Post Settings

Post Settings

Return to Overview of the Configuration Toolpane

PostSettings.pngThe Post Settings section of the tool pane helps you configure how posts behave in Discussion Board Plus. Many of the options to configure Post Settings is a simple check on a box or radio button as described below.

Default topic view

When a user clicks on a topic in a Discussion Board Plus list, the Default topic view setting determines how posts in the topic are initially displayed. Users can switch to a different view using the View drop-down list in the Browse ribbon.
sa75breadcrumb.png

For more details about each view, see About Discussion Board Plus Views.

Enable Verify Answer

You can control whether one or more answers can be verified using either radio button for Single Answer or Multiple Answers. The default is set for multiple answers, but you can click the radio button next to Single Answer to set the board to have only one verified answer. When Verify Answer is enabled, users with the required permissions in Discussion Board Plus can mark a post as the Verified Answer for the discussion thread by clicking the Verify Answer option in the toolbar at the top of the post.

NOTE: When this feature is disabled, the Verify Answer option is not visible to users. For information about how users interact with the Verify Answer feature, see Using Suggest as Answer and Verify Answer.

Enable Suggest as Answer

When Suggest as Answer is enabled, users with the required permissions can mark posts as Suggested Answers for the discussion thread by clicking the Suggest as Answer option in the toolbar at the top of the post. When this feature is disabled, the Suggest as Answer option is not visible to users.

NOTE: Posts can still be marked as Verified Answers when Suggest as Answer is disabled.

More details about:

Modifying the Timer Job Schedule for Community Central

Modifying the Timer Job Schedule for Community Central

Return to Troublshooting Timer Jobs

Both of the Community Central timer jobs (the Master Timer Job and the Update Site Information Time Job) are set by default to run every five minutes. The timer job schedule settings can be modified by following these few steps:

Step Action Description
1. From Central Administration, click the Monitoring link in the left-side panel.
2. Click the Review job definitions link in the Timer Jobs section. SA15_ReviewJobDefinitions_2013.png
3. Scroll down the list of job definition titles and locate the two Community Central timer jobs. Click on the timer job you wish to modify. SA15_ListTimerJobs.jpg
4. Enter the new values on which you want the timer job to run. First, click the radio button to select Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. Next, enter the corresponding time value for the job.

For example, if you want the timer job to run every 15 minutes, click to select Minutes, and then enter 15 in the Every_minute(s) field.

SA15_ModifyTimerJobSchedule.jpg

NOTE: Each timer job may take several minutes to complete processing; therefore, these jobs cannot be set to run less often than every five minutes. If a value of less than five minutes is entered, Community Central will change the value back to the default minimum of five minutes to maintain a processing safety cushion.

5. Click OK to save the new settings. Click Run Now to run the timer job immediately.

NOTE: You can check the Last run time: for the job on the same page within the Job Properties row.

Localize Bamboo Applications or Custom Columns

Localize Bamboo Applications or Custom Columns

Overview of the localization process for Bamboo Products

Bamboo applications and custom columns are slightly different than web parts when it comes to localizing/translating. The user interface isn’t confined to a web part, but can exist as site definitions or other custom pages. For example, the configuration of a Bamboo custom column is within the SharePoint list settings area.
The text strings that require translation are located in different files than the strings that appear in a web part.

Changing the language or text for an application or custom column is a multi-step process:

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About the Language Files

Text displayed in a Bamboo application may be included in one or both of the following locations:

  • Provisioning Resources. These resources are located in the 12, 14, or 15 “Hive”, in the Resources folder. The number of the Hive depends on the version of SharePoint you are using (e.g., SP2007 has a 12 Hive, SP2010 has a 14 Hive, and SP2013 has a 15 Hive). 14Hiveresources.jpg

    The Bamboo.*.resx files include text used in site features, site definitions, list definitions, and other provisioning resource elements. Any changes you make in these files will apply to new product instances only.

  • Application/Runtime Resources. These are also located in the 12, 14, or 15 Hive, but in the CONFIGResources folder.The Bamboo.*.resx file in the CONFIG folder is different than the one included in the Resource folder.14HiveCONFIGResources.jpg This one includes text used in application pages, custom site menu actions, navigation elements, and other runtime resources. Any changes you make will apply to new and existing product instances only.

