49 Adding Messages and Feedback to a Portal

This chapter describes how to add Message Board and Feedback task flows to a portal. Message Board task flows enable users to post, view, and manage messages to and from their connections. Feedback task flows enable users to post, view, and manage feedback to and from their connections.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Permissions:

To perform the tasks in this chapter, you must be a portal moderator or a portal member with the portal-level permissions Basic Services: Edit Page Access and Structure (standard permissions) or Pages: Edit Pages (advanced permissions).

For more information about permissions, see Section 29.1, "About Roles and Permissions for a Portal."

49.1 About Message Board

Message Board provides a means of viewing and posting messages and attachments to Message Boards and Activity Streams. Messages posted to and received on a Message Board (even those marked private) are shared with all of your connections and all of the recipient's connections in their views of the Activity Stream, depending on your portal configuration and your Activity Stream preference settings.

Note:

The messages you mark private are shown only to you and the recipient in your views of Message Board. However, private messages are shared with all of your connections and with all of the recipient's connections in their views of Activity Stream, unless your administrator configures Activity Stream to omit showing actions from Message Board or you do so through your personal Activity Stream preferences. For more information, see the "Configuring Activity Stream" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal and the "Setting Activity Stream Preferences" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

In your view of the Home portal, Message Board enables you to view messages and attachments from your connections.

Message Boards in your connections' view of the Home portals enable you to view the messages and attachments they have received and to post messages and attachments to their Message Boards, provided they have granted you access.

In portals other than the Home portal, Message Board provides a means of viewing and posting messages within the scope of the portal. In a portal, every instance of a Message Board task flow shows the same content: messages left by authorized users who are members of the portal. The portal Message Board leverages Page permissions as its permission model.

Table 49-1 lists the page permissions required for performing actions in a portal Message Board.

Table 49-1 Page Permissions for a Portal Message Board

Page Permission Post View Update Delete

View Page

No

Yes

No

No

Personalize Page

Yes

Yes

Yes for messages posted by this user

Yes for messages posted by this user

Perform All Page Actions

Yes

Yes

Yes for all messages

Yes for all messages

See Also:

For information about portal permissions, see Chapter 29, "Managing Roles and Permissions for a Portal."

When you connect with other users, you potentially give them access to your Message Board and gain access to theirs. Access to other users' Message Boards must be specifically granted through Message Board Preferences.

See Also:

You can grant access to your Message Board through preferences. For more information, see the "Setting Message Preferences" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Before you access your Message Board or Message Board Preferences, your application administrator can set global application defaults that affect what all users may see and do with their own and other users' Message Boards. For more information, see the "Configuring Message Board" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

WebCenter Portal provides the following Message Board task flows:

See Also:

The Publisher task flow has many qualities in common with Message Board, but is a separate feature. For more information about the Publisher task flow, see the "Liking, Commenting On, and Sharing Items in WebCenter Portal" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

For more information about Message Board features, see the "Working with Feedback and the Message Board" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

49.2 About Feedback

Feedback provides a means of viewing, posting, and managing feedback remarks. By default, you can view Feedback in your own Feedback view. You can view and post Feedback in your connections' Feedback views—provided they have granted you access.

Note:

The feedback you mark private are shown only to you and the recipient in your views of Feedback task flows. However, private Feedback is shared with all of your connections and with all of the recipient's connections in their views of Activity Stream, unless your administrator configures Activity Stream to omit showing actions from Feedback or you do so through your personal Activity Stream preferences. For more information, see the "Configuring Activity Stream" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal and the "Setting Activity Stream Preferences" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal

When you connect with other users, you potentially give them access to your Feedback view and gain access to theirs. Access to other users' Feedback views must be specifically granted through Feedback preferences.

See Also:

You can grant access to your view of Feedback through preferences. For more information, see the "Setting Feedback Preferences" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Feedback posts are also streamed to the Activity Stream, unless the application administrator has configured the Activity Stream not to show Feedback activity. Additionally, you can elect not to show Feedback activity in your own view of the Activity Stream through your personal Preference settings.

