Question

Introduction

Callback mode is the default mode for Comments 2.0. In the callback mode, the user needs to configure storage to be able to save comments on the server. The Comments functions (create, reply, edit, delete comment, delete all conversations, and lookup) are configured differently depending upon the server-side storage configuration.

Required settings

Comments 2.0 requires the following functions to be defined:

tinymce.init({
  ...
   tinycomments_create: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_reply: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_delete: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_delete_all: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_delete_comment: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_lookup: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
   tinycomments_edit_comment: function (req, done, fail) { ... },
});

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.

Most (create, reply, and edit) functions require configuring the current author:

• Current author - Comments 2.0 does not know the name of the current user. After a user comments (triggering tinycomments_create for the first comment, or tinycomments_reply for subsequent comments), Comments 2.0 requests the updated conversation via tinycomments_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 configured by the user.

tinycomments_create

Comments 2.0 uses the conversation tinycomments_create function to create a comment.

The tinycomments_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 tinycomments_create function is given a request (req) 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: string // the new conversation uid
}

tinycomments_reply

Comments 2.0 uses the conversation tinycomments_reply function to reply to a comment.

The tinycomments_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 tinycomments_reply function is given a request (req) 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: string // the value of the new comment uid
}

tinycomments_edit_comment

Comments 2.0 uses the conversation tinycomments_edit_comment function to edit a comment.

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

The tinycomments_edit_comment function is given a request (req) 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: boolean, // whether or not the Edit succeeded
  reason: string? // an optional string explaining why the edit was not allowed (if canEdit is false)
}

tinycomments_delete

The tinycomments_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 tinycomments_delete function is given a request (req) 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 // whether or not the conversation can be deleted
  reason: string? // 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.

tinycomments_delete_all

The tinycomments_delete_all 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 tinycomments_delete_all function is given a request (req) object as the first parameter with no fields.

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

{
  canDelete: boolean, // whether or not all conversations can be deleted
  reason: string? // an optional string explaining why the deleteAll 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.

tinycomments_delete_comment

The tinycomments_delete_comment 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 tinycomments_delete_comment function is given a request (req) 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, // whether or not an individual comment can be deleted
  reason: string? // an optional reason 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.

tinycomments_lookup

Comments 2.0 uses the Conversation tinycomments_lookup function to retrieve an existing conversation via a conversation unique ID.

The Display names configuration must be considered for the tinycomments_lookup function:

• Display names - Comments 2.0 uses a simple string for the display name. For the lookup function, Comments 2.0 expects each comment to contain the author’s display name, not a user ID, as Comments 2.0 does not know the user identities. The lookup function should be implemented considering this and resolve user identifiers to an appropriate display name.

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

The tinycomments_lookup function is given a request (req) 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:

{
 conversation: {
   uid: string, // the uid of the conversation,
   comments: [
    {
      author: string, // author of first comment
      createdAt: date, // when the first comment was created
      content: string // content of first comment
      modifiedAt: date // when the first comment was last created/updated
      uid: string // the uid of the first comment in the conversation
    },
    {
      author: string, // author of second comment
      createdAt: date, // when the second comment was created
      content: string // content of second comment
      modifiedAt: date // when the second comment was last created/updated
      uid: string // the uid of the second comment in the conversation
    }
  ]
 }
}

Note: The dates should use ISO 8601 format. This can be generated in JavaScript with: new Date().toISOString().

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