STRUCTURED DATA IN A BUSINESS NETWORKING FEED

• US 20150178858A1
• Filed: 03/09/2015
• Published: 06/25/2015
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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; and

share the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed accessible by devices of users of the database system, the social network feed being displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of a user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items, the stored tabular data being editable by one or more users of the database system, the social network feed being updateable to comprise notifications of edits to the tabular data.

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 tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system, the database system further configurable to:

receive a request from a device of the first user to share the tabular data with a second user; and

designate the second user as having access to the tabular data via the social network feed.

4. The database system of claim 1, the tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system and accessible by a device of a second user of the database system, the database system further configurable to:

receive an edit request to edit the stored tabular data from the device of the second user; and

store the edited tabular data in the database system.

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

validate the edit request according to one or more parameters.

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

identify a first data type for at least a portion of the tabular data, the first data type governing data characteristics of the portion of the tabular data.

7. The database system of claim 6, wherein identifying the first data type comprises:

analyze a plurality of characteristics of the portion of the tabular data;

determine an attribute common to the plurality of characteristics; and

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

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

determine, for a selected data entry, whether a value of the selected data entry satisfies the first data type.

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

output, responsive to a determination that the value of the selected data entry does not satisfy the first data type, a message indicating an error condition.

10. 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.

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

store permission data for the tabular data, the permission data providing an indication of one or more users having permission to view and/or edit the tabular data.

12. The database system of claim 11, the database system further configurable to:

receive an edit request to edit the stored tabular data from a device of a user;

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

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

share the edited tabular data in the social network feed.

13. 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; and

sharing the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed accessible by devices of users of the database system, the social network feed being displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of a user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items, the stored tabular data being editable by one or more users of the database system, the social network feed being updateable to comprise notifications of edits to the tabular data.

14. The method of claim 13, the tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from a device of the first user to share the tabular data with a second user; and

designating the second user as having access to the tabular data via the social network feed.

15. The method of claim 13, the tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system and accessible by a device of a second user of the database system, the method further comprising:

receiving an edit request to edit the stored tabular data from the device of the second user; and

storing the edited tabular data in the database system.

16. 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 operable 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; and

sharing the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed accessible by devices of users of the database system, the social network feed being displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of a user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items, the stored tabular data being editable by one or more users of the database system, the social network feed being updateable to comprise notifications of edits to the tabular data.

17. The system of claim 16, the tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system, the database system software further operable to cause:

designating a second user as having access to the tabular data via the social network feed responsive to a request from a device of the first user to share the tabular data.

18. The system of claim 16, the tabular data being provided by a first user of the database system and accessible by a device of a second user of the database system, the database system software further operable to cause:

storing edited tabular data in the database system responsive to an edit request to edit the stored tabular data from the device of the second user.

19. The system of claim 18, the database system software further operable to cause:

validating the edit request according to one or more parameters.

20. 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; and

sharing the social network feed data and the tabular data in a social network feed accessible by devices of users of the database system, the social network feed being displayable to present the feed items and the tabular data in a user interface on a device of a user, the tabular data being presentable in the user interface in a tabular format, the user interface being capable of receiving user commentary regarding the tabular data, the user commentary being shareable in the social network feed as one or more feed items, the stored tabular data being editable by one or more users of the database system, the social network feed being updateable to comprise notifications of edits to the tabular data.