the name change from FaceMenu to FMenu, you will need to recreate your Growl notification settings after installing 1.4. Application preferences will carry over, however.

• You can now hide the counter if it's 0 (i.e. only the icon is shown)
• A floating textbox can now be used to search and view friends' profiles. THe box stays on top of all windows. Begin typing, and matches for friends' names will appear. Press enter to open the friend's profile in your browser. If the text you type does not match any names, pressing enter will search facebook for the phrase you entered.
• Full update is now performed after preferences window is closed
• Update explanatory wall preference text due to facebook.com site changes
• FMenu no longer performs a last full update upon quit

1.3

released Jan 13, 2007 – archived download

• Wall can now be accessed either from your profile or from the wall posts page (with preference)
• Profile updated notifications now detect the gender of the person who updated his profile
• Update frequency pref is now observed correctly
• Growl preferences... button now correctly detects Growl installations outside the user's home directory
• FMenu now properly detects the lack of a network connection, eliminating repeated profile update notifications and other quirks

1.2

released Jan 1, 2007 – archived download

• Made dynamic menu items localizable
• Added pref to change update frequency (default is 7 seconds)
• Cosmetic/UI improvements & code cleanup
• Huge memory leak fixed thanks to an update from Mike Kinney to the MKAbeFook framework

1.1

released Dec 26, 2006 – archived download

• Split up updates to provide the ability to check for new info more frequently
• Added ability to logout and force manual updates
• Added tracking of friends' details (status, notes, and profile details)
• Added Growl notifications
• Universal Binary

1.0

• Initial release by Logan

CS projects
Production software	FMenu — WebGrabber
Class projects	CS 61b
Misc	MediaWiki Installation caveats – Sony Clie on Mac OS X – Black screensaver