Discussions Tab and Topic Objects

[gwest39]

After reading through this forum relating to different ideas on creating a discussion or forum module in Feng Office, I think the best way to do this would be to have a “Discussions” tab and also create a new type of object called a “Topic”.

Topic Objects

• This would be a very simple object with the only property being a title for the discussion topic and it would have no other content.
• Comments could then be attached to this Topic object (including the very first post which would also be a comment). The discussion would be made up of all the comments attached to that Topic object.
• This would allow the first post to have an avatar and a consistent look along with all of the other comments to the topic, unlike with a note.
• When creating an new topic, the first post or comment can be added at the same time as when the topic is given a title and created.
• These free standing topic objects could also be linked to other objects just like any other object type.
• You could use the quotation balloon icon (used with comments) to represent the Topic object.
• Note objects could still be used to post notes and information, but Topic objects would be better suited for when you intend a back and forth discussion on a topic.
• The text of a Note object, which is currently used as the first post in a discussion, can be edited by users other than the person who originally said it, unlike with a comment.
• Much of the model, controller, and view code for the new Topic object could be taken from the Note object code since they are both simple and similar objects (except there is no text or content, just a topic title).

Discussions Tab

• This would be the main place for viewing, creating, and managing the Topic objects within a workspace.
• It would probably be placed right after the “Overview” tab as the second tab.
  
• In addition to the Topic objects, also listed in this tab would be any other object types that have comments attached to them. This would probably look very similar to the way “View as list” looks in the “Overview” tab except that it will only show objects that are being discussed.
• The list of objects would be ordered by the most recently commented (by default) similar to how the most recently posted in topic in a forum shows at the top.
• Each object listed could show the last person to post a comment to the object, the date and time of the most recent comment, as well as displaying the total number of comments posted to an object like in a forum.
• You could also have an option to filter the list by object type to show only Topics, Events, or Tasks (for example) that are being discussed.
• Existing Note objects used primarily for discussions in the past would integrate nicely into the Discussions tab as just another type of object being discussed.

[gwest39]

Attached are some sample images showing what a Topic Object and Discussions Tab might look like. (You need to be logged-in to see the attachments.)

[franponce87]

Even though this is not a bad idea, this can be emulated through notes right now. May be if someone develops the module we may integrate it later on though

Best regards,
Francisco