Structured data in a business networking feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11544450-B2
Application number	US-202016949895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2020
Priority date	Oct 8, 2010
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A database system configurable to cause:
obtaining a first request from a first computing device of a first user of a social networking system to share a file with at least a first one of a plurality of groups of users of the social networking system, the first request capable of indicating a selection of at least the first group by the first user;
determining, using a database system, that the file is shareable with one or more of the users belonging to the first group;
sending first data to a second computing device of a second user of the social networking system, the second user belonging to the first group, the first data configured to be processed to cause the second computing device to display, in a user interface on a display of the second computing device, a feed of the social networking system, the feed comprising: a plurality of messages, and a representation of the file, the user interface capable of receiving user commentary regarding the file, the user commentary being shareable in the feed as a message;
obtaining a second request from the second computing device to edit the file;
determining, using the database system, that the second user has a permission to edit structured data of the file;
sending, responsive to determining that the second user has the permission to edit the structured data of the file, second data to the second computing device, the second data configured to be processed to cause the second computing device to display, on the display, the file in an editable format;
obtaining, in association with the second user, an edit to the structured data of the file;
processing the edit to the structured data of the file to produce an updated file, the processing of the edit comprising determining whether the edit is of a type designated in a database as being shareable in the first feed; and
updating the feed such that the updated file is accessible to online users belonging to the first group via one or more feeds of the social networking system.

2. The database system of claim 1 , wherein the permission to edit the structured data of the file comprises one or more of: a permission to edit all data of the file, a permission to edit one or more portions of the structured data of the file, or a permission to edit a schema of the structured data of the file.

3. The database system of claim 1 , wherein the permission to edit the structured data of the file is assigned to the second user according to one or more of: a role of the second user, or a group to which the second user belongs.

4. The database system of claim 1 , the database system further configurable to cause:
processing a further request from a third user of the social networking system to follow the file; and
causing, responsive to processing the further request, the third user to follow the file, the following of the file causing the third user to receive updates when the file is modified.

5. The database system of claim 1 , wherein processing the edit and updating the feed occur in near-real time.

6. The database system of claim 1 , wherein the file is one of: an Excel file, a Word file, or a PowerPoint file.

7. The database system of claim 1 , the database system further configurable to cause:
providing a first selection in association with the representation of the file, the first selection allowing users of the social networking system to discuss the file; and
providing a second selection in association with the representation of the file, the second selection allowing users of the social networking system to add content related to the file to the feed.

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code comprising instructions configurable to cause:
obtaining a first request from a first computing device of a first user of a social networking system to share a file with at least a first one of a plurality of groups of users of the social networking system, the first request capable of indicating a selection of at least the first group by the first user;
determining, using a database system, that the file is shareable with one or more of the users belonging to the first group;
sending first data to a second computing device of a second user of the social networking system, the second user belonging to the first group, the first data configured to be processed to cause the second computing device to display, in a user interface on a display of the second computing device, a feed of the social networking system, the feed comprising: a plurality of messages, and a representation of the file, the user interface capable of receiving user commentary regarding the file, the user commentary being shareable in the feed as a message;
obtaining a second request from the second computing device to edit the file;
determining, using the database system, that the second user has a permission to edit structured data of the file;
sending, responsive to determining that the second user has the permission to edit the structured data of the file, second data to the second computing device, the second data configured to be processed to cause the second computing device to display, on the display, the file in an editable format;
obtaining, in association with the second user, an edit to the structured data of the file;
processing the edit to the structured data of the file to produce an updated file, the processing of the edit comprising determining whether the edit is of a type designated in a database as being shareable in the first feed; and
updating the feed such that the updated file is accessible to online users belonging to the first group via one or more feeds of the social networking system.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the permission to edit the structured data of the file comprises one or more of: a permission to edit all data of the file, a permission to edit one or more portions of the structured data of the file, or a permission to edit a schema of the structured data of the file.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the permission to edit the structured data of the file is assigned to the second user according to one or more of: a role of the second user, or a group to which the second user belongs.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , the instructions further configurable to cause:
processing a further request from a third user of the social networking system to follow the file; and
causing, responsive to processing the further request, the third user to follow the file, the following of the file causing the third user to receive updates when the file is modified.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein processing the edit and updating the feed occur in near-real time.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the file is one of: an Excel file, a Word file, or a PowerPoint file.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , the instructions further configurable to cause:
providing a first selection in association with the representation of the file, the first selection allowing users of the social networking system to discuss the file; and
providing a second selection in association with the representation of the file, the second selection allowing users of the social networking system to add content related to the file to the feed.

15. A method comprising:
obtaining a first request from a first computing device of a fi

Assignees

• Salesforce Com Inc
• Salesforce Inc

Inventors

• Agrawal Sonali
• Spraetz Ryan
• Porro Cheryl

Classifications

• G06F3/0483

  Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F16/219

  Managing data history or versioning (querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477) · CPC title

• G06F40/18 Primary

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F16/252

  between a Database Management System and a front-end application · CPC title