Before you access your view of Feedback or your Feedback Preferences, your application administrator can set global application defaults that affect what all users may see and do with their own and other users' views of Feedback. For more information, see the "Configuring Feedback" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

WebCenter Portal provides the following Feedback task flows:

For more information about Feedback features, see the "Working with Feedback and the Message Board" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.

49.3 Adding a Message Board or Feedback Task Flow to a Page

For the steps to add a Message Board or Feedback task flow to a page, see Section 14.2, "Adding a Component to a Page."

Tip:

The presence or location of these components depends on how the resource catalog is configured. For example, in the default resource catalog, next to Social and Communications, click Open to expose a list that includes the Message Board task flows. The Feedback task flows are not included in the default resource catalog. If you do not see the Feedback task flows, contact your system administrator.

49.4 Setting Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Properties

Both Message Board and Feedback task flows have associated properties, which users with sufficient privileges can access through the Component Properties dialog in Composer (Figure 49-5).

Figure 49-5 Component Properties Dialog for a Feedback Task Flow

Description of Figure 49-5 follows
Description of "Figure 49-5 Component Properties Dialog for a Feedback Task Flow"

See Also:

Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

The following sections provide information about properties of Message Board and Feedback task flows and describe the properties on the Parameters tab:

49.4.1 About Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Properties

When you set property values on a Message Board or Feedback task flow, you are affecting only the task flow instance on which the value is set. Other instances of the same task flow are not affected by such changes.

The properties on the Parameters tab of the Component Properties dialog can affect the default task flow content. For descriptions of the parameters on this tab, see Section 49.4.2, "Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Parameters." For some task flows, parameters on this tab facilitate the wiring of the task flow to page parameters and page definition variables. For more information, see Chapter 19, "Wiring Pages, Task Flows, Portlets, and ADF Components."

Changes to the properties on the Display Options, Style, and Content Style tabs affect the appearance and behavior of the task flow. These properties are common to all task flows. For more information, see Section 14.3.4, "Working with Component Display Options" and Section 14.3.6, "Working with Style and Content Style Properties."

The content of the Events tab depends on the events supported by the task flow. For more information, see Section 14.3.7, "Working with Component Contextual Events."

All properties on the Parameters and Display Options tabs provide access to an Expression Language (EL) editor, which you can use to select or specify a variable value instead of a constant value. Click the Expression Editor icon icon next to a property, then select Expression Builder to open the editor. If you need EL assistance, an application developer can provide an EL expression; see the "Expression Language Expressions" appendix in Oracle Fusion Middleware Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

Note:

Wherever you enter EL on the generic Display Options tab in the Component Properties dialog, the entry is automatically validated. If the EL syntax is invalid, an error appears and the value is neither applied nor saved. Generic Display Options are those cataloged in Table 14-1, "Display Options Properties".

EL validation is not performed on non-generic display options.

49.4.2 Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Parameters

Table 49-2 describes the parameters that are unique to Message Board and Feedback task flows.

Table 49-2 Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Parameters

Parameter Description

Display Message Size

The number of characters to show for each Feedback message

Messages exceeding the specified value are truncated.

This parameter is associated with the Feedback – Quick View task flow.

End Date

The ending date for a date range within which to show messages and posts

Use the format YYYY/MM/DD. Use this parameter with Start Date.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback

  • Feedback - Quick View

  • Message Board

Group Space

Specifies the portal for which to show messages

Enter the portal internal name. The portal internal name is the name specified by the portal URL on the General page of a portal's administration settings. The portal display name is specified by Display Name, and is the name that appears in the banner at the top of a portal.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

Hide Actions

Specifies whether to show or hide the actions normally associated with a Feedback or Message Board entry, such as Private, Edit, Hide, and Delete

  • Select the check box to hide actions associated with a Feedback or Message Board entry (#{true}).

