Structured data in a business networking feed

• US 9,031,957 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Issued: 05/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Agrawal, Sonali, Spraetz, Ryan, Porro, Cheryl
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Assistant Examiner(s): ASPINWALL, EVAN S
• Application Number:
  US13/045,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089610A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 707/741, 707/E17.002
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media for presenting updates to associated records to publish on an information feed in an on-demand database service environment. In one embodiment, data is received at a computing device configured to provide computing services via a network. The data may be separated into a plurality of data entries to define structured data. Each data entry may have a plurality of data fields. Each data field may be capable of being assigned a respective data value. The structured data may be stored in a database in an on-demand computing services environment. References to the structured data may be capable of being stored as feed items in one or more feed tables in a database. The feed items may be capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. A method of providing information feed data in an information feed, the information feed data being stored in a first database system containing metadata information capable of being used by a client to display the information feed data in a social network application, a second database system storing tabular data having associated therewith tabular metadata capable of being used by a client to display the tabular data in a tabular format, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first server from a first user, feed data to be incorporated into the first database system such that a plurality of clients associated through a plurality of users of a first social networking group may access the first database system to receive the feed data as part of a first information feed for the first social networking group;

receiving, at a second server, a request associated with a second user to share tabular data with the first social networking group, the tabular data being part of an object containing tabular information usable by a client displaying the first information feed to display the tabular data of the object in a tabular format, the tabular data identifying a plurality of data records, each data record defining a custom object of a custom object type;

storing the tabular data in the second database system as a plurality of custom objects defined by the data records, wherein updates to the custom objects are capable of being stored as feed items in a database, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device;

sharing the tabular data with a third user, wherein updates associated with the custom objects are provided to the third user in an information feed accessible by the third user, wherein the third user is a member of the first social networking group; and

responsive to an edit request associated with the third user to modify the stored tabular data to create modified tabular data, updating the stored plurality of custom objects according to the modified tabular data.

2. The method recited in claim 1, the tabular data including one or more data fields, the method further comprising:

identifying a first data type for a first one of the data fields, the first data type limiting the data values that can be assigned to the first data field.

3. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

associating the tabular data with a data record accessible via an on-demand computing services environment, an indication of the tabular data being displayed in a user interface component when the data record is retrieved.

4. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

establishing a permission configuration for the tabular data, the permission configuration comprising an indication of one or more users of the first social networking group who may view or edit the tabular data.

5. The method recited in claim 1, the tabular data including one or more data entries and one or more data fields,

wherein each of the data entries comprises a row in a database table of the second database system, and

wherein each of the data fields comprising a column in the database table of the second database system.

6. The method recited in claim 1,

wherein the database is a multitenant database accessible to a plurality of tenants via an on-demand computing services environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first database system and the second database system are the same, wherein the first server and the second server are the same, and wherein the first user and the second user are the same.

8. The method recited in claim 2, wherein identifying the first data type comprises:

analyzing a plurality of values assigned to the first data field to determine an attribute common to the plurality of values; and

selecting the first data type from a plurality of data types based on the common attribute.

9. The method recited in claim 2, the method further comprising:

for a selected data entry, determining whether a value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is of the first data type.

10. The method recited in claim 9, the method further comprising:

when it is determined that the value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is not of the first data type, outputting a message indicating an error condition.

11. The method recited in claim 4, the method further comprising:

receiving a data edit request via a network, the data edit request comprising a request to modify the tabular data to create modified tabular data.

12. The method recited in claim 11, the method further comprising:

determining whether the data edit request complies with the established permission configuration; and

when the data edit request complies with the established permission configuration, modifying the tabular data in accordance with the data edit request, and publishing the modified tabular data to the first information feed.

13. A system for providing information feed data in an information feed, the information feed data being stored in a database system containing metadata information capable of being used by a client to display the information feed data in a social network application, the database system storing tabular data having associated therewith tabular metadata capable of being used by a client to display the tabular data in a tabular format, the system comprising:

a server, configured to provide computing services via a network, further configured to;

receive, from a first user, feed data to be incorporated into the database system such that a plurality of clients associated through a plurality of users of a first social networking group may access the database system to receive the feed data as part of a first information feed for the first social networking group; and

receive a request associated with a second user to share tabular data with the first social networking group, the tabular data being part of an object containing tabular information usable by a client displaying the first information feed to display the tabular data of the object in a tabular format, the tabular data identifying a plurality of data records, each data record defining a custom object of a custom object type; and

a database system configured to;

store the tabular data as a plurality of custom objects defined by the data records, wherein updates to the custom objects are capable of being stored as feed items in the database system, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device;

share the tabular data with a third user, wherein updates associated with the custom objects are provided to the third user in an information feed accessible by the third user,

wherein the third user is a member of the first social networking group; and

responsive to an edit request associated with the third user to modify the stored tabular data to create modified tabular data, update the stored plurality of custom objects according to the modified tabular data.

14. The system recited in claim 13, the tabular data including one or more data fields, the server being further configured to:

identify a first data type for a first one of the data fields, the first data type limiting the data values that can be assigned to the first data field.

