Android share intent for facebook- share text AND link

Question

I am trying to use the Android share intent to post something on facebook. It looks like this:

shareIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
shareIntent.setType("text/plain");
shareIntent.putExtra(android.content.Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "Free education for all! http://linkd.in/xU8mCc");
startActivity(shareIntent);

So my post has both - some text and a link. But when the message is posted on facebook, it only has the link, no message. I tried various extras but nothing works.

Anyone faced this issue and solved it? I have facebook app version 1.8.1

Edit: I tried removing the link, and the facebook app does not take my message (shows a blank message to be posted), but not the other way round. So looks like the app is totally ignoring any plain text messages. I am spooked! Is this a major bug in the fb app that text messages can not be posted at all (with share intent)?

Answer 1

I just built this code and it's working for me:

private void shareAppLinkViaFacebook(String urlToShare) {
    try {
        Intent intent1 = new Intent();
        intent1.setClassName("com.facebook.katana", "com.facebook.katana.activity.composer.ImplicitShareIntentHandler");
        intent1.setAction("android.intent.action.SEND");
        intent1.setType("text/plain");
        intent1.putExtra("android.intent.extra.TEXT", urlToShare);
        startActivity(intent1);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        // If we failed (not native FB app installed), try share through SEND
        String sharerUrl = "https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=" + urlToShare;
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(sharerUrl));
        startActivity(intent);
    }
}