Mind Mining Medium

Automatically Block Facebook Applications Updated!

Two years later, I decided to take a look at my old, old, OLD Greasemonkey script to see if it was still working. This is after two minor updates on Facebook and one major update that changed the whole design and structure.

Surprisingly, the script works exactly like it should. I made one minor update, but after many tests, it works for me.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or concerns, be sure to comment below. If you find any situations where it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and I will check it out.

To use this script, you need Greasemonkey addon. Once you have it, just go here and click install: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12393.

Here’s the code:

// Auto-Block Facebook Apps
//
// Version 1.2
//
// Date Written: 2007-09-18
// Last Modified: 2009-01-22 02:18 PM (14:18)
//
// (c) Copyright 2007 Ali Karbassi.
// Released under the GPL license
// http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
//
// --------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// This is a Greasemonkey user script.
//
// To install, you need Greasemonkey: http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/
// Then restart Firefox and revisit this script.
// Under Tools, there will be a new menu item to "Install User Script".
// Accept the default configuration and install.
//
// To uninstall, go to Tools/Manage User Scripts,
// select "Auto-Block Facebook Apps", and click Uninstall.
//
// --------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// WHAT IT DOES:
// After the facebook profile page is loaded, it finds all the
// applications that your friends have invited you to and blocks them.
// Do not worry though, you can go to
// http://facebook.com/privacy.php?view=platform&tab=all and unblock
// them
//
// NOTE: This does not alter, delete, edit, add, or anything else to
//       your facebook profile. Just remove or disable this script and
//       everything will be displayed the same as it used to
// --------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// ==UserScript==
// @name        Auto-Block Facebook Apps 1.2
// @author      Ali Karbassi
// @namespace   http://www.karbassi.com
// @description This script will block app invites sent to you by friends.
//              After the facebook profile page is loaded, it finds all the
//              applications that your friends have invited you to and blocks
//              them. Do not worry though, you can go
//              http://facebook.com/privacy.php?view=platform&tab=all and
//              unblock them.
// @include     http://*facebook.tld/home.php*
// @include     http://*facebook.tld/reqs.php*
// ==/UserScript==
// Find Subdomain
var subDomain = getSubDomain();

// Get links on the front page/request page
var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
var appReqExp = /reqs\.php#confirm_(\d*)_(.*)/;

for (var i = 0; i < anchors.length; i++) {
  if (appReqExp.exec(anchors[i].href)) {
    prep(RegExp.$1, anchors[i]);
  }
}

// Remove any notifications about apps.
removeNotifications();

// Functions
// PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING.
// YOU MIGHT BREAK IT.
// Prepares everything. When things are correct, it calls BlockApp.
function prep(appID, appNode) {
  var postformMatch = /name="post_form_id" value="(\w+)"/;
  var post_form_id = 0;

  GM_xmlhttpRequest({
    method: 'GET',
    url: 'http://www.facebook.com/apps/block.php?id=' + appID
         + '&action=block',
    headers: {
      'User-Agent': window.navigator.userAgent,
      'Accept': 'text/html',
    },
    onload: function(responseDetails) {
      var searchString = 'This will not prevent you from seeing';
      if( (responseDetails.status == 200)
          && (responseDetails.responseText.indexOf(searchString) != -1) ) {

        // Show that we are working on it.
        appNode.removeAttribute('href');
        appNode.innerHTML = 'Reading confirmation page...';

        postformMatch.exec(responseDetails.responseText);

        // Calls function to block the app
        BlockApp(RegExp.$1, appID, appNode);
      }
    }
  });
}

function BlockApp(post_form_id, appID, appNode) {
  GM_xmlhttpRequest({
    method: 'POST',
    url: 'http://' + subDomain + 'facebook.com/apps/block.php?id=' + appID
         + '&action=block',
    headers: {
      'User-Agent': window.navigator.userAgent,
      'Accept': 'text/xml',
      'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
    },
    data: 'post_form_id=' + post_form_id + '&save=1',
    onload: function(responseDetails) {
      if (responseDetails.status == 200) {
        appNode.innerHTML = 'App Blocked!'
        appNode.href = 'http://facebook.com/reqs.php';
      }
    },
    onerror: function(responseDetails) {
      appNode.removeAttribute('href');
      appNode.innerHTML = 'App Block failed!';
    }
  });
}

function removeNotifications() {
  var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName('input');
  for (var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++) {
    if (inputs[i].value == 'Ignore') {
      for (var j = 0; j < inputs[i].attributes.length; j++) {
        if ( (inputs[i].attributes[j].nodeName == 'onclick') &&
        (inputs[i].attributes[j].nodeValue.indexOf('click_add_platform_app') != -1) ) {
          var js = (inputs[i].attributes[j].nodeValue).split(' ');
          js.shift();
          js = js.join(' ');
          location.href = 'javascript:' + js;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

function getSubDomain() {
  var subDomainRegExp = /http:\/\/(.*\.)facebook\.com/;
  var subDomain = '';
  if (subDomainRegExp.exec(document.location) != 0) {
    subDomain = RegExp.$1;
  }
  return subDomain;
}