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Discussions within EVA Netmodeler

Discussions within EVA Netmodeler allow the storage of unlimited free form text as a property of an item, as well as supporting threaded discussions. Lets look at each of these.

Using a Discussion Property to Store Free Form Text

When I define a type, I can use a property of type "Discussion". This will display in edit windows for items as a text edit box. Clicking in the box in edit mode will allow you to enter lengthy (unlimited) text for that property.

Providing a Threaded Discussion Linked to an Item

If I add a property of type ArchiDiscussionThread to a type definition, this will allow threaded discussions to be initiated which will be linked to any item of that type.

After creating the the type, when I work with an item of the type, the property of threaded discussion type will display as a link. Clicking it will cause a Threaded Discussion Browser to open. This allows posting free form text discussion items. Other users can read these by clicking on the link from any item viewer. Interested parties can add their own comments on the initial comment which will be linked to the original item and shown indented in the discussion browser to indicate that they are answers to the original posting. Answers can be made to these answers, or comments may be made later on the original posting etc. EVA Netmodeler will maintain a hierarchy showing the relationship of postings and responses. This is just like the newsgroup facilities on the Internet. An added advantage is that these discussions are linked to an EVA Netmodeler item, so can form part of the knowledge base and can be found easily by navigating to the item of interest.

Tip: If you want a discussion forum created for all items of the type, rather than individual items, then use the default item property to start the thread.