Structured data in a business networking feed

• US 9,589,306 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2015
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• 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): ASPINWALL, EVAN S
• Application Number:
  US14/642,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20150178858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 707/741
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 database systems, methods, systems, and computer program products for providing tabular data in a social network feed. In some implementations, a server of a database system stores, in a database, social network feed data comprising a plurality of feed items as data objects. The server also stores, in a database, tabular data as data objects. The server shares the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format. The user interface may receive shareable user commentary regarding the tabular data. The stored tabular data may be editable by users of the database system. The social network feed may be updated to comprise notifications of edits to the tabular data.

Claims

1. A database system for providing tabular data in a social network feed, the database system configurable to:

store, in a database of the database system, social network feed data comprising a plurality of feed items as one or more data objects;

store, in a database of the database system, tabular data as one or more data objects, the tabular data being editable by a plurality of users of the database system;

store, in a database of the database system, a plurality of identifications of a plurality of types of edits to the tabular data, the types of edits comprising a first type designated for sharing in a social network feed accessible by a first user and comprising a second type designated for no sharing in the social network feed accessible by the first user, the designations capable of being associated with the first user and being configurable by the first user;

cause the social network feed data and the tabular data to be shared in a social network feed displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of the first user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary from users regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items;

process an edit to the tabular data, the edit submitted by a second user;

identify the edit as being of the first type;

determine, based on permission data, that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the permission data being controllable by an authorized user of the social networking system to grant and/or deny permission to users of the social networking system to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data; and

cause, responsive to identifying the edit as being of the first type and responsive to determining that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the edit to be shared in the social network feed as a feed item.

2. The database system of claim 1, wherein the database in which the social network feed data is stored is different from the database in which the tabular data is stored.

3. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

update the tabular data based on the edit.

4. The database system of claim 3, the database system further configurable to:

validate the edit according to one or more parameters.

5. The database system of claim 1, wherein the first type governs data characteristics of a portion of the tabular data.

6. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

associate the tabular data with a designated database record of the database system; and

share an identification of the tabular data in the social network feed responsive to the database record being accessed or retrieved.

7. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

store the permission data for the tabular data.

8. The database system of claim 7, the database system further configurable to:

receive an edit request to edit the tabular data;

determine that the edit request or information associated with the edit request complies with the permission data;

edit, based on the determination, the tabular data in accordance with the edit request; and

share the edited tabular data in the social network feed.

9. A method comprising:

storing, in a database of a database system, social network feed data comprising a plurality of feed items as one or more data objects;

storing, in a database of the database system, tabular data as one or more data objects, the tabular data being editable by a plurality of users of the database system;

storing, in a database of the database system, a plurality of identifications of a plurality of types of edits to the tabular data, the types of edits comprising a first type designated for sharing in a social network feed accessible by a first user and comprising a second type designated for no sharing in the social network feed accessible by the first user, the designations capable of being associated with the first user and being configurable by the first user;

causing the social network feed data and the tabular data to be shared in a social network feed displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of the first user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary from users regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items;

receiving an edit to the tabular data, the edit submitted by a second user;

identifying the edit as being of the first type;

determining, based on permission data, that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the permission data being controllable by an authorized user of the social networking system to grant and/or deny permission to users of the social networking system to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data; and

causing, responsive to identifying the edit as being of the first type and responsive to determining that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the edit to be shared in the social network feed as a feed item.

10. The method of claim 9, the method further comprising:

updating the tabular data based on the edit.

11. A system comprising:

database system software stored on a non-transitory data storage medium for execution by at least one server of a database system, the database system software configured to cause;

storing, in a database of the database system, social network feed data comprising a plurality of feed items as one or more data objects;

storing, in a database of the database system, tabular data as one or more data objects, the tabular data being editable by a plurality of users of the database system;

storing, in a database of the database system, a plurality of identifications of a plurality of types of edits to the tabular data, the types of edits comprising a first type designated for sharing in a social network feed accessible by a first user and comprising a second type designated for no sharing in the social network feed accessible by the first user, the designations capable of being associated with the first user and being configurable by the first user;

sharing the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of the first user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary from users regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items;

processing an edit to the tabular data, the edit submitted by a second user;

identifying the edit as being of the first type;

determining, based on permission data, that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the permission data being controllable by an authorized user of the social networking system to grant and/or deny permission to users of the social networking system to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data; and

sharing, responsive to identifying the edit as being of the first type and responsive to determining that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the edit in the social network feed as a feed item.

12. The system of claim 11, the database system software further configured to cause:

storing edited tabular data in the database system.

13. The system of claim 12, the database system software further configured to cause:

validating an edit request according to one or more parameters.

14. A computer program product comprising program code to be executed by at least one processor when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code configured to cause:

storing, in a database of a database system, social network feed data comprising a plurality of feed items as one or more data objects;

storing, in a database of the database system, tabular data as one or more data objects, the tabular data being editable by a plurality of users of the database system;

storing, in a database of the database system, a plurality of identifications of a plurality of types of edits to the tabular data, the types of edits comprising a first type designated for sharing in a social network feed accessible by a first user and comprising a second type designated for no sharing in the social network feed accessible by the first user, the designations capable of being associated with the first user and being configurable by the first user;

sharing the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of the first user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary from users regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items;

processing an edit to the tabular data, the edit submitted by a second user;

identifying the edit as being of the first type;

determining, based on permission data, that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the permission data being controllable by an authorized user of the social networking system to grant and/or deny permission to users of the social networking system to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data; and

sharing, responsive to identifying the edit as being of the first type and responsive to determining that the second user has permission to perform edits of the first type to the tabular data, the edit in the social network feed as a feed item.