Forum Application (Pro)

Last modified by Administrator on 2024/12/07 00:01

Forum Application (Pro)

Discuss and collaborate in XWiki with forums, topics, answers and comments. Add votes and like answers. Flag inappropriate content. The app can be purchased individually or part of the XWiki Pro package. Try it free.

CategoryApplication
Active Installs12
Rating
0 Votes
LicenseGNU Lesser General Public License 2.1
Minimal XWiki version supportedXWiki 13.10
SourcesIssues
Table of contents

The Forum Pro application boasts the following features:

  • Multiple Forums creation
  • Topic creation
  • Answering to topics
  • Commenting on topics
  • Voting
  • Ordering topics by number of comments or votes
  • Editing all fields (topics, answers, comments) in WYSIWYG, including Images and Macros
  • Admin or Topic Manager forum/topic/answer/comment deleting
  • Flagging inappropriate content with Flag queue for moderators

External Resources

Topics

Forum Template

A Forum Template is displayed in the page creation wizard.

forumTemplate.png

This application lets you flag inappropriate content on an answer, comment or topic. Everytime you want to flag one of the previous items, you just have to press the flag icon flag.png inside each element. 

Here are some screenshots:

flagCreation.png

Flag creation

flagList.png

Flag list

The flag list provides you information about the:

  • Reason - a motive why an user thought that conversation should be flagged
  • User - current user that flagged the conversation
  • Date - date and hour at which the conversation was flagged
  • Moderator - user that created the conversation that is flagged
  • Status - flag status (open/ resolved/ in progress)

To receive an email when you flag a topic/answer/comment you need to have the mail sending configured (http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Mail%20Application ) and also, in XWIki Preferences, go to edit mode ( http://localhost:8080/xwiki/bin/edit/XWiki/XWikiPreferences), then Edit Objects, under Objects of type XWiki.XWikiPreferences open the Object and add an email address to Admin email.

Most active topics panel

Among other functionalities, Forum application offers you a simple way to visualize the Most active topics. You can also order them ascending or descending, regarding creation date, number of votes or number of comments, with a simple click on the sorting arrows.

panel.png

Recent Forum Discussions macro

RecentForumDiscussions.png

Forum rights management

There are few entities that we should focus on when we are talking about rights in the Forum application: forum, topic, answer and comment.
By default, any regular user is allowed to perform the same actions on all the above mentioned entities, just as they are on any other wiki page: create a new one, edit any(even created by others), delete only those for which is the creator.
In order to be able to properly configure a rights schema on Forum application, please read and understand the XWiki Access Rights Guide.
Since the default behavior often needs to be modified to meet the requirements, the following sections represent some general use cases and the solutions that address them:

Allow only certain users to create a forum

In order to allow only certain users to create a forum, two actions have to be done, by an user with admin rights (using, in each case, the menu > Administer page > Rights: Page & Children):

  • from Forums.WebHome page -> explicitly allow edit rights only for the needed users or groups of users (this will prevent all the other users to create, edit, delete).
  • from each Forum page -> explicitly allow edit rights for XWikiAllGroup (this will resume the unwanted behavior from the previous action).

This is a simple rights schema achievable when there are no other rights constraints on the Forum application. Things get complicated, otherwise.

Close a forum, topic or answer

An entity can be closed when is considered to be at end of live and the activity on it should stop. Nothing can be created, edited or deleted.
A closed forum implies that all the topics and answers are closed.
A closed topic implies that all the answers are closed.
When an entity needs to be closed, an user with Admin rights can deny edit and comment rights for all the users by explicitly allowing the edit and comment rights to some Admin/Moderator users or groups (using, in each case, the menu > Administer page > Rights: Page & Children).

Delete a forum, topic or answer

Deletion can be performed, by default, only by Admin users. It will also work when in the forum is only one participant (the creator).
By default Forums, Topics and Answers can be deleted only by their creators and Admin users. However, an user can't delete a forum if is not allowed to delete all the topics children and their answers children.
Deleting a forum means that all its topics and answers are being deleted.
Deleting a topic means that all its answers are being deleted.
A forum creator must be explicitly allowed to delete a forum, in order to be able to delete the topics and answers (using the menu > Administer page > Rights: Page & Children). The same applies when a topic creator wants to delete a topic. An answer can be deleted by its creator without any constraint.

For more advanced rights schemes, please contact us 

Installation Steps

This paid extensions requires XWiki 13.10 or above. In order to install the extension, follow the next steps inside your XWiki instance (on cloud or on premise).

Navigate to the Extension Manager

In the Applications Panel click on "More Applications..." and then "Install new applications...". Alternatively navigate directly to the Administration and select the "Extensions" section.

step1.png

Install the Extension

Search for the extension you wish to install and use the Install button to install it.

step2.png

Get a License

Navigate to the "Licenses" section of the Administration, fill your details, look for the extension you just installed in the live table and click the buttons to get a trial license or to buy a license.

step3.png

Install the License

If you have selected a trial license then you're good and there's nothing else to do. Your trial license is automatically installed.

However if you've selected to buy a license you'll be redirected to a page to perform the payment. At the end you need to come back to the "Licenses" administration section and click on the "Check for Updates" button. This will download and apply the license you bought.

Use the Extension

Start using the Extension! Refer to the extension's documentation to know how to use it.

Installing Paid Apps on Subwikis

If you want to install an application on the whole farm (main wiki + subwikis), you can do so directly from the main wiki’s Extension Manager, as seen below:

step4.png

Extensions can also be installed only on a particular subwiki by global admins. Subwiki admins will not be able to install these extensions due to their limited rights.

