Working with groups

The Groups administration interface is located in the Groups application, where you can see a list of all groups available on the current site.

Groups are typically created by users on the live site, but you can also create groups using the administration interface.

Configuring pages to be owned by a group

The system allows you to configure any page to be owned by a group.

1. Open the Pages application and select a page from the content tree.

2. Switch to the page’s Properties -> General tab.

3. Click Change next to the Owned by group property.

   • The system opens the Change page owner group dialog.

4. Select a group and click Save & Close.

5. Save the page.

The page is now owned by the selected group.

The Owned by group property identifies which group a given page belongs to, and is used by various group context sensitive web parts to display the appropriate content. It also influences the editing permissions of group administrator widget zones. See Allowing users to create groups.

Editing groups

There are two ways to edit group properties:

• On-site management using the Group profile web part. This is typically used by group administrators.
• Administration interface in the Groups application, after choosing to Edit a group. This is typically used by site administrators.

The both approaches provide the same tabs layout, with the difference that there are some extra settings in the administration interface. These settings are marked as administration interface only in the descriptions below.

General tab

On the General tab, you can configure the general properties of the group.

Security tab

On the Security tab, you can use the matrix to set permissions for group pages. You can assign the following permissions:

• Create pages - users can create group pages.
• Delete pages - users can delete group pages.
• Edit pages - users can edit group pages.

These permissions can be assigned to:

• Nobody - nobody can perform the action.
• All users - all users can perform the action.
• Authenticated users - only signed-in users can perform the action, i.e. anonymous public users cannot perform the action.
• Group members - only group members can perform the action, i.e. authenticated non-group members and anonymous users cannot perform the action.
• Authorized roles - only members of the group roles selected below can perform the action.

Members tab

On the Members tab, you can see a list of all members of the group. You can also approve members’ requests for joining the group, or reject members from the group. Once rejected, the user cannot request to join the group until they are approved again.

Clicking Add member allows you to add users to the group directly, without sending an invitation to them (available in the administration interface only). On the live site, Invite member is displayed.

When adding a user to a group, you have the following options:

• User - allows you to select an existing site user who you want to add to the group.
• Comment - here you can provide a text comment that you can add to the user. This comment is not sent to the user, it is only displayed in the administration interface.
• Approve - if selected, the user is automatically approved. If not, the user needs a group administrator’s approval before they become a member of the group.
• Add roles - you can use this button to assign the user to group roles. The system opens a dialog where you can select from a list of available group roles.

After clicking Invite member, a dialog appears. There are two ways of invitation:

• Invite existing site member - after selecting an existing site user in the User name field, an invitation email is sent to the user’s email address. The text entered into the Comment field is included in the email. Users can then join the group either by clicking a link in the email, or via the My sent invitations web part.
• Invite via email - this way, you can send the invitation to any email address that you enter into the Email field. In this case, the user is required to register to the site after clicking the join link in the email. Text entered to the Comment field is included in the e-mail.

Roles tab

On the Roles tab, you can see a list of roles defined for the group. These roles can be used only in the context of the group.

Clicking New role allows you to define a new role for the group. The system offers the following properties:

• Role display name - specifies the name of the role used on the live site and in the administration interface.
• Role code name - specifies the name of the role used in your code; administration interface only.
• Role description - allows you to provide a text description of the role.
• Can manage the group - indicates if members of the role can manage the group using the Group profile web part.

When Editing a role, the system offers two tabs. On the General tab, you can change properties specified when creating the role. On the Users tab, you can see a list of all members assigned to the role. You can remove any members from the role by selecting the check box to the left of the listed users and clicking Remove selected. Click Add users to add new users to the role.

Forums tab

On the Forums tab, you can create and manage the group’s forums. As these forums are standard Kentico forums set into the context of the group, see Forums for more information on their management.

Media libraries tab

On the Media libraries tab, you can create and manage the group’s media libraries. As these are standard Kentico media libraries set into the context of the group, see Media libraries for more information on their management.

Message boards tab

On the Message boards tab, you can manage the group’s message boards. As these are standard Kentico message boards set into the context of the group, see Message boards for more information on their management.

Polls tab

On the Polls tab, you can manage the group’s polls. As these are standard Kentico polls set into the context of the group, see Polls for more information on their management.