tinymce-docs-4x/advanced/configuring-comments-callbacks.md

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default	Configuring callbacks for comments	Configuring callbacks for comments	Instructions for configuring callbacks for Comments	comments commenting tinycomments callback

Introduction

Callback mode is the default mode for Tiny Comments. In the callback mode the user needs to configure storage to be able to save comments on the server. The storage settings can be configured to either persist the comments immediately or save them at the same time as the content. How the comments are stored effects when other users see new comments. The Comments functions (create, reply, edit, delete comment, delete all conversations, and lookup) are configured differently depending upon the server-side storage configuration.

Helper Functions

Comments uses the following helper functions:

• setConversation(uid, conversation) setConversation is a function written to synchronously write a conversation to a form field for submission to the server later.

• randomString() randomString() is a function used in the create function to return a 62-bits random strings to provision a large number of UIDs.

• getConversation(uid) getConversation is a function written to synchronously retrieve an existing conversation from a form field populated by the server.

• deleteConversation(uid) deleteConversation(uid) is a function to allow only the first commenter to delete a comment.

• deleteAllConversations() deleteAllConversations() is a function to delete all the conversations in a document.

• getAuthorDisplayName(uid) getAuthorDisplayName(authorID) is a function to retrieve an existing conversation via a conversation UID (authorID in our example).

Comments Implementation Functions

Comments requires the following functions to be defined:

tinymce.init({
  ...
   tinycomments_create: create,
   tinycomments_reply: reply,
   tinycomments_delete: del,
   tinycomments_delete_all: deleteAll,
   tinycomments_delete_comment: deleteComment,
   tinycomments_lookup: lookup,
   tinycomments_edit_comment: editComment
});

All functions incorporate done and fail callbacks as parameters. The function return type is not important, but all functions must call exactly one of these two callbacks: fail or done.

• The fail callback takes either a string or a JavaScript Error type.

• The done callback takes an argument specific to each function.

Considerations

Display Names

Comments expects each comment to contain the author's display name, not a user ID, as Comments does not know the user identities. The lookup function should be implemented considering this and resolve user identifiers to an appropriate display name.

Current Author

Comments does not know the name of the current user. After a user comments (triggering create for the first comment, or reply for subsequent comments) Comments requests the updated conversation via lookup, which should now contain the additional comment with the proper author. Determining the current user, and storing the comment related to that user, has to be done by the user.

Create

Comments uses the Conversation create function to create a comment.

The create function saves the comment as a new conversation and returns a unique conversation ID via the done callback. If an unrecoverable error occurs, it should indicate this with the fail callback.

The create function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has these fields:

• content: the content of the comment to create.

• createdAt: the date the comment was created.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  conversationUid: whatever the new conversation uid is
}

Reply

Comments uses the conversation reply function to reply to a comment.

The reply function saves the comment as a reply to an existing conversation and returns via the done callback once successful. Unrecoverable errors are communicated to TinyMCE by calling the fail callback instead.

The reply function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has these fields:

• conversationUid: the uid of the conversation the reply is a part of.

• content: the content of the comment to create.

• createdAt: the date the comment was created.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  commentUid: the value of the new comment uid
}

Edit

Comments uses the conversation edit function to edit a comment.

The edit function allows updating or changing an original comments and returns via the done callback once successful. Unrecoverable errors are communicated to TinyMCE by calling the fail callback instead.

The edit function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has these fields:

• conversationUid: the uid of the conversation the reply is a part of.

• commentUid: the uid of the comment to edit (it can be the same as conversationUid if editing the first comment in a conversation)

• content: the content of the comment to create.

• modifiedAt: the date the comment was modified.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  canEdit: whether or not the Edit succeeded
  reason: an optional string explaining why the edit was not allowed (if canEdit is false)
}

Delete

The delete function should asynchronously return a flag indicating whether the comment/comment thread was removed using the done callback. Unrecoverable errors are communicated to TinyMCE by calling the fail callback instead.

The delete function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has this field:

• conversationUid: the uid of the conversation the reply is a part of.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  canDelete:boolean
  reason: an optional string explaining why the delete was not allowed (if canDelete is false)
}

Note: Failure to delete due to permissions or business rules is indicated by "false", while unexpected errors should be indicated using the "fail" callback.

DeleteAll

The deleteAll function should asynchronously return a flag indicating whether all the comments in a conversation were removed using the done callback. Unrecoverable errors are communicated to TinyMCE by calling the fail callback instead.

The deleteAll function is given a request object as the first parameter with no fields.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  canDelete:boolean
  reason: an optional string explaining why the delete all was not allowed (if canDelete is false)
}

Note: Failure to delete due to permissions or business rules is indicated by "false", while unexpected errors should be indicated using the "fail" callback.

DeleteComments

The deleteComment function should asynchronously return a flag indicating whether the comment/comment thread was removed using the done callback. Unrecoverable errors are communicated to TinyMCE by calling the fail callback instead.

The deleteComments function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has these fields:

• conversationUid: the uid of the conversation the reply is a part of.
• commentUid: the uid of the comment to delete (cannot be the same as conversationUid)

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
  canDelete:boolean
  reason: an optional reason
}

Note: Failure to delete due to permissions or business rules is indicated by "false", while unexpected errors should be indicated using the "fail" callback.

Lookup

Comments uses the Conversation lookup function to retrieve an existing conversation via a conversation unique ID.

The conventional conversation object structure that should be returned via the done callback is as follows:

The lookup function is given a request object as the first parameter, which has this field:

• conversationUid: the uid of the conversation the reply is a part of.

The done callback needs to take an object of the form:

{
 comments: [
   {
     author: 'Demouser1',
     createdAt: 'date',
     content: 'Starter',
     modifiedAt: 'date',
     uid: 'asfasdf87dfas08asd0fsadflsadf'
   },
   {
    author: 'Demouser2',
    createdAt: 'date',
    content: 'Reply',
    modifiedAt: 'date',
    uid: 'asfasdf87dfas08asd0fsadflsadg’'
   },
 ]
}

 ]
}

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