Methods and apparatus for suppressing network feed activities using an information feed in an on-demand database service environment

• US 8,732,150 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2011
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Gradin, William, Davidchuk, Matthew, Ma, Qiu, Zemskov, Leonid, Palke, Amy
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Angelica
• Application Number:
  US13/025,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20120078981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/282 Hierarchical databases, e.g. IMS, LDAP data stores or Lotus Notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90 Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9035 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/906 Clustering; Classification

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media for suppressing network feed activities using an information feed in an on-demand database service environment. In one embodiment, a message is received, including data indicative of a user action. An entity associated with the user action is identified, where the entity is a type of record stored in a database. A type of the entity is identified. It is determined whether the entity type is a prohibited entity type. When the entity type is not a prohibited entity type, the message data is saved to one or more tables in the database. The tables are configured to store feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a device. When the entity type is a prohibited entity type, the saving of the message data, to the one or more tables in the database configured to store the feed items, is prohibited.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to one or more records stored in a database, the one or more records identified in one or more fields in the message, the user action relating to one or more of;

creation of the one or more records, a field update to the one or more records, a post, a file upload, and a link attachment;

identifying a record type of the one or more records based on one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

determining whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permitting the rendering of the message data as one or more feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a device; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibiting one or both of the storing and rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed such that the message data is not capable of being displayed in the information feed on the device.

2. The method of claim 1, the one or more records including an item selected from the group consisting of:

an event, a task, an account, an opportunity, a case, and a contact.

3. The method of claim 1, identifying the record type including:

reading one or more fields of the one or more records associated with the user action.

4. The method of claim 3, the one or more records identified by the user action.

5. The method of claim 3, the one or more records having a hierarchical relationship with a further record identified by the user action.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to one or more records stored in a database, the one or more records identified in one or more fields in the message;

identifying the user action based on the message data;

determining whether the one or more records is an event or a task;

when the one or more records is an event or a task, identifying a record type of the one or more records based on one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

determining whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permitting the rendering of the message data as one or more feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a display device; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibiting one or both of the storing and rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed such that the message data is not capable of being displayed in the information feed on the device.

7. The method of claim 6, the user action relating to one or more of:

creation of the one or more records, a field update to the one or more records, a post, a file upload, and a link attachment.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

enabling the information feed for an enterprise, the information feed capable of being displayed on the display device when the information feed is enabled for the enterprise, the display device being associated with the enterprise.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

enabling the information feed for the one or more records.

10. The method of claim 6, the record type being identified based on the message data.

11. The method of claim 6, the record type being identified based on the one or more records.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

when the record type is the prohibited record type, permitting the saving of the message data to one or more tables in the database configured to store the one or more feed items.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to a record stored in a database, the record identified in one or more fields in the message;

identifying the user action as a request to view the record associated with a task or an event based on the message data;

identifying a record type of the task or the event based on one or more properties associated with the record;

determining whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the record;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permitting the rendering an information feed capable of being used to generate a user interface displayed on a display device, the information feed including feed items associated with the record; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibiting one or both of the storing and rendering of the information feed including the feed items associated with the record such that the information feed is not capable of being used to generate a user interface displayed on the display device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

permitting the rendering of further information capable of being displayed on the display device.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

enabling the information feed for an enterprise, the information feed capable of being displayed on the display device when the information feed is enabled for the enterprise, the display device being associated with the enterprise.

16. A method comprising:

receiving a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to a record stored in a database, the record identified in one or more fields in the message;

identifying the user action as a request to follow the record associated with a task or an event based on the message data;

identifying a record type of the task or the event based on one or more properties associated with the record;

determining whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the record as;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permitting the rendering of the message data as one or more feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a device, the feed items associated with the record; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, generating an error condition responsive to the message.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

when the record type is the prohibited record type, providing an error message indicative of the error condition to an application programming interface.

18. The method of claim 16, the one or more feed items configured to be stored in one or more tables in the database, the one or more tables including a subscription table.

19. The method of claim 18, the subscription table configured to store a user ID identifying the user and a record ID identifying the record.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibiting one or both of the storing and rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed such that the message data is not capable of being displayed in the information feed on the device.

21. A system comprising:

a database including one or more tables configured to store feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a device; and

one or more servers configured to;

receive a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to one or more records stored in the database, the one or more records identified in one or more fields in the message, the user action relating to one or more of;

creation of the one or more records, a field update to the one or more records, a post, a file upload, and a link attachment;

identify a record type of the one or more records based on one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

determine whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permit the rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibit one or both of the storing and rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed such that the message data is not capable of being displayed in the information feed on the device.

22. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by a processor to:

receive a message including displayable message data indicative of a user action taken with respect to one or more records stored in a database, the one or more records identified in one or more fields in the message, the user action relating to one or more of;

creation of the one or more records, a field update to the one or more records, a post, a file upload, and a link attachment;

identify a record type of the one or more records based on one or more properties associated with the one or more records;

determine whether the record type is a prohibited record type for display in at least one type of information feed, the prohibited record type satisfying one or more values for the one or more properties associated with the one or more records being a recurring event or a recurring task;

when the record type is not the prohibited record type, permit the rendering of the message data one or more feed items of an information feed capable of being displayed on a device; and

when the record type is the prohibited record type, prohibit one or both of the storing and rendering of the message data as the one or more feed items of the information feed such that the message data is not capable of being displayed in the information feed on the device.