Options

The price is per year and varies depending on the support level and the number of users.

Support / Users 10 25 50 100 250 500 1000 2500 5000 10000 20000
Silver
Forum Application (Pro) is part of the XWiki Pro package. Purchasing this package you will benefit from more extensions at a better price. Check the full offer in XWiki Pro! The Forum Application (Pro) can be purchased individually only via online order (credit card payment), following the “How to Buy” procedure described below. The application is part of the XWiki Pro package, which can be purchased through manual order (bank transfer payment) by contacting sales@xwiki.com.

Benefits

What do you get when you purchase an XWiki extension?

1 year license

By purchasing an XWiki extension license, you'll benefit from it during one year.

Free updates

You benefit from all the extension updates during one year. You are always up to date.

Support included

If you are facing an issue, you can reach the XWiki support. Our team is always available to help.

How to Buy

To buy, install this extension from inside your XWiki instance and follow the instructions.

Release notes

v2.9.2

Upgrades:

  • #115 Upgrade Licensor dependency to version 1.25

v2.9.1

Upgrades:

  • #114 Upgrade Licensor dependency to version 1.24.3

v2.9

Tasks done:

#110 Upgrade parent to 13.10-3

Upgraded licensing version to 1.24.1.

Upgraded tour application version to 1.3.7.

v2.8.2

Bugs fixed:

  • #106 Topics and answers cannot be voted anymore

Update the Licensing dependency version to 1.22

v2.8.1

Updated the Licensing dependency to version 1.20

v2.8

Bugs fixed:
#99 Can't edit comments

Update the minimal supported version to XWiki 11.10.
Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.19.

v2.7.4

Bugs fixed:
#52 Share on Facebook feature returns an error.

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.16.1.

v2.7.3

New feature:
#98 Add support for offline installation.

v2.7.2

Bugs fixed:
#92 Tour pages need to be modified.
#94 Uninstalling Tour Application uninstalls the Forum Application.

Improvements:
#93 Upgrade the Tour version latest version.

v2.7.1

Bugs fixed:
#84 Forums cannot be viewed with an user (that created it).

v2.7

Bugs fixed:
#73 Missing empty space.
#81 The topic title is not correctly displayed on the 'Recent Forum Discussions' macro.

Update the minimal supported version to XWiki 9.11.
Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.14.3.
Update the Tour Application dependency to version 1.3.1

v2.6.2

Improvements:
#77 Move Application Extension Point to ApplicationsPanelEntry.

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.14.4.

v2.6.1

Bugs fixed:
#46 Console warnings and errors.
#71 Additional message displayed on the application's page when there is no valid license.

Improvements:
#69 Make changes in the way the new mail sender API was integrated.

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.14.3.

v2.6

Bugs fixed:
#58 AWM translation key used in Add forum modal box.
#65 Missing empty spaces.

Improvements:
#23 Mails sent by Forum should appear in the Mail Sending Status.
#63 Add the posibility to "Like" an answer.

v2.5.9

Improvements:
#27 Upgrade the Tour version to 1.2.
#29 Add ability to enable social buttons from the Forum Administration.

v2.5.8

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.13.8.

v2.5.7

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.13.4.

v2.5.6

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.13.2.

v2.5.5

Bugs fixed:
#22 Topics in forums with dot in the name are not listed properly - on mysql.
#33 Topics and Answers don't have default language set.
#35 Can't edit or remove a comment if the user isn't the one that created the topic.

v2.5.4

Bugs fixed:
#11 Sorting in the Most Active Topics doesn't work properly.
#30 Uploaded images are not saved inside topic description.
#31 User name is showing as syntax when adding a comment to an answer.

v2.5.3

Bugs fixed:
#25 Homepage Tour does not work.

v2.5.2

Bugs fixed:
#17 Permalink model box is not displayed for Topics.
#19 Livetable on the homepage of forums fails to display results if a forum contains a dot in its name.
#20 Add Topic/Answer buttons are not displayed in some cases.

v2.5.1

Bugs fixed:
#18 Allow right management on application's root.

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.13.

v2.5

Bugs fixed:
#3 Error when deleting a comment.
#4 Cannot add an answer if the topic and the forum are created by the same (another) user.
#5 Uncaught error when adding an answer.
#6 Cannot add more than one answer to a topic.
#7 Fix the Flag's target management.
#8 Adding an answer containing a line break near the beginning breaks further comments operations
#9 The existing comment text is not visible when editing the comment.
#10 The delete comment notification is not properly aligned.
#12 Token verification fails when adding a comment.
#14 Cannot access the app's configuration from Administration.
#16 Code appears after adding an Answer to a Topic.

Migration:
In this version, some improvements were done in the Flag's management that would require a migration. In order to perform it, go to ForumCode/Migrations/2.5.

v2.4.2

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.12.2.

v2.4.1

Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.12.1.

v2.4

Improve the message displayed when there is no valid license.
Update the Licensing dependency to version 1.8.

v2.3

Initial paid version.

Extension details

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License

  • GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1

Sources

Issues

Type

  • xar

Developed by

Compatibility

  • Requires XWiki 13.10 or above.

Installable with the Extension Manager

Dependencies

  • com.xwiki.licensing:application-licensing-licensor-api 1.25
  • com.xwiki.forum:application-forum-api 2.9.2
  • org.xwiki.contrib:application-tour-ui 1.3.7
  • org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-display-macro 13.10
  • org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ratings-ui 13.10