In each location, there may be multiple versions of Bamboo.*.resx files with identical content. The different files are provided for English (en-US), German (de-DE), French (fr-FR), and Spanish (es-ES). The content of all files is in English until you translate it to your language. If your site is configured to use a language that does not have a corresponding Bamboo product .resx file, copy an existing file and rename it to include the culture name for that language pack. For example, create a file for Italian by saving the default file as Bamboo.[Product].it-IT.resx. Make your changes to this new file. If your site is configured to use a specific language but you do not have a culture-specific file, the product will use the default Bamboo.[Product].resx file instead.

Icon-WarningIMPORTANT: If you customize one of the default resource files provided with the product, your changes will be overwritten when you upgrade.

To avoid losing customizations, copy the customized file to a different location (not the same folder) before upgrading. After the upgrade is finished, compare the new file with your customized file to incorporate any new entries. Then copy the merged file to the Resources folder. Culture-specific files created for languages that are not provided with the product will not be overwritten during an upgrade, but you still need to incorporate new resource entries.

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Editing text in resource files

Icon-WarningIMPORTANT: Before making any changes, back up your original file to a different folder.

To change text in a resource file, open it in a text editor and locate the text you want to change. Editable text is usually found between the <value></value> tags, as shown in the screen shot below. Do not modify the data tag. If you want to remove text completely, delete only the text; do not delete the <data> or <value> entries from the file, or the server will display an error message. In the example below, the editable text is highlighted in gray.

Common_resxEdit.jpg

When you are finished with your changes, save the file and copy it to the appropriate Resources *folder on *all Web front-end servers in your SharePoint farm. Follow the instructions below to make your changes take effect.

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Applying Language File Updates

To apply changes to Provisioning Resource Files:

If you modified the provisioning resources file, apply your changes by restarting Web services with the following command on all Web front-end servers.

iisreset

NOTE: changes to provisioning resources affect new instances of the Bamboo product only; existing instances of the product are not updated.

To apply changes to Application/Runtime Resource Files:

If you modified the application/runtime resources file, apply your changes by executing the following stsadm command on all Web front-end servers. This command copies the updated resource file to the App_GlobalResources folder of each Web application. Changes apply to existing product instances and any new instances you create.

stsadm -o CopyAppBinContent

NOTE: Changes apply to EXISTING product instances AND any new instances you create.

Enable Lock and Unlock Topic

Enable Lock and Unlock Topic

Return to Configuration Overview

LockInRibbon.png Within the ribbon settings, users with the required permissions can lock a thread to prevent any further replies or updates by clicking the Lock Topic button in the List Tools > Items ribbon of the Discussion Board Plus list or by selecting the Lock Topic option in the item drop-down menu for a topic.

Threads can be unlocked using the Unlock Topic button or item drop-down menu option. When this feature is disabled, the Lock Topic and Unlock Topic options are not available.

After a thread is locked, all editing actions are disabled for everyone except site collection administrators:

  • Existing posts cannot be edited.
  • New replies cannot be posted.
  • Answers cannot be suggested, verified, or removed.

See also:

Enable CAPTCHA Technology

Enable CAPTCHA Technology

You can enable CAPTCHA technology in Community Central to protect your blog site from attacks by spam bots.

When CAPTCHA is enabled, blog readers who want to comment on a post must type the characters that appear in a randomly-generated image to prove they are “human”. If the characters do not match, the comment is not accepted.
SA15_CommentAreaCAPCHA.jpg

See also:

“Do’s and Don’ts” for using SharePoint Designer to modify Community Central pages

“Do’s and Don’ts” for using SharePoint Designer to modify Community Central pages

Advanced users can use SharePoint Designer to customize the site skin by modifying *.CSS and *.XSLT files.

All files in the Skin folder can be modified, but we recommend that only users with knowledge of CSS/XSLT design make changes to these files.

Make sure to do a backup before making any changes.
In addition, we recommend that you do not modify any of the following files:

  • Bamboo.Central.master
  • Bamboo.Blog.master
  • Bamboo.Forum.master
  • Default.aspx
  • Search.aspx
  • Forums.aspx
  • Blogs.aspx

Do not modify ANY .aspx file in the Admin folder.

Customizing Points Awarded for Community Central Activities

Customizing Points Awarded for Community Central Activities

Return to Overview of the Configuration Toolpane

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Community Central awards points to contributors for their participation in blogs and forums. Points are tracked and used to identify Most Active Users and Top Experts.
SA15_EditScoringRulePoints2O15.png By default, the following Scoring Rules are provided by Community Central but you can customize the number of points awarded for Community Central activities.

