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:
Section 49.3, "Adding a Message Board or Feedback Task Flow to a Page"
Section 49.4, "Setting Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Properties"
Section 49.5, "Working with Message Board and Feedback Task Flows"
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."
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:
Message Board for adding, viewing, updating, hiding, deleting, and managing your view of messages, and for marking messages as private and sharing private messages (Figure 49-1)
Message Board - Quick View for adding, viewing, updating, hiding, and deleting messages, and for marking messages as private and sharing private messages (Figure 49-2)
Figure 49-2 Message Board - Quick View Task Flow
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.
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:
Feedback for viewing, posting, and managing Feedback (Figure 49-3)
Feedback - Quick View for viewing and posting Feedback (Figure 49-4)
Figure 49-4 Feedback - Quick View Task Flow
For more information about Feedback features, see the "Working with Feedback and the Message Board" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.
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.
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
See Also:
The following sections provide information about properties of Message Board and Feedback task flows and describe the properties on the Parameters tab:
Section 49.4.1, "About Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Properties"
Section 49.4.2, "Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Parameters"
Section 49.4.3, "Using Parameters to Configure Message Board and Feedback Task Flow Instances"
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 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.
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 |
---|---|
|
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. |
The ending date for a date range within which to show messages and posts Use the format This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
|
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:
|
|
Specifies whether to show or hide the actions normally associated with a Feedback or Message Board entry, such as Private, Edit, Hide, and Delete
This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
Specifies whether to hide the task flow footer
This parameter turns the More link on ( This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
Specifies whether to enable or disable the display of Feedback left for others
Selecting This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
Specifies whether to show or hide the task flow header
This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
Specifies whether to show or hide the message entry field and the upload file and URL controls (the Publisher)
This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
Specifies the types of messages to display:
This parameter applies only when user is viewing own message board. This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
The number of Feedback items to show in the task flow For example, enter This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
The number of messages to show in the task flow For example, enter This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
The ID of the user to show in the task flow This value is set automatically, 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. |
The starting date for a date range within which to show messages and posts Use the format This parameter is associated with the following task flows:
|
|
|
The ID of the user to show in the task flow This value is set automatically, 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. |
|
The ID of the user to show in the task flow This value is set automatically, 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:
|
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:
Section 49.4.3.1, "Hiding Action Links and Icons on a Task Flow Instance"
Section 49.4.3.2, "Limiting the Number of Messages and Feedback Posts Shown"
Section 49.4.3.3, "Limiting the Length of Posts in a Feedback - Quick View Task Flow"
Section 49.4.3.4, "Preventing Users from Adding Messages to Message Board"
Section 49.4.3.5, "Hiding the Feedback You Have Left for Others"
Section 49.4.3.6, "Scoping the Display of Messages to a Named Portal"
Section 49.4.3.7, "Specifying the Date Range of Shown Messages and Feedback"
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
To hide actions on a Message Board - Quick View or Feedback - Quick View task flow instance:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board - Quick View or Feedback - Quick View task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Actions.
Note:
To show hidden actions, deselect Hide Actions.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board or Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
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.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Feedback - Quick View task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
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.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Publisher.
Note:
To show Publisher controls, deselect Hide Publisher.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
In the Component Properties dialog, on the Parameters tab, select Hide Given.
Note:
To show the View menu, deselect Hide Given.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
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.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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:
Open the Component Properties dialog for the Message Board or Feedback task flow instance you want to configure.
See Also:
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.
When you finish revising component properties, click OK.
Save your changes, and exit the page editor.
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.