  • Deselect the check box to show such actions (#{false}). When no value is entered, this is the default.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback – Quick View

  • Message Board – Quick View

Hide Footer

Specifies whether to hide the task flow footer

  • Select the check box to hide the task flow footer (#{true}).

  • Deselect the check box to show the task flow footer (#{false}).

This parameter turns the More link on (#{false}) or off (#{true}). Note that it does not affect the Previous and Next links that may also display toward the bottom of the task flow.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback - Quick View

  • Message Board - Quick View

Hide Given

Specifies whether to enable or disable the display of Feedback left for others

  • Select the check box to disable the display of Feedback left for others in a given task flow instance (#{true}).

  • Deselect the check box to allow the display of Feedback left for others in a given task flow instance (#{false}).

Selecting Hide Given hides the View menu so that only Feedback received is shown.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback

  • Feedback - Quick View

Hide Header

Specifies whether to show or hide the task flow header

  • Select the check box to hide the task flow header (#{true}).

  • Deselect the check box to show the task flow header (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback

  • Feedback - Quick View

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

Hide Publisher

Specifies whether to show or hide the message entry field and the upload file and URL controls (the Publisher)

  • Select the check box to disable the display of the message entry field in a given task flow instance (#{true}).

  • Deselect the check box to allow the display of the message entry field in a given task flow instance (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

Message Type

Specifies the types of messages to display:

  • All - (default) Displays both public and private messages.

  • Public - Displays only public messages.

  • Private - Displays only private messages.

This parameter applies only when user is viewing own message board.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

No of Feedback items

The number of Feedback items to show in the task flow

For example, enter 5 to specify that a maximum of five items can appear in the task flow. In quick view, a More link appears at the bottom of the task flow when there are more items than the specified number of items. Users click More to open the main view of the task flow where all items are accessible. In main view, Previous and Next links are shown. Users click these to page through entries.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback

  • Feedback - Quick View

No of Messages

The number of messages to show in the task flow

For example, enter 5 to specify that a maximum of five items can appear in the task flow. In quick view, a More link appears at the bottom of the task flow when there are more items than the specified number of items. Users click More to open the main view of the task flow where all items are accessible. In main view, Previous and Next links are shown. Users click these to page through entries.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

Resource Id

The ID of the user to show in the task flow

This value is set automatically, #{securityContext.userName}, which returns the name of the current user.

Note: If you need EL assistance, an application developer can provide an EL expression; see the "Expression Language Expressions" appendix in Oracle Fusion Middleware Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

This parameter is associated with the Feedback task flow.

Start Date

The starting date for a date range within which to show messages and posts

Use the format YYYY/MM/DD. Use this parameter with End Date.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Feedback

  • Feedback - Quick View

  • Message Board

User Id

The ID of the user to show in the task flow

This value is set automatically, #{securityContext.userName}, which returns the name of the current user.

Note: If you need EL assistance, an application developer can provide an EL expression; see the "Expression Language Expressions" appendix in Oracle Fusion Middleware Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

This parameter is associated with the Feedback - Quick View task flow.

User Name

The ID of the user to show in the task flow

This value is set automatically, #{securityContext.userName}, which returns the name of the current user.

Note: If you need EL assistance, an application developer can provide an EL expression; see the "Expression Language Expressions" appendix in Oracle Fusion Middleware Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

  • Message Board

  • Message Board - Quick View

49.4.3 Using Parameters to Configure Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Instances

The properties associated with Message Board and Feedback task flows make it possible to control such things as the number of messages to show, the maximum length of Feedback posts, the presence or absence of a message input field, and so on.

Setting task flow properties affects every users' view of the task flow instance.

This section provides examples of how to use task flow parameters to achieve these results. It includes the following subsections:

49.4.3.1 Hiding Action Links and Icons on a Task Flow Instance

Users with page edit privileges can set the Hide Actions parameter on a Message Board - Quick View or Feedback - Quick View task flow to hide the actions normally associated with each posted message. Such actions include the Edit, Hide, and Private links and the Delete icon (Figure 49-6).

