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Creating a reply

When you run a createReply action, the forums data sink uses a number of extra form fields.

They are listed here:

  • parentEntryLink

    Specifies the raw Atom entry link of the forum topic or forum topic reply to post a reply to. This link must point directly to the HCL Connections server rather than to the Ajax proxy of the portal.

  • parentRepliesLink

    Specifies the raw replies link of the forum topic or forum topic reply to post a reply to. This link must point directly to the HCL Connections server rather than to the Ajax proxy of the portal. -

  • replyTitle

    Specifies the optional title of the reply to create.

  • replyContent

    Specifies the content of the reply to create.

The following code snippet shows a sample form for creating a reply. It uses the AttributeResource tag of Web Content Manager to set the ID, the entry link, and the replies link of the parent social object in the context of a social list.

<form method="POST" 
    enctype="multipart/form-data" action="[Plugin:ActionURL action="post" 
    param="resultSessionAttribute=myResult" param="resultRenderParameter=myResult" 
        compute=“always“]">    
    <input type="hidden" name="_charset_" 
           value="[Plugin:EvaluateEL value="${pageContext.response.characterEncoding}" 
           compute="once"]"/>    
    <input type="hidden" name="action.uri" 
           value="forums:sr:[AttributeResource attributeName="id"]"/>    
    <input type="hidden" name="action" value="createReply"/>    
    <input type="hidden" name="parentEntryLink" 
           value="[AttributeResource attributeName="rawEntryLink"]"/>    
    <input type="hidden" name="parentRepliesLink" 
           value="[AttributeResource attributeName="rawRepliesLink"]"/>
  Title: 
    <input type="text" name="replyTitle"/><br/>    
    <textarea name="replyContent" rows="3" cols="25">Please enter your reply.</textarea><br/>     
    <input type="submit" value="Post"/>
</form>

If the createReply action is successful, the forums data sink returns a JSON object. Example:

{
  "status":"success",
  "message":"Your reply has been created.",
  "formData":{
      "action.uri":"forums:sr:8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91",
      "action":"createReply",
      "parentEntryLink":"https://.../forums/atom/topic?topicUuid=8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91",
      "parentRepliesLink":"https://.../forums/atom/replies?topicUuid=8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91"
  },
  "resultData":{
      "replyID":"urn:lsid:ibm.com:forum:815b1a6d-5a3c-4730-91d2-094075ff2e5d"
  }
}

If the createReply action fails, the forums data sink returns a JSON object as seen in the following sample:

{
  "status":"error",
  "message":"Your reply could not be created. If the problem persists, contact the system administrator.",
  "formData":{
      "action.uri":"forums:sr:8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91",
      "action":"createReply",
      "parentEntryLink":"https://.../forums/atom/topic?topicUuid=8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91",
      "parentRepliesLink":"https://.../forums/atom/replies?topicUuid=8fd51c01-6505-4d78-b364-415edf649e91",
      "replyTitle":"My Forum Topic Reply",
      "replyContent":"This is my reply to the forum topic."
  }
}

Note

The formData property contains the actual form input, which includes all additional form data that you submit. If the action is successful, the replyTitle and replyContent are not returned to the caller.