Points are awarded for blog and forum activities as listed in the table below:

To customize the points awarded for each activity, do the following:

  1. In a Community Central Home page, go to Community Central Control Panel.
  2. In the Community Central General Settings section, click Manage scoring rules.
  3. To change the number of points for any item, select it and click Edit Item.
  4. Change the Points field to the new value. For point deduction, enter “-” and the number, as in “-2”, to deduct two points, for example. Click Save.

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For Blog Activities

Action (Title)
Points
Description
Create a new blog post
2
Points are awarded to the author for either creating a new blog post or a new forum topic.
Comment on a blog post
1
Points are awarded to the author of a blog post when someone comments on that blog post.
Update a blog post.
0
Points are awarded to the author for updating their existing blog post or forum topic.
Delete a blog post
-2
Points are deducted from the author when their existing blog post or forum topic is deleted.
Delete a blog comment
-1
Points are deducted from the author of a blog post when any comments are deleted from that blog post.

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For Forum Activities

Action (Title)
Points
Description
Create a new forum topic
2
Points are awarded to the author for either creating a new blog post or a new forum topic.
Post a reply to a forum topic
1
Points are awarded to the replier for replying to a forum topic.
Update a forum topic
0
Points are awarded to the author for updating their existing blog post or forum topic.
Delete a forum topic
-2
Points are deducted from the author when their existing blog post or forum topic is deleted.
Delete a forum reply
-1
Points are deducted from the replier when their reply to a forum topic is deleted.
Suggest a forum reply as the answer
-1
Points are awarded to the replier when their reply to a forum topic is marked as the suggested answer.
Unmark a forum reply as the suggested answer
-1
Points are deducted from the replier when their reply to a forum topic is marked as the suggested answer, and is then unmarked as the suggested answer.
Verify a forum reply as the answer
2
Points are awarded to the replier when their reply to a forum topic is verified as the answer.
Remove verification of a forum reply as the answer
-2
Points are deducted from the replier when their reply to a forum topic has been verified as the answer, and is then removed as the verified answer.
Verify suggested forum reply as the answer
1
Points are awarded to the replier when their reply to a forum topic, which has already been marked as the suggested answer, is then verified as the answer.
Remove as verified answer and keep as suggested
-1
Points are deducted from the replier when their reply to a forum topic, which has already been marked as the suggested answer and verified as the answer, is then removed as the verified answer. The reply’s status returns to being marked as the suggested answer.

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Configuring CAPTCHA

Configuring CAPTCHA

Community Central supports the option to use CAPTCHA to protect your blog site from attacks by spam bots. When CAPTCHA is enabled, blog readers who want to comment on a post must type the characters that appear in a randomly generated image to prove they are “human”. If the characters do not match, the comment is not accepted.

To turn CAPTCHA on, follow these steps:

Step Action Description
1. On the Blogs Home page, go to Site Actions > Blog Control Panel. SA15_ManageCaptcha.png
2. In the Blog Control Panel, click on the Manage CAPTCHA link. SA15_EnableCAPTCHA.jpg
3. A CAPTCHA image will be displayed under the Add comment section of each blog post. SA15_CAPTCHA.jpg

Configuring Moderation Settings

Configuring Moderation Settings

Return to Overview of the Configuration Toolpane

sa75forumsettings.jpgCommunity Central Forum sites use Discussion Board Plus. To access Forum Settings for a Discussion Board Plus list, click the Forum Settings button in the List Tools > List ribbon.

Moderation settings control whether the Lock Topic or Mark as Sticky features are enabled in Discussion Board Plus.

See also:

Enable Lock Topic

sa75forumsettings-moderation.jpg When Lock Topic is enabled, users with the required permissions can lock a thread to prevent any further replies or updates by clicking the Lock Topic button in the List Tools > Items ribbon of the Discussion Board Plus list or by selecting the Lock Topic option in the item drop-down menu for a topic.

Threads can be unlocked using the Unlock Topic button or item drop-down menu option. When this feature is disabled, the Lock Topic and Unlock Topic options are not available.

After a thread is locked, all editing actions are disabled for everyone except site collection administrators:

  • Existing posts cannot be edited.
  • New replies cannot be posted.
  • Answers cannot be suggested, verified, or removed.