15. The system recited in claim 13, the server being further configured to:

associate the tabular data with a data record accessible via an on-demand computing services environment, an indication of the tabular data being displayed in a user interface component when the data record is retrieved.

16. The system recited in claim 13, the computing device server being further configured to:

establish a permission configuration for the tabular data, the permission configuration comprising an indication of one or more users of the first social networking group who may view or edit the tabular data.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the first user and the second user are the same.

18. The system recited in claim 14, wherein identifying the first data type comprises:

analyzing a plurality of values assigned to the first data field to determine an attribute common to the plurality of values; and

selecting the first data type from a plurality of data types based on the common attribute.

19. The system recited in claim 14, the server being further configured to:

for a selected data entry, determine whether a value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is of the first data type.

20. The system recited in claim 19, the server being further configured to:

when it is determined that the value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is not of the first data type, output a message indicating an error condition.

21. The system recited in claim 16, the server being further configured to:

receive a data edit request via a network, the data edit request comprising a request to modify the data to create modified tabular data.

22. The system recited in claim 21, the server being further configured to:

determine whether the data edit request complies with the established permission configuration; and

when the data edit request complies with the established permission configuration, modify the tabular data in accordance with the data edit request, and publishing the modified tabular data to the first information feed.

27. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 22, wherein identifying the first data type comprises:

analyzing a plurality of values assigned to the first data field to determine an attribute common to the plurality of values; and

selecting the first data type from a plurality of data types based on the common attribute.

23. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon for performing a method of providing information feed data in an information feed, the information feed data being stored in a first database system containing metadata information capable of being used by a client to display the information feed data in a social network application, a second database system storing tabular data having associated therewith tabular metadata capable of being used by a client to display the tabular data in a tabular format, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first server from a first user, feed data to be incorporated into the first database system such that a plurality of clients associated through a plurality of users of a first social networking group may access the first database system to receive the feed data as part of a first information feed for the first social networking group;

receiving, at a second server, a request associated with a second user to share tabular data with the first social networking group, the tabular data being part of an object containing tabular information usable by a client displaying the first information feed to display the tabular data of the object in a tabular format, the tabular data identifying a plurality of data records, each data record defining a custom object of a custom object type;

storing the structured tabular data in the second database system as a plurality of custom objects defined by the data records, wherein updates to the custom objects are capable of being stored as feed items in in a database, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device;

sharing the tabular data with a third user, wherein updates associated with the custom objects are provided to the third user in an information feed accessible by the third user, wherein the third user is a member of the first social networking group; and

responsive to an edit request associated with the third user to modify the stored tabular data to create modified tabular data, updating the stored plurality of custom objects according to the modified tabular data,

24. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 23, the tabular data including one or more data fields, the method further comprising:

identifying a first data type for a first one of the data fields, the first data type limiting the data values that can be assigned to the first data field.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 23, the method further comprising:

associating the tabular data with a data record accessible via an on-demand computing services environment, an indication of the tabular data being displayed in a user interface component when the data record is retrieved.

26. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 23, wherein the first database system and the second database system are the same, wherein the first server and the second server are the same, and wherein the first user and the second user are the same.

28. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 24, the method further comprising:

for a selected data entry, determining whether a value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is of the first data type.

29. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 28, the method further comprising:

when it is determined that the value assigned to the first data field for the selected data entry is not of the first data type, outputting a message indicating an error condition.

30. A method of providing information feed data in an information feed, the information feed data being stored in a database system containing metadata information capable of being used by a client to display the information feed data in a social network application, the database system storing tabular data having associated therewith tabular metadata capable of being used by a client to display the tabular data in a tabular format, the method comprising:

receiving, at one or more computing devices coupled to a network, tabular data associated with a first user from the network, the tabular data to be shared with a social networking group implemented over the network, wherein the first user is a member of the social networking group, the tabular data being part of an object containing tabular information usable by a client displaying the first information feed to display the tabular data of the object in a tabular format, the tabular data identifying a plurality of data records, each data record defining a custom object of a custom object type;

storing the tabular data in a database associated with the network with one or more feed tables in the database, the tabular data being stored as a plurality of custom objects defined by the data records, wherein updates to the custom objects are capable of being stored as feed items in the feed tables, the feed tables providing information suitable for forming at least some of the tabular data into an information feed suitable for display on a display device, the feed table providing information processable to permit the display of a data feed based upon at least part of at least one data entry;

sharing at least some of the tabular data with a second user, wherein updates associated with the custom objects are provided to the second user in an information feed accessible by the second user based at least in part upon information from at least one feed table, wherein the second user is a member of the social networking group; and

responsive to an edit request received from the network associated with the second user to at least modify or augment at least a portion of the tabular data, updating the stored plurality of custom objects according to the edit request.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the at least one feed table includes one or more feed table entries, wherein a first feed table entry identifies the second user and an event that the user is following.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first feed table entry identifies the event that the second user is following by including an event identifier.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the first feed table entry identifies the event that the user is following by including a pointer to an entry of an event update table, the entry of the event update table providing a record of an action performed by the first user on the at least part of the structured tabular data.