Figure 49-6 Actions on a Message Board Message

Description of Figure 49-6 follows
Description of "Figure 49-6 Actions on a Message Board Message"

To hide actions on a Message Board - Quick View or Feedback - Quick View task flow instance:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board - Quick View or Feedback - Quick View task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Actions.

    Note:

    To show hidden actions, deselect Hide Actions.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.2 Limiting the Number of Messages and Feedback Posts Shown

Parameters on all Message Board and Feedback task flow types enable you to specify how many messages or Feedback posts to show in a given task flow instance. When the number of messages or posts exceeds the value that you provide:

  • Previous and Next icons appear on the full task flow views, enabling users to page through all messages and posts.

  • A More link appears on task flow quick views. Users click this to launch a dynamically-generated page that shows all messages or posts.

For Message Board and Message Board - Quick View task flows, use the No of Messages parameter. For Feedback and Feedback - Quick View task flows, use the No of Feedback Items parameter.

To limit the number of messages and feedback posts shown in a given task flow instance:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board or Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, enter the number of messages or Feedback posts you want to allow in the task flow instance:

    • For Message Board and Message Board - Quick View task flows, in the No of Messages box, enter a number.

    • For Feedback and Feedback - Quick View task flows, in the No of Feedback Items enter a number.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.3 Limiting the Length of Posts in a Feedback - Quick View Task Flow

Use the Display Message Size parameter on a Feedback - Quick View task flow instance to limit the number of characters that can be entered for a given post. Posts that exceed the limit are truncated.

To limit the number of characters allowed for a post to a Feedback - Quick View task flow:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Feedback - Quick View task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, in the Display Message Size box, enter the number of characters to allow for a given post.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.4 Preventing Users from Adding Messages to Message Board

You can use the Hide Publisher parameter to hide the message input field and its associated icons in a Message Board or Message Board - Quick View task flow instance. This is useful when you want a Message Board to be a window onto current messages without also being a point of input.

To prevent users from adding messages to a Message Board task flow instance:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Publisher.

    Note:

    To show Publisher controls, deselect Hide Publisher.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.5 Hiding the Feedback You Have Left for Others

You can use the Hide Given parameter to prevent the display of the Feedback you have left for others in both types of Feedback task flows. Selecting Hide Given hides the View menu, so that only Feedback received is shown.

To hide the Feedback you have left for others:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Given.

    Note:

    To show the View menu, deselect Hide Given.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.6 Scoping the Display of Messages to a Named Portal

Both types of Message Board task flows provide the Group Portal parameter for specifying the portal for which to display messages. For example, imagine that, from the Home portal, you want to see the messages people are entering in the Standards portal. You can place either type of Message Board task flow on a page in the Home portal, and configure it to show the messages entered in the Standards portal.

To scope the display of messages to a named portal:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, in the Group Portal field, enter the internal name of the portal of interest.

    Note:

    To show Publisher controls, deselect Hide Publisher.

    Tip:

    The portal internal name is the name specified by the portal URL on the General page of a portal's administration settings. The portal display name is specified by Display Name, and is the name that appears in the banner at the top of a portal.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.4.3.7 Specifying the Date Range of Shown Messages and Feedback

You can use the Start Date and End Date parameters on the Message Board, Feedback, and Feedback - Quick View task flows to limit the display of messages and Feedback posts to those entered between the two specified dates.

For both parameters, use the date format YYYY-MM-DD, for example 2010-01-02.

To limit the display of messages and feedback posts to those entered within a specified date range:

  1. Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board or Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.

    See Also:

    Section 14.3, "Modifying Components"

  2. In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, enter a date range:

    • In the Start Date field, enter the date after which to show messages and posts.

    • In the End Date field, enter the date before which to show messages and posts.

  3. When you finish revising component properties, click OK.

  4. Save your changes, and exit the page editor.

49.5 Working with Message Board and Feedback Task Flows

For information about how users work with Message Board and Feedback task flows, see the "Working with Feedback and the Message Board" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.