Enabling Comments and Ratings for Guestbook Entries

Adding Asset Features to Your UI
Step 5 of 5

Liferay DXP’s asset framework lets users comment on and rate assets. As with tags, categories, and related assets, you must update the user interface to expose these features. It’s best to separate the page where users comment on and rate assets from the page where users edit assets. You shouldn’t have to edit an entry to comment on it; that not only makes no sense, it’s a security problem. Comments and ratings should be added in a view mode only.

Follow these steps to enable comments and ratings on guestbook entries:

Create a new file called view_entry.jsp in your guestbook-web module project’s /guestbookwebportlet folder.

Add a Java scriptlet to the file you just created. In this scriptlet, use an entryId request attribute to get an entry object. For security reasons, convert this object to an escaped model as discussed in the earlier step Creating JSPs for Displaying Customs Assets in the Asset Publisher:

<%@ include file="../init.jsp"%>

<%
  long entryId = ParamUtil.getLong(renderRequest, "entryId");

  long guestbookId = ParamUtil.getLong(renderRequest, "guestbookId");

  Entry entry = null;

  if (entryId > 0) {
    entry = EntryLocalServiceUtil.getEntry(entryId);

    entryId = entry.getEntryId();
  }

  entry = EntryLocalServiceUtil.getEntry(entryId);
  entry = entry.toEscapedModel();

  AssetEntry assetEntry = 
  AssetEntryLocalServiceUtil.getEntry(Entry.class.getName(), 
  entry.getEntryId());

Next, update the breadcrumb entry with the the current entry’s name:

String currentURL = PortalUtil.getCurrentURL(request);
PortalUtil.addPortletBreadcrumbEntry(request, entry.getMessage(),
currentURL);

At the end of the scriptlet, add the names of the current entry’s existing asset tags as keywords to the portal page. These tag names appear in a <meta content="[tag names here]" lang="en-US" name="keywords" /> element in your portal page’s <head> section. These keywords can help search engines find and index your page:
```
  PortalUtil.setPageSubtitle(entry.getMessage(), request);
  PortalUtil.setPageDescription(entry.getMessage(), request);

  List<AssetTag> assetTags = 
  AssetTagLocalServiceUtil.getTags(Entry.class.getName(), 
  entry.getEntryId());
  PortalUtil.setPageKeywords(ListUtil.toString(assetTags, "name"), 
  request);
%>
```

After the scriptlet, specify the URLs for the page and back link:

<liferay-portlet:renderURL varImpl="viewEntryURL">
  <portlet:param name="mvcPath"
    value="/guestbookwebportlet/view_entry.jsp" />
  <portlet:param name="entryId" value="<%=String.valueOf(entryId)%>" />
</liferay-portlet:renderURL>

<liferay-portlet:renderURL varImpl="viewURL">
  <portlet:param name="mvcPath"
    value="/guestbookwebportlet/view.jsp" />
</liferay-portlet:renderURL>

<liferay-ui:header backURL="<%=viewURL.toString()%>"
  title="<%=entry.getName()%>" 
/>

Next, define the page’s main content. Display the guestbook’s name, and the entry’s name and message with the <dl>, <dt>, and <dd> tags:
```
<dl>
  <dt>Guestbook</dt>
  <dd><%=GuestbookLocalServiceUtil.getGuestbook(entry.getGuestbookId()).getName()%></dd>
  <dt>Name</dt>
  <dd><%=entry.getName()%></dd>
  <dt>Message</dt>
  <dd><%=entry.getMessage()%></dd>
</dl>
```
This is the same way you defined the page’s main content in /guestbookwebportlet/full_content.jsp.

Next, use a <liferay-ui:panel-container> tag to create a panel container. Inside this tag, use a <liferay-ui:panel> tag to create a panel to display the comments and ratings components:

<liferay-ui:panel-container extended="<%=false%>"
  id="guestbookCollaborationPanelContainer" persistState="<%=true%>">
  <liferay-ui:panel collapsible="<%=true%>" extended="<%=true%>"
    id="guestbookCollaborationPanel" persistState="<%=true%>"
    title="Collaboration">

Add the ratings and comments components via the <liferay-ui:ratings> and <liferay-ui:discussion> tags, respectively. The latter tag needs an action URL (in this case, invokeTaglibDiscussion) for its formAction attribute. The action URL adds the comment after the user enters a comment and clicks Reply:

    <liferay-ui:ratings className="<%=Entry.class.getName()%>"
      classPK="<%=entry.getEntryId()%>" type="stars" />

    <br />

    <portlet:actionURL name="invokeTaglibDiscussion" 
    var="discussionURL" />

    <liferay-ui:discussion className="<%=Entry.class.getName()%>"
      classPK="<%=entry.getEntryId()%>"
      formAction="<%=discussionURL%>" formName="fm2"
      ratingsEnabled="<%=true%>" redirect="<%=currentURL%>"
      userId="<%=entry.getUserId()%>" />

  </liferay-ui:panel>
</liferay-ui:panel-container>

To restrict comments and ratings access to logged-in users, wrap the whole panel container in a <c:if> tag that tests the expression themeDisplay.isSignedIn():
```
<c:if test="<%= themeDisplay.isSignedIn() %>">
    ... your panel container ...
</c:if>
```
Make sure you add the closing </c:if> tag after the closing </liferay-ui:panel-container> tag.

Note: Discussions (comments) are implemented as message board messages in Liferay DXP. In the MBMessage table, there’s a classPK column. This classPK represents the entryId of the guestbook entry the comment belongs to. Ratings are stored in the RatingsEntry table. Similarly, the RatingsEntry table contains a classPK column. This classPK represents the entryId of the guestbook entry the rating belongs to. Using a classPK foreign key in one table to represent the primary key of another table is a common pattern that’s used throughout Liferay DXP.

Next, you’ll update the guestbook actions to use the new view.

Updating the Entry Actions JSP

Nothing links to your view_entry.jsp page–it’s currently orphaned. Fix this by adding the View option to the Actions Menu. Open the /guestbookwebportlet/entry_actions.jsp and find the following line:

<liferay-ui:icon-menu>

Add the following lines below it:

<portlet:renderURL var="viewEntryURL">
  <portlet:param name="entryId"
    value="<%= String.valueOf(entry.getEntryId()) %>" />
  <portlet:param name="mvcPath"
    value="/guestbookwebportlet/view_entry.jsp" />
</portlet:renderURL>

<liferay-ui:icon message="View" url="<%= viewEntryURL.toString() %>" />

Here, you create a URL that points to view_entry.jsp. Test this link by selecting the View option in a guestbook entry’s Actions Menu. Then test that comments and ratings work as expected.

Excellent! You’ve asset-enabled the guestbook and guestbook entry entities, and enabled tags, categories, and related assets for both entities. You’ve also enabled comments and ratings for guestbook entry entities! Great job!

Your next task is to generate web services. This makes it possible to write other clients (such as mobile applications) for the Guestbook application.

« Enabling Tags, Categories, and Related Assets for Guestbook EntriesGenerating Web Services »

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Updating the Entry Actions JSP