Create Salesforce Ideas Content

The Salesforce Ideas content type lets you integrate Salesforce Ideas with your site. It gives users the ability to post, promote, comment on, view their own and all other ideas.

For this feature to work, you need Salesforce Ideas enabled in your organization. Zones, categories, and statuses already need to be configured in Salesforce.

The Salesforce Ideas content type contains four content templates:

• Idea Detail. Displays the details of an individual idea.
• All Ideas. Displays a list of all ideas up to the number of ideas specified.
• My Ideas. Displays a list of only the ideas belonging to the current user.
• Post Idea. Allows users to post new ideas.

Create an idea detail page

An idea detail page is where individual ideas are dynamically rendered when a user clicks on an idea in a list. This page must include a content item that uses the Idea Detail content template. To configure the All Ideas and My Ideas content templates, you first need an idea detail page to associate with it.

The idea details, submitter information, posted date, comments, comment input box, and promote and demote features are automatically included.

To create an idea detail page

1. Create a page as you normally would and open it in the page editor.
2. Click in the droppable area where you want the idea details to display, and click Add New Content; if you have already created a content item with the Salesforce Ideas content type, you can alternatively use the existing content item and add the Idea Detail content template if it is not already associated with it.
3. In the Create New Content dialog:
   • from the Select Content Type list, select Salesforce Ideas.
   • from the Select Content Template list, select Idea Detail.
4. Provide a name for the content item and set other properties as necessary.
5. Click Finish and Edit.
6. In the content editor, enter a descriptive title to appear with the idea details in the Title box. By default, the text is “Idea Detail,” and you can optionally leave it blank.
7. Enter a descriptive title for the comment section in the Comment Title box. By default, the text is “Add Your Comment,” and you can optionally leave it blank.
8. Enter the text to appear on the button to submit a comment in the Button text box. By default, the text is “Post.”
9. In the Actions panel, click Save.

Display a list of all ideas

The All Ideas content template displays a list of all ideas up to a specified maximum number. Ideas can be listed with the most popular ideas at the top or the most recent ideas at the top—individual users can select which view they want at any given time, but the ideas are sorted by popularity by default. Users can also search for ideas.

The search box and widgets for promoting and demoting ideas are automatically included.

Use the All Ideas content template

1. In the content editor, enter a descriptive title to appear with the idea list in the Title box. By default, the text is “All Ideas,” and you can optionally leave it blank.
2. Enter instructional text to appear inside the search box in the Search Text box. By default, the text is “Search for an idea…”.
3. Select the zone that the ideas are associated with from the Zone list.
4. Enter the maximum number of ideas to appear in the list in the Number of Ideas box; the maximum value you can have for this field is 1000. By default, the value is 200.
5. Click in the Page box to open the Select Link dialog.
6. From the Open In list, select the target destination for the link.
7. From the Link To list, select A page in this CMS.
8. Click in the Page box, and begin typing the name of the page that contains the Idea Detail content template, and click on the name of the page to select it; if you have not created this page yet, click New to enter the Create New Page. For more information on creating an idea detail page, see "Create an idea detail page" on page <OV>.
9. Click Select.
10. In the Actions panel, click Save.

The idea title and the first 150 characters of each idea description are displayed in the list. If an idea detail page was selected in the content editor, each idea title becomes a link to the idea detail page.

Display a list of the current user’s ideas

The My Ideas content template displays a list of the current user’s ideas up to a specified maximum number. Ideas can be listed with the most popular ideas at the top or the most recent ideas at the top—individual users can select which view they want at any given time, but the ideas are sorted by popularity by default. Users can also search for ideas and limit the list of ideas to specific categories and statuses.

The search box, category list, status list, and number of points allocated to each idea are automatically included.

Use the My Ideas content template

1. In the content editor, enter a descriptive title to appear with the idea list in the Title box. By default, the text is “My Ideas,” and you can optionally leave it blank.
2. Enter instructional text to appear inside the search box in the Search Text box. By default, the text is “Search for an idea…”.
3. Select the zone that the ideas are associated with from the Zone list.
4. Enter the maximum number of ideas to appear in the list in the Number of Ideas box; the maximum value you can have for this field is 1000. By default, the value is 200.
5. Click in the Page box to open the Select Link dialog.
6. From the Open In list, select the target destination for the link.
7. From the Link To list, select A page in this CMS.
8. Click in the Page box, and begin typing the name of the page that contains the Idea Detail content template, and click on the name of the page to select it; if you have not created this page yet, click New to enter the Create New Page dialog.
9. Click Select.
10. In the Actions panel, click Save.

The idea title and the first 150 characters of each idea description are displayed in the list. If an idea detail page was selected in the content editor, each idea title becomes a link to the idea detail page.

Provide the ability to post a new idea

The Post Idea content template is used to insert a form that allows users to submit ideas. From the content editor, you can specify the zone that ideas are submitted to and the categories that are available to associate with ideas. The idea title and description form elements, as well as the submit button, are automatically included.

Use the Post Idea content template

1. In the content editor, enter a descriptive title to appear with the idea form in the Title box. By default, the text is “Describe Your Idea,” and you can optionally leave it blank.
2. Enter the text to appear on the button to submit an idea in the Button text box. By default, the text is “Post.”
3. Select the zone that the ideas are submitted to from the Zone list.
4. Move the categories that you want users to be able to associate with their ideas from the left-side list to the right-side list; make sure that the categories you select are ones associated with the zone you have selected—OrchestraCMS does not automatically detect which categories are associated with specific zones. If no categories are selected, no category list is displayed.
5. In the Actions panel, click Save.