Adding comments to right sidebar for files & folders

[MTRichards]

(pulling some info from meta-data app owncloud-archive/metadata#1)

As an ownCloud user, I want to be able to add a threaded comment to a file and a folder inside ownCloud so that I can have a conversation about the file or the folder within ownCloud.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Comment window appears in right side window
• I can click in the comment window and add a comment to the file
• When I click submit on the comment, it appears at the top of the comment in the window
• Comments are reverse chronological order, and can be scrolled down. A popup can be clicked if there are more than three comments that are worth reading to simplify seeing many comments at once
• The popup has the ability to also add a comment, so the commenter can add the latest while also seeing the long list of other comments
• Comments can be up to 1000 characters in length, but the displayed comment is limited in length to 250 characters. Only when the user clicks the popup window will the full comment be displayed in the window.
• In the files view, when the file or folder is not focused (not clicked on my user) an icon simply shows that a comment(s) has/have been added to the file, only clicking on the file or folder brings up the right side panel can the latest be read.
• Comments sidebar show for each comment the username of who made the comment and when (date and time).
• Max number of comments on a file or folder is limited to a value configured in the admin panel for this app. The behavior if the max # is reached is also configurable (these are only example names):
  • max_comments > 100
  • disable_or_delete_comment_after_max > disable
    • disable means no more comments can be added
    • delete means the oldest comment will be deleted
• Users cannot delete comments they did not make at any time from the file / folder comment view with a little x.

@jancborchardt input appreciated here to from a design standpoint.

[jancborchardt]

First work-in-progress of a sidebar: #16414

[jancborchardt]

As mentioned in the work in progress pull request at #16414, it would be good if we can combine the versions and the comments in one timeline. They belong to each other since people will probably make revisions based on comments, and it makes it easily visible if someone acted upon a comment.

If we choose to also add the activity for that file/folder in that sidebar that should also be part of this timeline since it’s the same thing. That is, no separate sections needed for Activity, Versions and Comments.

Mockup of this (as posted in #16308 (comment) ):

(source in the design repo)

[MTRichards]

Ok, as long as it can be done in a simple, easy to understand timeline...great. Any screens to take a peek?

On May 18, 2015, at 3:28 PM, Jan-Christoph Borchardt [email protected] wrote:

As mentioned in the work in progress pull request at #16414, it would be good if we can combine the versions and the comments in one timeline. They belong to each other since people will probably make revisions based on comments, and it makes it easily visible if someone acted upon a comment.

If we choose to also add the activity for that file/folder in that sidebar that should also be part of this timeline since it’s the same thing. That is, no separate sections needed for Activity, Versions and Comments.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[oparoz]

Please tag each entry with a category (comment, revision, etc.) as most people commenting on pictures will only care about comments while designers will be interested in the whole history, etc.

[PVince81]

• backend support for getting/setting comments (database table, etc)
• frontend JS classes for getting/setting comments (maybe together we the other things like versions and co)

[PVince81]

We might need a new special endpoint on the backend that returns all informations combined (comments, activity, versions)

[raimund-schluessler]

In my opinion we also need a separate permission for commenting, which allows a user to comment on a shared file which he might not be allowed to edit. This was suggested in owncloud/tasks#169

[jancborchardt]

I would for now combine the ability of viewing and commenting. Otherwise we will be in permission-hell again.

[jancborchardt]

Moving the comment functionality to 9.0 as we have 8.2 feature freeze today.

[karlitschek]

yes. definitely 9.0

[PVince81]

• support for read/unread comments by user (to be able to support showing an indicator about new comments on the files list rows, as requested). Use "last read mtime" instead of flagging every comment. Should be enough for now.

[PVince81]

• comments in plain text (for now)

[PVince81]

• integrate comments into timeline tab: Files Activity timeline tab containing comments, versions and activities #20259

[nickvergessen]

activity, not notification

[PVince81]

@karlitschek mind posting your thoughts regarding notifications ?
Maybe something to discuss in a separate ticket.

[nickvergessen]

maybe on mentioning a notification makes sense, but not in general for any comment...

[karlitschek]

We should port notification if something 'interesting' happens. The question now is what is 'interesting' :-)
Definitely on mention as @nickvergessen Can we parse the comments already for all possible usernames? Otherwise maybe a new comment on a shared file that I own is also 'interesting'? Or if there are several comments in a short period of time?
@jancborchardt What do you think?

[karlitschek]

We should definitely do some kind of notification in some cases. Otherwise comments might not get noticed by the people.

[jancborchardt]

Yeah, definitely on mentions. Then a second setting could be to receive notifications for all files you can see.

For the first, default should be on for both Mail and Web. Second off by default.

[nickvergessen]

Notifications have no "mail and web", that's activities...

[PVince81]

@jancborchardt @karlitschek please re-read the acceptance criteria #16328 (comment) and tell me what you think about the popup approach. I know that @jancborchardt is against pop ups so might need to adjust the requirements accordingly.

[PVince81]

@MTRichards the acceptance criteria doesn't mention editing and deleting comments, or just indirectly.
It probably makes sense to let users edit and delete only their own comments. (pencil/trash icon)

[karlitschek]

what do you mean with popup approach?

[PVince81]

See @MTRichards's original requirement: #16328 (comment)
Basically to post a comment, click on a button and have the "new comment" form inside a popup, and still be able to scroll through comments. I guess instead of a popup we could make the field on top sticky (doesn't scroll with the list)

[karlitschek]

ahh ok. i would suggest to do the comment form embedded inline in the sidebar and not doing an actual popup.
what do you think @MTRichards

[PVince81]

and it is also said that comments can be clicked to be displayed in a popup. The UI would only show 250 chars, to see the rest, click on the comment to see it in a popup.

But then @jancborchardt's mock up shows the comments on single lines...

[karlitschek]

can we show the first x characters of the comment and expand it in the sidebar when clicking a 'more' link/button ? :

[PVince81]

can we show the first x characters of the comment and expand it in the sidebar when clicking a 'more' link/button ? :

Sounds good. Maybe a "..." button or something

[karlitschek]

yes :-)

[MTRichards]

@karlitschek

ahh ok. i would suggest to do the comment form embedded inline in the sidebar and not doing an actual popup.
what do you think @MTRichards

Yes - not trying to be literal, this is ok for me.

also like the "..." button to expand it.

@MTRichards the acceptance criteria doesn't mention editing and deleting comments, or just indirectly.
It probably makes sense to let users edit and delete only their own comments. (pencil/trash icon)

Users cannot delete comments they did not make at any time from the file / folder comment view with a little x.

Yes! users should be able to edit / delete comments that they make. I like the pencil trashcan option.

[PVince81]

The main PR was merged, so it's already possible to post comments now: #21961

Here are open tasks to enhance it further:

• allow owner to edit/delete their own comments => Comment owner can now edit or delete #22108
• implement "mark as read" logic + file row indicator => Add file row indicator for unread comments #22101
• make sure that "deleted user" is handled properly Special label for deleted users in comments list #22121
• needs upstream patch Auto-parse multistatus if status code is 207 davclient.js#16
• show max 3 rows of each comment, add button/link to expand Collapse long comments #22138
• add 1000 chars limits (JS and backend): Limit comment size to 1000 in UI #22163
• publish activity when a user writes a comment on a file Activities for comments #22152

[PVince81]

There are also some remaining backend tasks:

• backend tasks File Comments Interfaces and Implementations #20409

[MorrisJobke]

Closing this because all is in 💃

[PVince81]

@Sorglos there is no such setting

[lock]

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.