Live Input Macros

Live Feedback Comments

On this page:

Overview

The Live feedback feature allows users to provide feedback for content on Confluence Pages. This feature provides the ‘feedback’ mechanism used by the Atlassian Online help pages, which is very simple to set up and can be used by any users of Confluence, whether or not they are logged in or anonymous.

Who can use it

This feature is designed to be used in user-facing documentation where any viewers of the content can provide feedback if they find errors, have questions, or just want to say thanks.
This means that any user, whether they can log into the Confluence site or can view the content as anonymous users can provide feedback.

How it works

Step 1 – The Trigger

The mechanism requires a trigger on the Confluence page. The trigger will specify how to deliver the feedback, either via email or create a Jira Issue.

This trigger can be placed on the Confluence pages using the following methods:

On individual pages using the Live: Feedback Trigger macro
On all pages in a Space by adding HTML code into the Header or Footer using the Space Content Tools.
If using 3rd Party add-on themes, by adding html code into page templates, please refer to your theme builder for specific details.

Step 2 – The Form

Once the Trigger is on a page, any user can click the trigger which will open up the feedback form

Feedback Form for logged-on users

Feedback form for Anonymous users

The user must fill out all fields of the form:

Field	Required	Description
Summary	Yes	This is a brief description of the feedback. This will be used in the email Subject or Jira Summary
Details	Yes	This should contain all the required details, such as the paragraph on the page for context, what is the problem. If the correct content is known then this could be provided. The feedback could even be positive, just to say congratulations, this is the best page I have ever read 🙂
Your Name	Yes	For Anonymous Users OnlyThe name of the person providing feedback, if the user is a Confluence logged in user, then this will be pre-populated
Your Email	Yes	For Anonymous Users OnlyThe email address of the user providing the feedback. Not required for Confluence users, but mandatory for anonymous users.
CAPTCHA Quiz	Yes	For Anonymous Users OnlyThis is a simple maths challenge to ensure that there is a real user filling out the form. This is to avoid any bots attacking the page and spamming your site with unwanted feedback spam.

Step 3 – Submit

Hit the OK Button, this will submit the form. If the form is submitted successfully, then a Success message will be displayed.

If for whatever reason the form was unable to be delivered, then an Error message will be displayed. This won’t have any information for the end user to rectify the problem. If possible, contact the System Administrator.

The feedback details then will either be sent via email (if an email trigger was specified) or a Jira issue will be created (if a Jira trigger was specified).

Configuration

Confluence

Depending on how the feedback form will be delivered, Confluence will require one of the following features configured in the standard Confluence settings. Typically, these will already be configured, but you may need a system administrator to confirm that one of the following is available. This may help you decide which feedback mechanism you wish to use.

For emails, there must be a valid Mail Server configured.
For Jira, there must be a valid Jira Application Link, using OAuth (impersonation)

Jira

When deciding to use Jira to collect feedback from users, it is recommended to set up an independent Project, which has the following features or settings.

Create a new project specifically for feedback where possible.
Create a new Issue Type specifically for feedback issues.
Create an internal Jira user specifically for anonymous users, which will be set as the reporter when issues are created

Project Permissions Required

Create Issues – Group ‘Anyone on the web’
Modify Reporter – Group ‘Anyone on the web’

Create Screen for issue type

Must have the following fields on the screen

Summary
Description and
Reporter

HTML Code for templates and Look and Feel

This section is only applicable for the Trigger setup in Step 1 above when either option 2 or 3 is to be used. This is not required if using the Live: Feedback Trigger macro.

When inserting the feedback trigger on all Space pages, via Confluence standard setup or using a Theme builder, the System Administrator must add HTML code into the Space Header/Footer or any appropriate templates that are used by 3rd party themes.

The HTML is a DOM object that is clickable, typically this should be an <a> element, but for advanced users who know HTML and CSS you can use Buttons or any other clickable element.

The element must have the following attributes

Attribute	Value	Description	Required
id	“lim-feedback-trigger”		Yes
class	“lim-inline-trigger” or “lim-fixed-trigger” or<user defined style>	Inline places the trigger in the current position as specified in the template or header/footer;Fixed places the trigger discretely on the bottom right corner of the screen<user defined style> is available if you wish to design the trigger to suit your site	Yes
method	“jira” or”email”	How to deliver the feedback	Yes
destination	<valid email address> or<valid project key>	An email address when method=”email” is used. This is the email address to send the feedback email to. When method=”jira”, this must be a valid Jira Project Key.	Yes
issuetype	<Issue Type Name>	Needed for Jira only, this is the Name of the Issue Type to Create in the project for the feedback	Only for Jira
reporter	<valid Jira username>	Needed for Jira only, the username (logon name) of the Reporter to put on the Jira issue. This will be used for Ananymous users only. If a user is logged in, then their login will be used as the Reporter of the issue. This assumes that all Confluence users have a Jira account.	Only for Jira

Samples

Here is a sample trigger for creating a Jira for feedback comments:

<a id="lim-feedback-trigger" class="lim-fixed-trigger" method="jira" destination="HELP" issuetype="Feedback" reporter="FriendlyUser">Provide feedback on this article</a>

Here is a sample trigger for creating an email for feedback comments:

<a id="lim-feedback-trigger" class="lim-fixed-trigger" method="email" destination="feedback@your.com">Provide feedback on this article</a>

CSS Styling of the Fixed feedback button

If you require, the styling and location of the “Fixed” position of the trigger can be modified to suit your site’s look and feel. To do this, simply add a style override in your site/space CSS stylesheet and implement a style for “.lim-fixed-trigger”. Alternatively, if you have your own CSS, this can be used in the class attribute.

OSS will not provide support if styling has been applied and causing the functionality to no longer work.

Troubleshooting

If users have reported errors after submitting the Feedback form, then System Admins can view the Confluence log files. If an error has occurred, then this will be logged as an [ERROR] in the Confluence log file, search for ‘net.kentcom.liveinput’ and any relevant errors will be identified.

Possible causes for errors include:

Confluence setup issues

Missing email Server
Missing JIra Application Link (Primary)
Authentication link errors, the wrong OAuth has been configured
Reporter does not exist in Jira
Anonymous users can’t create issues in the Project
Reporter can be modified and Permission is needed

Trigger setup issues

Invalid email address in the Deliver To
Invalid Jira project Key
Invalid Jira Issue Type
Invalid Reporter or Reporter does not have the necessary Permissions in Jira
Check that correct Jira Permissions have been set up to allow issues to be created by Anonymous users
Check the CSS styling to ensure it is placed correctly on the screen