System and method for providing active menus in a communities framework

A method for providing active menus in a communities framework, said method comprising:

• providing a community framework including a set of files to create at least one community of user members, wherein the community contains one or more collaboration resources, wherein each of the one or more collaboration resources contains content data types accessible by the members of the community, wherein the collaboration resources include one or more of the following:
• a document, an announcement, an event, a link, an issue and a group note;
• providing a tag library containing one or more tags for defining an active menu associated with a resource of the one or more collaboration resources, wherein the active menu is alterable using a configuration file to add, modify and/or remove menu items on the active menu;
• and
• processing the configuration file by a server to render the active menu for the resource, said configuration file including a set of menu item entries that are used to customize the active menu, wherein each menu item entry in the configuration includes a menu item tag, wherein at least one menu item tag references a servlet, wherein output of execution of said servlet is rendered on the active menu;
• wherein, for each collaboration resource, the server will render a different customized active menu depending on the community in which the user is accessing the collaboration resource, based on the configuration file processed by the server
• wherein the menu item tag includes a set of attributes that define characteristics of the menu item that is associated with the menu item tag, wherein the set of attributes includes a right-click attribute that switches activation of the menu item between mouse-over activation and right-click activation;
• and
• wherein the portal page includes a dynamic container associated with an identifier and wherein at least one of the menu items of the active menu invokes a dynamic content call to update the dynamic container without reloading the portal page.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having sequences of instructions stored thereon, said instructions when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

• provide a community framework including a set of files to create at least one community of user members, wherein the community contains one or more collaboration resources, wherein each of the one or more collaboration resources contains content data types accessible by the members of the community, wherein the collaboration resources include one or more of the following:
• a document, an announcement, an event, a link, an issue and a group note;
• provide a tag library containing one or more tags for defining an active menu associated with a resource of the one or more collaboration resources, wherein the active menu is alterable using a configuration file to add, modify and/or remove menu items on the active menu;
• and
• process the configuration file by a server to render the active menu for the resource, said configuration file including a set of menu item entries that are used to customize the active menu, wherein each menu item entry in the configuration includes a menu item tag, wherein at least one menu item tag references a servlet, wherein output of execution of said servlet is rendered on the active menu;
• wherein, for each collaboration resource, the server will render a different customized active menu depending on the community in which the user is accessing the collaboration resource, based on the configuration file processed by the server;
• wherein the menu item tag includes a set of attributes that define characteristics of the menu item that is associated with the menu item tag, wherein the set of attributes includes a right-click attribute that switches activation of the menu item between mouse-over activation and right-click activation;
• and
• wherein the portal page includes a dynamic container associated with an identifier and wherein at least one of the menu items of the active menu invokes a dynamic content call to update the dynamic container without reloading the portal page.