For more information about the Lock Topic feature, see Using Lock Topic.

Enable Mark as Sticky

When Mark as Sticky is enabled, users with the required permissions can increase the importance of a thread in the Forum view by “sticking” it to the top of the Topic list so that it always resides on top in search results. Topics can be marked or unmarked as Sticky using the Mark as Sticky and Unmark as Sticky buttons in the Tools > Items ribbon of the Discussion Board Plus list or the Mark as Sticky or Unmark as Sticky options in the item drop-down menu for a topic. When this feature is disabled, the Mark as Sticky and Unmark as Sticky options are not available.

See also:

Configuring Blog Posts Content Approval

Configuring Blog Posts Content Approval

Return to Overview of the Configuration Toolpane

Community Central uses out-of-the-box SharePoint content approval for blog moderation. By default, content approval is enabled and new blog posts must be approved by a Community Central Moderator before they will be visible on the blog site. Moderators* approve blog posts using the SharePoint Approve/Reject feature for the blog post item.

Content approval settings can be customized to support the following use cases:

  • Restrict Members from editing posts other than their own.
  • Disable content approval for blog posts.

By default, SharePoint out-of-the-box content approval allows any user with the SharePoint Contribute permission level (Members) to edit blog posts, no matter who created the original post. You can change content approval settings so that Members can only edit their own posts. You must perform this change on each blog site where you want to restrict content editing.

To restrict content editing:

Step Action Result
1. Sign in as a Community Central Moderator or Administrator.
2. In the blog site page, click Manage posts in the Blog Tools list. SA15_ManagePosts.jpg
3. In the List Tools > List ribbon, click the List Settings button. SA15_ListSettings.jpg
4. In the List Settings page, click Advanced settings in the General Settings section. SA15_ListSettingsAdvancedSettings.jpg
5. In the Item-level Permissions section, change the Create and Edit access setting to Create items and edit items that were created by the user. SA15_CreatedByUser.jpg
6. Click OK.

NOTE: Moderators and Administrators* can still edit any post. This is by design. Members may be able to see the edit screen, but they will not be able to save changes.

* Community Central Permissions Needed

Disable Content Approval

Icon-Warning IMPORTANT: After performing the steps in this section for a blog site, blog posts in that site can be published immediately by Members without approval.

By default, all blog posts published in Community Central must be approved by a Moderator
* or Administrator. If you do not require content approval for blog posts, you can disable it. You must perform this change on each blog site where you want to disable content approval.

To disable content approval:

Step Action Result
1. Sign in as a Community Central Moderator or Administrator.
2. In the blog site page, click Manage posts in the Blog Tools list. SA15_ManagePosts.jpg
3. In the List Tools > List ribbon, click the List Settings button. SA15_ListSettings.jpg
2. In the List Settings page, click Versioning settings in the General Settings section. SA15_ListSettingsVersioningSettings.jpg
3. In the Content Approval section, change the Require content approval for submitted items setting to No. SA15_ContentApprovalNo.jpg
4. Click OK.

* Community Central Permissions Needed

Configure Community Central Ratings

Configure Community Central Ratings

Community Central blog posts and forum topics can be rated by readers. This allows other readers to easily identify the most helpful content. Rating features are provided by the Bamboo’s Rating custom column and configured by default to use a 5-star rating.

To change the rating style and to configure other Bamboo Rating options, edit the Post list Rating column as described below. For information about each Bamboo Rating column option, see How to Use a Bamboo Rating Column in a List or Library.

To edit the Rating column settings:

Step Action Result
1. View a blog site by clicking on its name in the Blog Sites Web Part in the Community Central Home page or the Blogs Home page. SA15_BlogSiteList.jpg
2. In the Blog Tools Web Part, click Manage posts. SA15_BlogToolsWPManagePosts.jpg
3. In the List Tools > List ribbon, click the List Settings button. SA15_BlogPostListSettings.jpg
4. In the Columns section, click the Rating column to edit its properties. SA15_BlogRatingColumn.jpg
5. Configure Rating column settings as desired and click OK to save your changes. SA15_BambooRatingSettings.jpg

Rating Blog Posts

SA15_RateBlogPost.jpgReaders can rate blog posts in Community Central. Ratings determine which posts are included in the Top Rated list and help identify relevant content for other community users. To rate a post, scroll to the bottom of the post and click on the rating that best matches your opinion.

See also: