Patent Publication Number: US-11036349-B2

Title: Stateful, contextual, and draggable embedded widget

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
     An Application Data Sheet is filed concurrently with this specification as part of the present application. Each application that the present application claims benefit of or priority to as identified in the concurrently filed Application Data Sheet is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and for all purposes. 
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This patent document generally relates to systems and techniques associated with widgets. More specifically, this patent document discloses techniques for implementing a widget that is stateful, contextual, and draggable. 
     BACKGROUND 
     “Cloud computing” services provide shared network-based resources, applications, and information to computers and other devices upon request. In cloud computing environments, services can be provided by servers to users&#39; computer systems via the Internet and wireless networks rather than installing software locally on users&#39; computer systems. A user can interact with social networking systems, email systems, and instant messaging systems, by way of example, in a cloud computing environment. 
     When a user interacts with a “cloud computing” service, the user may access a number of different web sites. Often, a web page of a web site will include a widget. A widget is an application that typically performs a specific function and provides an element of a graphical user interface (GUI) at a specific location within the web page. The widget generally provides a specific way for the user to interact with the widget. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only to provide examples of possible structures and process operations for the disclosed inventive systems, apparatus, and methods for implementing widgets. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  shows a system diagram of an example of a system  100  in which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 2  shows a system diagram of an example of a system  200  in which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of an example of a client device  300  on which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 4A  shows an example of a graphical user interface (GUI)  400  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 4B  shows an example of a GUI  450  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations 
         FIG. 5A  shows an example of a GUI  500  including a widget GUI generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 5B  shows an example of a GUI  520  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment after a user clicks on the closed widget GUI of  FIG. 5A , in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 5C  shows an example of a GUI  540  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment after the widget GUI of  FIG. 5B  is dragged to another location, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 6  shows a flow diagram of a method  600  for implementing a widget application, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 7  shows a flow diagram of a method  700  for updating coordinates of a widget GUI, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 8A  shows a block diagram of an example of an environment  800  in which an on-demand database service can be used, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 8B  shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations of elements of  FIG. 8A  and various possible interconnections between these elements, in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 9A  shows a system diagram of an example of architectural components of an on-demand database service environment  900 , in accordance with some implementations. 
         FIG. 9B  shows a system diagram further illustrating an example of architectural components of an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products according to the disclosed implementations are described in this section. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aid in the understanding of the disclosed implementations. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art that implementations may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, certain operations have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring implementations. Other applications are possible, such that the following examples should not be taken as definitive or limiting either in scope or setting. 
     In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations. Although these implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the disclosed implementations, it is understood that these examples are not limiting, such that other implementations may be used and changes may be made without departing from their spirit and scope. For example, the operations of methods shown and described herein are not necessarily performed in the order indicated. It should also be understood that the methods may include more or fewer operations than are indicated. In some implementations, operations described herein as separate operations may be combined. Conversely, what may be described herein as a single operation may be implemented in multiple operations. 
     Various implementations described or referenced herein are directed to different methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products for facilitating the implementation of a widget in an on-demand service environment. In some implementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products may be configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant database environment. 
     A widget generally includes two components: an application (i.e., computer program) and an element of a graphical user interface (GUI). In the following description, the term “widget application” will be used to refer to the application and the term “widget GUI” will be used to refer to the corresponding element of the GUI. 
     The disclosed implementations generally relate to a widget application. The widget application may be embedded in a web page that is subsequently downloaded on the client device. The widget application may then obtain and render information that is pertinent to the user&#39;s context via a widget GUI. The disclosed methods, apparatus, and systems are further configured to render interfaces or parts of interfaces in web browser processes running on client machines. 
     In some implementations, a widget application, when executed, provides a widget GUI that is contextual. More particularly, the widget application may save contextual information pertaining to a web page to which the user has navigated in a memory of the client device. For example, the contextual information can include a record identifier (ID) associated with a current or recent web page to which the user has navigated. The record ID may identify a database record stored within a database of a remote database system. The contextual information may then be used to obtain pertinent data from a server. The widget application may provide the data via the widget GUI and/or save the data in a state of the widget GUI for subsequent retrieval. In some implementations, the contextual information may be saved in browser memory. 
     In some implementations, the widget application, when executed, provides a widget GUI that is stateful. More particularly, the widget application may save a state of the widget GUI in memory of the client device. The state may be saved such that it includes or is associated with the context. For example, the state of the widget GUI can include user input received via the widget GUI and/or data received via the widget GUI from a server, which may be in response to user input received via the widget GUI. When the user navigates to another web page within the same web site, returns to the web page at a later time (e.g., during a browser session), or opens the widget GUI while on the same web page, the previously saved state of the widget GUI may be retrieved from memory for use in reconstructing the widget GUI within a browser window. In some implementations, the state of the widget GUI may be saved in browser memory. 
     In addition, in some implementations, the widget GUI is draggable by a user. After the user drags the widget GUI to a particular location within a browser window, coordinates of the widget GUI within the browser window may be saved in memory of the client device. In some implementations, the widget application saves coordinates of the widget GUI in local storage of the web browser. Upon navigating to another web page or returning to the web page at a later time, the widget application may retrieve the coordinates of the widget GUI from memory (e.g., local storage of the web browser) and use the coordinates to render the widget GUI within the browser window. In this manner, the previous widget GUI may be reconstructed at the same user-selected location within the browser window. 
     In some implementations, the widget application performs automatic resizing and/or positioning of the widget GUI based upon a user-selected position for the widget GUI within the browser window. More particularly, the widget application may automatically resize and/or reposition the widget GUI so that it is rendered within the largest amount of available space within the browser window. In some implementations, the widget application a direction in which to expand the widget GUI based, at least in part, on a location (e.g., coordinates) of the widget GUI in relation to the browser window. For example, the widget application may consider the quadrant of the browser window in which the widget GUI is located. 
     In some implementations, the widget application provides a widget GUI that is contextual, stateful, and draggable for a particular browser session. As a user navigates to different web pages of a web site during the browser session, the widget GUI may be reconstructed based upon the saved contextual information, state, and coordinates. When a user logs out, shuts down their computer, or refreshes the current web page of the web site, the browser session ends and the contextual information state, and/or coordinates may be deleted from memory. In some implementations, the state and contextual information are deleted from the memory (e.g., browser memory) when a browser session ends while the coordinates remain in the memory (e.g., local storage). 
     By way of illustration, John is a sales employee within a Sales group at an organization, Salesforce, Inc. John accesses a console application via his computing device. The console application presents a user interface that includes various tabs that facilitate access to information pertaining to leads, cases, and contacts. The user interface rendered within a browser window includes information received from a data provider (e.g., the organization). For example, the information can include tabs that can be selected by a user, as well as data that is rendered upon selection of one of the tabs. Tabs can correspond to various categories or sub-categories of data, e.g., leads, cases, and/or contacts. An icon representing a widget GUI is rendered at the bottom right corner of the user interface. John clicks on the icon and the widget GUI expands to cover the bottom right quadrant of the user interface. The expanded GUI element includes a search interface (e.g., input box) via which a user may submit a search query. 
     John clicks on the contacts tab to access the phone number of Jane, a contact for a lead, XYZ. Since the widget GUI covers the phone number of Jane, John decides to drag and drop the widget GUI to another location within the user interface. More particularly, John performs a drag-and-drop operation to drag and drop the widget GUI to the upper left corner of the user interface. The widget GUI expands to into the upper left quadrant of the user interface. 
     While John is on the call, John enters a query pertaining to Jane&#39;s question into the search interface and a list of search results is rendered within a segment of the widget GUI. John clicks on a link of one of the search results, identifies an answer to Jane&#39;s question, and responds to Jane&#39;s question while he is on the phone with her. John then clicks on the widget GUI to close the widget GUI. 
     After John&#39;s call with Jane, John clicks on the Contacts tab to access the phone number for another contact, ABC. The icon corresponding to the widget GUI is rendered at the previously selected location, the upper left corner of the user interface. John clicks on the icon to open the widget GUI, which expands to fill the upper left quadrant. The widget GUI contains the search results that were previously rendered within the widget GUI. 
       FIG. 1  shows a system diagram of an example of a system  100  in which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. In  FIG. 1 , a tenant database system  102  associated with an organization includes any number of computing devices such as servers  104 . The servers  104  are in communication with one or more storage mediums  106  configured to store and maintain relevant metadata used to perform some of the techniques disclosed herein, as well as to store and maintain relevant data and/or metadata generated by the techniques disclosed herein. In this example, storage mediums  106  include tenant data storage configured to store and maintain tenant data generated by or otherwise maintained by tenants of tenant database system  102 . Tenant data can include, for example, database records corresponding to clients, contacts, orders, cases, etc. In addition, storage mediums  106  can include web pages and associated metadata such as corresponding Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). 
     Database system  102  also includes application platform  110 . Application platform  110  of tenant database system  102  may be a framework that allows applications of the tenant database system  102  to run. For example, application platform  110  may include hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In some implementations, application platform  110  supports the creation, managing and executing of one or more applications. 
     In this example, application platform  110  is configured to support the execution of an application such as a customer relationship management (CRM) application that enables client devices to access database records maintained in storage mediums  106 . The CRM application is configured to respond to requests from client devices by providing web pages that can be downloaded by client devices. At least a portion of the web pages may contain an embedded widget application that includes computer-readable instructions configured to provide a widget GUI as described herein. In addition, the widget application, when downloaded to a client device, may be configured to communicate with servers  104 , as will be described in further detail below. Servers  104  may be configured to communicate with the widget application. Servers  104  may also be configured to access data and/or metadata stored in storage mediums  106 , external services offered by servers external to database system  102 , and/or data maintained in storage mediums outside database system  102 . 
     Storage mediums  106  may further store computer-readable instructions configured to perform some of the techniques described herein. In addition, the storage mediums  106  may store metadata, data, or other information received and/or generated by a tenant as described herein. 
     In some implementations, tenant database system  102  is also configured to store privilege information identifying or specifying access rights and restrictions of users according to various attributes such as a specified user ID, type of user, role of user, a community to which the user belongs, and/or a particular organization on behalf of which a community is maintained. Each of the communities may be operated on behalf of an organization. Each organization may have associated therewith one or more tenants, which may each be associated with one or more communities. 
     The servers  104  may be associated with a network domain, such as www.salesforce.com and may be controlled by a data provider associated with the network domain. A user of client computing device machine  116  can have an account at salesforce.com®. By logging into this account, the user can access the various services provided by servers  104 . 
     In the following examples, it is assumed that a user  114  accessing CRM application  112  via a computing device  116  has access rights to data that is maintained in tenant storage. In addition, it is assumed that the user  114  has access rights to CRM application  112 . For example, in the following description, it may be assumed that user  114  has successfully logged in to CRM application  112 . 
     During execution of CRM application  112 , a web page  118  containing an embedded widget application may be downloaded to client computing device  116 . Upon downloading the web page  118 , the widget application may execute in a web browser to generate a widget GUI, which may be rendered by the web browser within a browser window of computing device  116 . More particularly, the widget application may render the widget GUI  120  within the web page  118 . For example, the widget GUI  120  may be rendered in a closed state in the form of an icon. Upon opening the widget GUI  120 , the widget GUI  120  may be expanded to include a search interface. Various operations that may be performed by the widget application will be described in further detail below. 
     The client device  116  may be in communication with the data provider via network  122 . More particularly, the widget application and/or web browser may communicate with servers  104  via network  122 . For example, network  122  can be the Internet. In another example, network  122  comprises one or more local area networks (LAN) in communication with one or more wide area networks (WAN) such as the Internet. 
     Embodiments described herein are often implemented in a cloud computing environment, in which the data network  110 , servers  104   a  and  104   b , and possible additional apparatus and systems such as multi-tenant databases may all be considered part of the “cloud.” 
       FIG. 2  shows a system diagram of an example of a system  200  in which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. After a web page containing an embedded widget application and during execution of the widget application, the widget application may send contextual information from client device  116  to user interaction server  104   a , which may also be referred to as an API server. For example, the widget application may send the contextual information to user interaction server  104   a  when user  114  clicks on widget GUI  120 . Contextual information can include a record identifier such as an account identifier or contact identifier. Contextual information may be obtained from a URL of the web page or data rendered within fields of the web page. In some implementations, the widget application communicates with user interaction server  104   a  via a CRM Application Programming Interface (API). 
     User interaction server  104   a  may save information pertaining to the contextual information in a user history database  106   a . User history database  106   a  may store records pertaining to user interactions of a plurality of users with database system  102 . For example, user history database  106   a  may store a URL of the web page, an identifier of a user (or user account) accessing the URL, a session identifier, and/or associated contextual information. More particularly, user interaction server  104   a  may generate a session identifier such as a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the browser session and return the GUID to client device  116 . The GUID may be generated, for example, based, at least in part, upon a user or user account identifier and/or an identifier of client device  116 . 
     On subsequent calls to user interaction server  104   a  and/or search server  104   b , client device  116  may provide the GUID via an API. The GUID may then be used by user interaction server  104   a  and/or search server  104   b  to query the current context from user history database  106   a . In addition, the GUID may be used by user interaction server  10   a  or search server  104   b  to query previous history for that user (or user account). Using the current context, user interaction server  104   a  and/or search server  104   b  can query CRM database  106   c  and/or other sources to obtain additional information pertaining to the current context. CRM database  106  may store data pertaining to a plurality of records, which may pertain to different clients or customers. For example, the additional information may include data pertaining to fields of a record identified by the record identifier. 
     Where a user submits a search query via search interface of widget GUI, search server  104   b  may process the search query based, at least in part, on contextual information pertaining to the user&#39;s current context. More particularly, search server may query search database  106   b  and/or other sources to obtain search results based, at least in part, on a user query, the contextual information, previous history, and/or user preferences. For example, if the user was previously accessing accounts in the Finance industry, Finance search results may be given higher prominence. Search database  106   b  may contain metadata such as indices to different database records, articles, etc. 
       FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of an example of a client device  300  on which a widget may be implemented, in accordance with some implementations. Client device  300  can include a processor and memory. As shown in this example, client device  300  includes a web browser  302 . Web browser  302  can include or access browser local storage  304 , which is persistent storage. In addition, web browser  304  can include or access browser memory  306  (e.g., cache), which is not persistent. Web browser  302  may receive information from servers  104  during execution of widget application  308 . Widget application  308  may be configured to execute in a web browser program such as web browser  302  of client device  300 , which is in communication with one or more servers that provide data to the web browser  302 . During execution of widget application  308 , widget application may store  308  metadata and/or data to browser local storage  304  and/or browser memory  306 , as will be described in further detail below. 
       FIG. 4A  shows an example of a graphical user interface (GUI)  400  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. The user interface  400  may be adapted to display retrieved data in various segments of the user interface  400 . In  FIG. 4 , a number of tabs  402   a - 402 H are provided in the web browser program, allowing a user to select different panes or parts of the user interface  400 . In one embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 5 , when an icon corresponding to a widget GUI is selected, an expanded widget GUI  404  is displayed in one portion of the user interface  400 . The widget GUI  404  can be generated, updated, or rendered in response to user interaction with the user interface  400 . In some implementations, widget GUI  404  can be generated, updated, or rendered in response to data delivered to the web browser program from database system  102 . 
     In accordance with various implementations, the widget application initiates the generation, update, and/or rendering of the widget GUI  404  responsive to a user interaction with widget GUI  404 . User interaction can include, but is not limited to, selecting (e.g., clicking on) widget GUI  404 , submission of a search query via search interface  406 , closing or opening widget GUI  404  via interaction with visual indicator  408 , or a drag-and-drop operation. 
     A user may initiate a navigation change event to access a particular web page or database record. A navigation change event can indicate the change of the user&#39;s location, e.g., while navigating a web site. For example, the navigation change event can indicate that the user has accessed a particular web page or portion thereof, e.g., by clicking on a tab within the interface  400 . 
     In this example, the user has selected the Accounts tab  402   g , and subsequently selects a tab corresponding to Account CTI-2.0. For this account, the user selects the tab corresponding to Contact2, as shown at  410 . The navigation change event indicates that the user is accessing information pertaining to Contact2 of Account CTI-2.0. 
     The widget application can store contextual information pertaining to the current context in memory of the client device. More particularly, the widget application may store contextual information indicating that the user is accessing information pertaining to the Contact2 of Account CTI-2.0 in memory of the client device. For example, the widget application can store the contextual information in browser memory (e.g., cache). In addition, the widget application can transmit the contextual information to servers  104  of database system  102 . 
     Widget GUI  404  may be rendered as one contiguous area within user interface  400 , or may be comprised of two or more distinct areas within user interface  400 . A variety of types of information can be rendered within the widget GUI  404 . The type of information that is rendered can be determined based, at a least in part, on the current context (e.g., current location of the user). For example, where the user is viewing information associated with a particular lead, JEB, a purchase history of JEB may be rendered within widget GUI  404 . As another example, a phone number of a contact for JEB can be rendered within the widget GUI  404 . Therefore, the widget application may obtain and render information within the widget GUI  404  that is contextual in the absence of receiving user input via the widget GUI  404 . 
     In addition, various types of user interface objects may be rendered within the widget GUI  404  based, at least in part, on the current context (or location) of the user. A user interface object can include a button, menu, or other user interface element with which a user can interact to cause a corresponding function to be executed. As shown in this example, the widget GUI  404  can include a search interface  412  via which a user may submit a search. In this example, the user types a search query “XYZ” via search interface  412  and submits the search query by clicking on search interface element  414 . The widget application transmits the search query to database system  102 . 
     Search server(s) of database system  102  may process the search query based, at least in part, on the contextual information associated with the current context. The search server(s) of database system  102  may then provide search results to widget application. The widget application can then update widget GUI  404  such that the search results are rendered within segment  416  of widget GUI  404 . Therefore, the search results rendered in widget GUI  404  may reflect the user&#39;s current context, as well as any user input submitted by the user via the widget GUI  404 . 
     The widget application may store a state of the widget GUI in memory of the client device. More particularly, the widget application may store the state of the widget GUI in browser memory of the client device. The state of the widget GUI may be stored in association with the context of the widget GUI. The state may include, but is not limited to, a search query submitted via search interface  412  of widget GUI  404 , search results rendered with widget GUI  404 , a particular search result that has been selected and viewed within widget GUI  404 , search suggestions provided via the widget GUI, and/or an indication of previous interactions of the user (or account owner) with the search results or search suggestions received via the widget GUI. For example, the widget application may transmit a request to server(s) of database system  102  via an API to retrieve historical information pertaining to such interactions. Historical information may include, but is not limited to, an indication that the user (e.g., account owner) has liked a particular search result (e.g., content item), disliked a particular search result, or saved a particular search result to his or her favorites. Information maintained in the state or a portion thereof may be rendered within the widget GUI. 
     In some implementations, the widget application stores coordinates of the widget GUI in memory of the client device. More particularly, the widget application may store the coordinates in local storage of the web browser. The coordinates can include a specific location in which an icon of the widget GUI would be rendered (e.g., where the widget GUI is in a closed state). In addition, the coordinates can include coordinates of each of the corners of the widget GUI after it has been expanded (e.g., where the widget GUI is in an open state). 
     In some implementations, the widget application maintains the state of the widget GUI when a user navigates between web pages of a web site and different database records. This allows a user to multitask while gathering information from multiple web pages of a web site. In addition, a user may pause a task being performed using the widget GUI to complete another task and subsequently return to the widget GUI when it&#39;s most convenient for the user. Therefore, by maintaining the state of the widget GUI across multiple web pages, the widget application enables a user to access the same information via the widget while completing various different tasks for which the information may be useful. 
       FIG. 4B  shows an example of a GUI  450  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. In this example, the user has selected the Leads tab  502   e , and subsequently selects a tab corresponding to the Lead JEB. For this lead, the user selects the tab corresponding to Contact2, as shown at  458 . 
     The widget application may reconstruct widget GUI  454  in response to a navigation change event such as navigation to a different web page within the web site. In some implementations, the widget application reconstructs the widget GUI  454  from the previously saved coordinates and state of the widget GUI  404 . More particularly, as shown in this example, the widget GUI  454  may be rendered at the same location as widget GUI  404  shown in  FIG. 4A . In addition, the widget GUI  454  may be rendered with the same dimensions as widget GUI  404  shown in  FIG. 4A . Moreover, the previously saved state of widget GUI  404  may be used to render information identified in the previously saved state within the reconstructed widget GUI  454 . As shown in  FIG. 4B , the search query previously submitted via the widget GUI  404  may be rendered in search interface  456  of the widget GUI  454 . In addition, the search results rendered within segment  416  of the widget GUI  404  may be rendered in segment  458  of the widget GUI  454 . 
       FIG. 5A  shows an example of a GUI  500  including a widget GUI generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. The user interface  500  may be adapted to display retrieved data in various segments of the user interface  500 . In  FIG. 5A , a number of tabs  502 - 512  are provided in the web browser program, allowing a user to select different panes or parts of the user interface  500 . A closed widget GUI  514  may be displayed in a corner of the user interface  500  in a default position. In this example, the closed widget GUI  514  is displayed in the lower right corner of the user interface  500 . 
       FIG. 5B  shows an example of a GUI  520  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment after a user clicks on the closed widget GUI of  FIG. 5A , in accordance with some implementations. A user may click on the closed widget GUI  514  to open it. After the user clicks on the closed widget GUI  514 , the widget GUI may be displayed in an open state as shown at  522 . Similarly, the user may click on the widget GUI while open to close or collapse the widget GUI. 
     When a user clicks on the closed widget element  514  to open it, the widget GUI opens to display an expanded widget GUI. In some implementations, the widget GUI is automatically expanded to fill the largest available space within the GUI  520  in proximity to the location of the closed widget element  514 . 
     In some implementations, the orientation and/or size of the widget GUI is automatically adjusted to fill the most available space. As shown in this example, the closed widget GUI  514  is located at the lower right corner of the GUI  520  so the widget GUI is expanded upward. In this example, the closed widget GUI  514  is expanded to fill a significant portion of the right half of the GUI  520 . 
     The widget GUI can be moved to any location within the GUI  520 . In addition, the location of the widget GUI may be changed while the widget GUI is in a closed state or in an open state. More particularly, a user may click on the widget GUI to drag and drop the widget GUI to another location within the GUI  520 . 
     In some implementations, if a widget GUI is clicked and dragged when in its closed state, the widget GUI will remain in its closed state. In some implementations, if a widget GUI is clicked and dragged while in an open state, the widget GUI will close during the dragging operation and reopen when placed in its new position. In other implementations, the widget GUI may remain open during the dragging operation. 
       FIG. 5C  shows an example of a GUI  540  generated on a display device of a client device in an on-demand database service environment after the widget GUI of  FIG. 5B  is dragged to another location, in accordance with some implementations. As shown in this example, the user has dragged the widget GUI of  FIG. 5B  to a new location  542 . After the widget GUI has been dragged to the new location  542 , the widget GUI is automatically expanded to fill the most available space within the GUI  540 , as shown at  544 . More particularly, since the new location  542  of the widget GUI is at the upper left corner of the GUI  540 , the widget GUI is expanded downward to fill a significant portion of the left half of the GUI  540 . 
     A widget application that is embedded in a web page may be executed within a web browser. An example of operations performed by a widget application during execution of the widget application will be described in further detail below with reference to  FIGS. 6-7 . 
       FIG. 6  shows a flow diagram of a method  600  for implementing a widget application, in accordance with some implementations. A user may log in to a web site by entering a username and password. Once logged in, the user may navigate to various web pages of the web site. For example, the user may click on one of a plurality of user-selectable tabs provided via a web page of the web site, click on a link provided within the web page, or select another web page by selecting one of a plurality of user-selectable options provided via a user interface object such as a menu. 
     When the user accesses a first web page containing an embedded widget application, the first web page is loaded from a domain, which may be controlled by a data provider, e.g., salesforce.com®. The widget application may be executed in a web browser, as will be described in further detail below. 
     After the first web page is loaded, the widget application may execute to render a widget GUI via a web browser of a client device according to coordinates of the widget GUI at  602 . For example, the widget application may be configured with default coordinates of the widget GUI. 
     The coordinates of the widget GUI may be stored in memory of the client device at  604 . For example, the coordinates may be stored in local storage of the web browser of the client device. The coordinates may include default coordinates or new coordinates corresponding to a new location of the widget GUI that has been selected by the user. More particularly, the user may select the new location of the widget GUI by performing a drag-and-drop operation. 
     The coordinates of the widget GUI may correspond to a single location or region within a browser window or web page, where the location or region defines an area in which the widget GUI is rendered within a web page or browser window. More particularly, the coordinates of the widget GUI may include a first set of coordinates of the widget GUI corresponding to a closed state of the widget GUI (e.g., represented by a widget icon). For example, the coordinates may include x and y coordinates representing a single location. In addition, in some implementations, the coordinates of the widget GUI may include or indicate a second set of coordinates of the widget GUI corresponding to an open state of the widget GUI. For example, the coordinates may include x and y coordinates of four points that define corners of a region in which the widget GUI is rendered. In other implementations, boundaries of the widget GUI may be dynamically calculated based upon the coordinates (e.g., first set of coordinates) of the widget GUI, dimensions of the browser window, and/or “available” space within the browser window. 
     The widget application may obtain, from the first web page rendered by the web browser of the client device, a record identifier (ID) pertaining to the first web page at  606 . For example, the record ID may identify a particular account, contact, lead, order, case, or opportunity. 
     The widget application may facilitate storing, in memory of the client device, a current context including the record ID pertaining to the first web page at  608 . For example, the widget application may cause the current context to be stored in browser memory. The current context may be stored in the state of the widget GUI or may be stored in association with the state of the widget GUI. 
     In addition, the widget application may facilitate transmitting the current context to at least one server of a database system at  610 . For example, the widget application may transmit the current context via an API of a web server such as a user interface server (e.g., API server). By providing the current context, the widget application may receive and present content within the widget GUI that is relevant to the context of the web page. More particularly, responsive to receiving the current context or a request for data of specific fields pertaining to the current context, the server of the database system may provide content pertaining to the context (and any requested fields) to the client device. In some implementations, the server transmits the content to the widget application, which may render the content or portion thereof within the widget GUI. In addition, the widget application may save the content (e.g., fields of a database record) in the state of the widget GUI. In other implementations, the server may auto-populate fields within the widget GUI with the content based upon the current context (e.g., record ID). For example, if the user opens a case via the widget GUI, the server may auto-populate fields of a case form with the data from fields of the corresponding database record. 
     The user may interact with the widget GUI when the widget GUI is in a closed state to cause the widget GUI to open (e.g., expand). For example, the user may click on the widget GUI to cause the widget GUI to open. Since the widget GUI may cover a portion of the web page when the widget GUI is in an open state, the user may wish to keep the widget GUI closed when not in use. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , responsive to receiving an indication of user interaction with the widget GUI, the widget application may facilitate expanding the widget GUI such that the widget GUI includes a search interface at  612 . For example, the search interface may include a search box or other user input element of the widget GUI. 
     The user may then submit a search query via the widget GUI. More particularly, responsive to receiving user input (e.g., a search query) via the search interface, the widget application may facilitate transmitting, by the client device, an indication of the input to the server at  614 . For example, the widget application may transmit the indication of the input to a search server. 
     The search server may obtain search results based, at least in part, on the current context and the input (if received). For example, the search server may obtain search results that pertain to both a user&#39;s search query and the database record being accessed. In the absence of receiving user input via the widget GUI, the search server may obtain contextually relevant information based, at least in part, on the current context (e.g., without receiving an indication of user input). 
     Upon receiving information from the server, the widget application may facilitate rendering, via the widget GUI, the information received from the server at  616 . More particularly, the information may pertain to the current context and any input received via the search interface of the widget GUI. For example, the information may include data pertaining to a field of a database record of a database system and/or search results received responsive to a search query submitted via the search interface. The widget GUI may present data via one or more fields of the widget GUI. In this manner, the widget GUI that is presented may be contextual to the web page on which it is being rendered. 
     The widget application may facilitate storing, in the memory of the client device, a state of the widget GUI at  618 . More particularly, the state of the widget GUI may include an indication of any input received via the search interface and/or the information received from the server. For example, the state of the widget GUI may include a search query submitted via the search interface, an indication of search results received responsive to the search query, an identifier of a particular one of the search results that has been selected via the widget GUI, data pertaining to a field of a database of the database system, and/or an indication of whether the widget GUI is in an expanded state. 
     The user may perform a drag-and-drop operation to change the location of the widget GUI within the browser window or web page. Responsive to a drag-and-drop operation pertaining to the widget GUI, the widget application may update the coordinates of the widget GUI at  620 . More particularly, the widget application may modify the coordinates of the widget GUI that are stored in the memory of the client device and render the widget GUI according to the updated coordinates. In some implementations, the widget application modifies the coordinates of the widget GUI that are stored in the local storage of the web browser. 
     To illustrate the operation of the widget application to maintain the state of the widget GUI, steps performed in relation to navigation to a second web page will be described. After loading the second web page, the widget application embedded in the second web page executes as described below. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the widget application may obtain a record ID pertaining to the second web page from the second web page rendered by the web browser of the client device at  622 . In addition, the widget application may update, in the memory of the client device, the current context to include the record ID pertaining to the second web page at  624 . As described above, the current context may be updated in the browser memory. Updating may include replacing the previously stored context or adding the record ID pertaining to the second web page to the current context. 
     The widget application may facilitate transmitting, by the client device, the current context pertaining to the second web page to the server at  626 . As described above, the widget application may transmit the current context to a user interface (e.g., API) server via an API. In some implementations, the current context may be transmitted to the server responsive to an indication of user interaction with the widget GUI. For example, where the user clicks on a closed widget GUI to open the widget GUI, the widget application may transmit the current context to the server. 
     The widget GUI may be rendered based upon the stored state and coordinates of the widget GUI. More particularly, where the widget GUI is in an open state or is opened from a closed state responsive to user interaction with the widget GUI, the widget GUI is rendered such that the coordinates and state are maintained. 
     In some implementations, the widget application may retrieve the coordinates of the widget GUI from the memory of the client device at  628 . For example, the widget application may retrieve the coordinates of the widget GUI from the local storage of the web browser. In addition, the widget application may retrieve the state of the widget GUI from the memory of the client device at  630 . For example, the widget application may retrieve the state of the widget GUI from browser memory. The widget application may reconstitute (e.g., reconstruct) the widget GUI such that the widget GUI is rendered according to the retrieved state of the widget GUI and the retrieved coordinates of the widget GUI at  632 . Therefore, the appearance of the widget GUI to a user may remain the same as the user navigates to different web pages. 
     The information rendered within the widget GUI may also be updated to include additional information received from the server (e.g., based upon the current context). In addition, where the user enters subsequent user input via the search interface of the widget GUI, the additional information may pertain to the current context and the subsequent user input. In some implementations, the state of the widget GUI represented by the widget GUI and stored in the memory of the client device may be replaced with a new state of the widget GUI that includes any subsequent user input and the additional information. Thus, the state of the widget GUI may pertain to the current context. In other implementations, the state of the widget GUI stored in the memory of the client device may include the previously stored state of the widget GUI, as well as the new state of the widget GUI. 
     In some implementations, the state, context, and coordinates of the widget GUI are maintained in the memory of the client device during a browser session. In some implementations, the state, context, and/or coordinates are maintained in the memory of the client device across multiple browser sessions. After the user logs off or shuts down the client device, the state, coordinates, and/or context of the widget GUI may not be maintained in the memory of the client device. In some implementations, the coordinates of the widget GUI are maintained in the memory of the client device after the user has logged off or shuts down the client device. 
     In the example described above, it is assumed that the user submits input via the widget GUI, which is used by the server(s) to provide information for display via the widget GUI. However, it is important to note that this example is merely illustrative. In other implementations, the server(s) may obtain and provide information that is relevant to the context of the widget GUI in the absence of user input via the widget GUI. 
     In some implementations, the widget GUI is automatically rendered such that it covers the most “real estate” within a web page.  FIG. 7  shows a flow diagram of a method  700  for updating coordinates of a widget GUI, in accordance with some implementations. The coordinates of the widget GUI may be updated under a number of different circumstances. For example, the coordinates of the widget GUI may be updated in response to a user selection of a location of the widget GUI, navigation to a different web page of the web site, or resizing of the browser window. 
     By performing a drag-and-drop operation, a user may select a new location for a widget GUI in relation to a current web page. As described above, a location of the widget GUI may be defined by coordinates, which may include or indicate one or more sets of coordinates corresponding to one or more states of the widget GUI. For example, the coordinates may include or indicate a first set of coordinates that correspond to the widget GUI when in an open state and/or a second set of coordinates that correspond to the widget GUI when in a closed state. Since the location of the widget GUI (e.g., in a closed state) is new, it is possible that the widget GUI, when open, will cover important information or a significant amount of information rendered via the web page. Similarly, where a user navigates to another web page, the widget GUI, when in an open state, may cover important information or a significant amount of information rendered via the web page. 
     While it is possible for a user to modify coordinates of a widget GUI by selecting a further different location within a web page, a different size for the widget GUI, and/or a different orientation for the widget GUI, this would be particularly burdensome for a user. Therefore, in some implementations, the widget application automatically modifies the coordinates of the widget GUI, as appropriate. 
     In some implementations, the widget application automatically generates updated coordinates of the widget GUI based, at least in part, on the coordinates of the widget GUI at  702 . In addition, the updated coordinates may be generated further based, at least in part, on available “space” within a web page. For example, the widget application may identify available “space” within the web page by determining areas of the web page that do not include: 1) text, 2) one or more interface objects, 3) a significant amount of text and/or interface objects, 4) fields of data, and/or  5 ) a significant number of fields of data. Threshold numerical value(s) corresponding to text, interface objects, and/or fields of data may be used to determine whether to cover a particular region of the web page with the widget GUI while in an open state. 
     To generate the updated coordinates of the widget GUI, the widget application may ascertain a desired area in which the widget GUI may be rendered in an open state that would result in minimal disruption to the user experience. For example, the widget application may select widget GUI characteristics such as a size, shape, and/or orientation of the widget GUI that are optimal when the widget GUI is in an open state. For example, the orientation of the widget GUI may be horizontal or vertical. The widget GUI may select a desired area (e.g., size, shape, and/or orientation) that is proximate to the previously stored, configured, or selected location (e.g., coordinates) of the widget GUI when in a closed state. The updated coordinates may be ascertained or calculated based, at least in part, on the selected widget GUI characteristics. 
     In some implementations, the widget GUI may select a quadrant of the web page in which the widget GUI is to be expanded when in an open state. For example, the widget application may select one or more quadrants that are closest to the previously stored, configured, or selected location (and corresponding coordinates) of the widget GUI when in a closed state. 
     In some instances, the widget application may update the coordinates of the widget GUI such that the location of the widget GUI is different from a recent previous location of the widget GUI. In other words, the widget application may update the coordinates of the widget GUI such that a first set of coordinates of the widget GUI corresponding to a closed state are modified. In addition, in some instances, the widget application may update the coordinates of the widget GUI such that a second set of coordinates of the widget GUI corresponding to an open state are modified. 
     The widget application may store the updated coordinates of the widget GUI in memory of the client at  704  such that the updated coordinates of the widget GUI replace the coordinates of the widget GUI previously stored in the memory of the client device. As described above, the coordinates and updated coordinates may be stored in local storage of the web browser. Therefore, the widget application may store the updated coordinates of the widget GUI in the local storage of the web browser such that the updated coordinates of the widget GUI replace the coordinates of the widget GUI previously stored in the local storage of the web browser. 
     In addition, the widget application may render the widget GUI according to the updated coordinates at  706 . More particularly, the widget application may render the widget GUI, when in an open state, according to the updated coordinates. In some instances, the updated coordinates may result in rendering the widget application in a different location when in a closed state. 
     In some implementations, the widget GUI, when in an open state, is expanded to fill a quadrant of the GUI that is closest to a location (and coordinates) of the closed widget GUI. For example, where the location of the closed widget GUI is in a lower right corner of the web page, the widget GUI may be expended to fill the lower right quadrant of the GUI when the widget GUI is in an open state. 
     Some implementations may incorporate various technologies for constructing pages. For example, one or more components or pages may be constructed using Lumen, Ext, ExtJS, Flex, and/or VisualForce™ technologies available from Salesforce.com®. As another example, one or more components or pages may be constructed using Flash, Ajax, HTML, JavaScript®, or other publicly available technologies. 
     In some implementations, one or more technologies developed by Salesforce.com®, such as the Web Services API, VisualForce™, and/or Apex Service-oriented Architecture (“SOA”) may be used to display and/or integrate disparate data sources from across multiple systems. The apparatus and methods described herein may be designed or configured for use with various web browsers, such as IE 7+, Firefox 3.5+, Safari, etc. 
     In some implementations, performance may be improved by optimizing pages for high performance in a browser environment. Some web analytics and/or online business optimization platforms such as Omniture® may be used to measure the performance and adjust it as needed. In some embodiments, a network operations center (“NOC”) may be used to monitor performance and react quickly to performance degradation. 
     Ext is a JavaScript® platform developed by Salesforce.com® that includes a broad variety of UI components that can be used to develop highly interactive browser UIs. Ext may allow a complex layout. It also has a well-defined event model which facilitates component communication. JavaScript components may be created by subclassing Ext&#39;s components. 
     In some implementations, some or all of the content viewable through the service cloud console will be inside of HTML iframes. The content included inside HTML iframes may include, but is not limited to: detail/edit pages, enhanced list views, customer and Salesforce®-created VisualForce™ pages and any random sites that customers put into custom links. HTML iframes may be useful because they may facilitate putting content of multiple detail/edit pages on the same browser page. Without iframes, for example, there may be conflicting ids and/or broken JavaScript®. 
     In some implementations, the client machine may communicate with a server via Ajax. The workspace context panel may display a layout-driven grid of fields from the detail page to the user. The HTML for these fields may differ from that in the Detail page because, for example, some complex elements (e.g., lookup) may have specific HTML IDs and output JavaScript® that references those HTML IDs. In order to reconstruct those elements and reassign HTML IDs to redisplay them, the workspace context panel may request the HTML for its fields from a servlet that resolves the HTML ID and JavaScript® issues. 
     It should be noted that some of the implementations described herein may be equipped with one or more of the features set forth in the following published applications: US2003/0233404, US2004/0210909, US2005/023022, US2005/0283478, US2006/0206834, and/or US2005/0065925, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety and for all purposes. 
     While the present embodiments are described with reference to an on-demand service environment capable of supporting multiple tenants, these embodiments are not limited to multi-tenant databases or deployment on application servers. Embodiments may be practiced using other database architectures, for instance, ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM, and the like without departing from the scope of the embodiments claimed. 
     Techniques described or referenced herein can be implemented using or in conjunction with a social networking system. Social networking systems have become a popular way to facilitate communication among people, any of whom can be recognized as users of a social networking system. One example of a social networking system is Chatter®, provided by salesforce.com, inc. of San Francisco, Calif. salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of social networking services, CRM services and other database management services, any of which can be accessed and used in conjunction with the techniques disclosed herein in some implementations. In some but not all implementations, these various services can be provided in a cloud computing environment, for example, in the context of a multi-tenant database system. Thus, the disclosed techniques can be implemented without having to install software locally, that is, on computing devices of users interacting with services available through the cloud. While the disclosed implementations are often described with reference to Chatter®, those skilled in the art should understand that the disclosed techniques are neither limited to Chatter® nor to any other services and systems provided by salesforce.com, inc. and can be implemented in the context of various other database systems and/or social networking systems such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®, Google+®, Yammer® and Jive® by way of example only. 
     Some social networking systems can be implemented in various settings, including organizations. For instance, a social networking system can be implemented to connect users within an enterprise such as a company or business partnership, or a group of users within such an organization. For instance, Chatter® can be used by employee users in a division of a business organization to share data, communicate, and collaborate with each other for various social purposes often involving the business of the organization. In the example of a multi-tenant database system, each organization or group within the organization can be a respective tenant of the system, as described in greater detail below. 
     In some social networking systems, users can access one or more social network feeds, which include information updates presented as items or entries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single information update or a collection of individual information updates. A feed item can include various types of data including character-based data, audio data, image data and/or video data. A social network feed can be displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device such as the display of a computing device as described below. The information updates can include various social network data from various sources and can be stored in a database system. In some but not all implementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products may be configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant database environment. 
     In some implementations, a social networking system may allow a user to follow data objects in the form of CRM records such as cases, accounts, or opportunities, in addition to following individual users and groups of users. The “following” of a record stored in a database, as described in greater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of that record when the user is subscribed to the record. Updates to the record, also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type of information update that can occur and be noted on a social network feed such as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record. Examples of record updates include field changes in the record, updates to the status of a record, as well as the creation of the record itself. Some records are publicly accessible, such that any user can follow the record, while other records are private, for which appropriate security clearance/permissions are a prerequisite to a user following the record. 
     Information updates can include various types of updates, which may or may not be linked with a particular record. For example, information updates can be social media messages submitted by a user or can be otherwise generated in response to user actions or in response to events. Examples of social media messages include: posts, comments, indications of a user&#39;s personal preferences such as “likes” and “dislikes”, updates to a user&#39;s status, uploaded files, and user-submitted hyperlinks to social network data or other network data such as various documents and/or web pages on the Internet. Posts can include alpha-numeric or other character-based user inputs such as words, phrases, statements, questions, emotional expressions, and/or symbols. Comments generally refer to responses to posts or to other information updates, such as words, phrases, statements, answers, questions, and reactionary emotional expressions and/or symbols. Multimedia data can be included in, linked with, or attached to a post or comment. For example, a post can include textual statements in combination with a JPEG image or animated image. A like or dislike can be submitted in response to a particular post or comment. Examples of uploaded files include presentations, documents, multimedia files, and the like. 
     Users can follow a record by subscribing to the record, as mentioned above. Users can also follow other entities such as other types of data objects, other users, and groups of users. Feed tracked updates regarding such entities are one type of information update that can be received and included in the user&#39;s news feed. Any number of users can follow a particular entity and thus view information updates pertaining to that entity on the users&#39; respective news feeds. In some social networks, users may follow each other by establishing connections with each other, sometimes referred to as “friending” one another. By establishing such a connection, one user may be able to see information generated by, generated about, or otherwise associated with another user. For instance, a first user may be able to see information posted by a second user to the second user&#39;s personal social network page. One implementation of such a personal social network page is a user&#39;s profile page, for example, in the form of a web page representing the user&#39;s profile. In one example, when the first user is following the second user, the first user&#39;s news feed can receive a post from the second user submitted to the second user&#39;s profile feed. A user&#39;s profile feed is also referred to herein as the user&#39;s “wall,” which is one example of a social network feed displayed on the user&#39;s profile page. 
     In some implementations, a social network feed may be specific to a group of users of a social networking system. For instance, a group of users may publish a feed. Members of the group may view and post to this group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for the feed and the group. Information updates in a group context can also include changes to group status information. 
     In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments input from one or more users are submitted to a social network feed for a particular user, group, object, or other construct within a social networking system, an email notification or other type of network communication may be transmitted to all users following the user, group, or object in addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed item in one or more feeds, such as a user&#39;s profile feed, a news feed, or a record feed. In some social networking systems, the occurrence of such a notification is limited to the first instance of a published input, which may form part of a larger conversation. For instance, a notification may be transmitted for an initial post, but not for comments on the post. In some other implementations, a separate notification is transmitted for each such information update. 
     The term “multi-tenant database system” generally refers to those systems in which various elements of hardware and/or software of a database system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, a given application server may simultaneously process requests for a great number of customers, and a given database table may store rows of data such as feed items for a potentially much greater number of customers. 
     An example of a “user profile” or “user&#39;s profile” is a database object or set of objects configured to store and maintain data about a given user of a social networking system and/or database system. The data can include general information, such as name, title, phone number, a photo, a biographical summary, and a status, e.g., text describing what the user is currently doing. As mentioned below, the data can include social media messages created by other users. Where there are multiple tenants, a user is typically associated with a particular tenant. For example, a user could be a salesperson of a company, which is a tenant of the database system that provides a database service. 
     The term “record” generally refers to a data entity having fields with values and stored in database system. An example of a record is an instance of a data object created by a user of the database service, for example, in the form of a CRM record about a particular (actual or potential) business relationship or project. The record can have a data structure defined by the database service (a standard object) or defined by a user (custom object). For example, a record can be for a business partner or potential business partner (e.g., a client, vendor, distributor, etc.) of the user, and can include information describing an entire company, subsidiaries, or contacts at the company. As another example, a record can be a project that the user is working on, such as an opportunity (e.g., a possible sale) with an existing partner, or a project that the user is trying to get. In one implementation of a multi-tenant database system, each record for the tenants has a unique identifier stored in a common table. A record has data fields that are defined by the structure of the object (e.g., fields of certain data types and purposes). A record can also have custom fields defined by a user. A field can be another record or include links thereto, thereby providing a parent-child relationship between the records. 
     The terms “social network feed” and “feed” are used interchangeably herein and generally refer to a combination (e.g., a list) of feed items or entries with various types of information and data. Such feed items can be stored and maintained in one or more database tables, e.g., as rows in the table(s), that can be accessed to retrieve relevant information to be presented as part of a displayed feed. The term “feed item” (or feed element) generally refers to an item of information, which can be presented in the feed such as a post submitted by a user. Feed items of information about a user can be presented in a user&#39;s profile feed of the database, while feed items of information about a record can be presented in a record feed in the database, by way of example. A profile feed and a record feed are examples of different types of social network feeds. A second user following a first user and a record can receive the feed items associated with the first user and the record for display in the second user&#39;s news feed, which is another type of social network feed. In some implementations, the feed items from any number of followed users and records can be combined into a single social network feed of a particular user. 
     As examples, a feed item can be a social media message, such as a user-generated post of text data, and a feed tracked update to a record or profile, such as a change to a field of the record. Feed tracked updates are described in greater detail below. A feed can be a combination of social media messages and feed tracked updates. Social media messages include text created by a user, and may include other data as well. Examples of social media messages include posts, user status updates, and comments. Social media messages can be created for a user&#39;s profile or for a record. Posts can be created by various users, potentially any user, although some restrictions can be applied. As an example, posts can be made to a wall section of a user&#39;s profile page (which can include a number of recent posts) or a section of a record that includes multiple posts. The posts can be organized in chronological order when displayed in a GUI, for instance, on the user&#39;s profile page, as part of the user&#39;s profile feed. In contrast to a post, a user status update changes a status of a user and can be made by that user or an administrator. A record can also have a status, the update of which can be provided by an owner of the record or other users having suitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be a single user, multiple users, or a group. 
     In some implementations, a comment can be made on any feed item. In some implementations, comments are organized as a list explicitly tied to a particular feed tracked update, post, or status update. In some implementations, comments may not be listed in the first layer (in a hierarchal sense) of feed items, but listed as a second layer branching from a particular first layer feed item. 
     A “feed tracked update,” also referred to herein as a “feed update,” is one type of information update and generally refers to data representing an event. A feed tracked update can include text generated by the database system in response to the event, to be provided as one or more feed items for possible inclusion in one or more feeds. In one implementation, the data can initially be stored, and then the database system can later use the data to create text for describing the event. Both the data and/or the text can be a feed tracked update, as used herein. In various implementations, an event can be an update of a record and/or can be triggered by a specific action by a user. Which actions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feed tracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which users can also be configurable. Social media messages and other types of feed updates can be stored as a field or child object of the record. For example, the feed can be stored as a child object of the record. 
     A “group” is generally a collection of users. In some implementations, the group may be defined as users with a same or similar attribute, or by membership. In some implementations, a “group feed”, also referred to herein as a “group news feed”, includes one or more feed items about any user in the group. In some implementations, the group feed also includes information updates and other feed items that are about the group as a whole, the group&#39;s purpose, the group&#39;s description, and group records and other objects stored in association with the group. Threads of information updates including group record updates and social media messages, such as posts, comments, likes, etc., can define group conversations and change over time. 
     An “entity feed” or “record feed” generally refers to a feed of feed items about a particular record in the database. Such feed items can include feed tracked updates about changes to the record and posts made by users about the record. An entity feed can be composed of any type of feed item. Such a feed can be displayed on a page such as a web page associated with the record, e.g., a home page of the record. As used herein, a “profile feed” or “user&#39;s profile feed” generally refers to a feed of feed items about a particular user. In one example, the feed items for a profile feed include posts and comments that other users make about or send to the particular user, and status updates made by the particular user. Such a profile feed can be displayed on a page associated with the particular user. In another example, feed items in a profile feed could include posts made by the particular user and feed tracked updates initiated based on actions of the particular user. 
     Some non-limiting examples of systems, apparatus, and methods are described below for implementing database systems and enterprise level social networking systems in conjunction with the disclosed techniques. Such implementations can provide more efficient use of a database system. For instance, a user of a database system may not easily know when important information in the database has changed, e.g., about a project or client. Such implementations can provide feed tracked updates about such changes and other events, thereby keeping users informed. 
       FIG. 8A  shows a block diagram of an example of an environment  800  in which an on-demand database service can be used, in accordance with some implementations. Environment  10  may include user systems  12 , network  14 , database system  16 , processor system  17 , application platform  18 , network interface  20 , tenant data storage  22 , system data storage  24 , program code  26 , and process space  28 . In other implementations, environment  10  may not have all of these components and/or may have other components instead of, or in addition to, those listed above. 
     A user system  12  may be implemented as any computing device(s) or other data processing apparatus such as a machine or system used by a user to access a database system  16 . For example, any of user systems  12  can be a handheld and/or portable computing device such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, or a tablet. Other examples of a user system include computing devices such as a work station and/or a network of computing devices. As illustrated in  FIG. 8A  (and in more detail in  FIG. 8B ) user systems  12  might interact via a network  14  with an on-demand database service, which is implemented in the example of  FIG. 8A  as database system  16 . 
     An on-demand database service, implemented using system  16  by way of example, is a service that is made available to users who do not need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system. Instead, the database system may be available for their use when the users need the database system, i.e., on the demand of the users. Some on-demand database services may store information from one or more tenants into tables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). A database image may include one or more database objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS) or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information against the database object(s). Application platform  18  may be a framework that allows the applications of system  16  to run, such as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In some implementations, application platform  18  enables creation, managing and executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand database service via user systems  12 , or third party application developers accessing the on-demand database service via user systems  12 . 
     The users of user systems  12  may differ in their respective capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system  12  might be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. For example, when a salesperson is using a particular user system  12  to interact with system  16 , the user system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that user system to interact with system  16 , that user system has the capacities allotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have access to applications, data, and database information accessible by a lower permission level user, but may not have access to certain applications, database information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard to accessing and modifying application and database information, depending on a user&#39;s security or permission level, also called authorization. 
     Network  14  is any network or combination of networks of devices that communicate with one another. For example, network  14  can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriate configuration. Network  14  can include a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetwork of networks often referred to as the Internet. The Internet will be used in many of the examples herein. However, it should be understood that the networks that the present implementations might use are not so limited. 
     User systems  12  might communicate with system  16  using TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTP is used, user system  12  might include an HTTP client commonly referred to as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP signals to and from an HTTP server at system  16 . Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network interface  20  between system  16  and network  14 , but other techniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the network interface  20  between system  16  and network  14  includes load sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality of servers. At least for users accessing system  16 , each of the plurality of servers has access to the MTS&#39; data; however, other alternative configurations may be used instead. 
     In one implementation, system  16 , shown in  FIG. 8A , implements a web-based CRM system. For example, in one implementation, system  16  includes application servers configured to implement and execute CRM software applications as well as provide related data, code, forms, web pages and other information to and from user systems  12  and to store to, and retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical database object in tenant data storage  22 , however, tenant data typically is arranged in the storage medium(s) of tenant data storage  22  so that data of one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that one tenant does not have access to another tenant&#39;s data, unless such data is expressly shared. In certain implementations, system  16  implements applications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. For example, system  16  may provide tenant access to multiple hosted (standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application. User (or third party developer) applications, which may or may not include CRM, may be supported by the application platform  18 , which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or more database objects and executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the process space of the system  16 . 
     One arrangement for elements of system  16  is shown in  FIGS. 8A and 8B , including a network interface  20 , application platform  18 , tenant data storage  22  for tenant data  23 , system data storage  24  for system data  25  accessible to system  16  and possibly multiple tenants, program code  26  for implementing various functions of system  16 , and a process space  28  for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional processes that may execute on system  16  include database indexing processes. 
     Several elements in the system shown in  FIG. 8A  include conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example, each user system  12  could include a desktop personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other network connection. The term “computing device” is also referred to herein simply as a “computer”. User system  12  typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer browser, Netscape&#39;s Navigator browser, Opera&#39;s browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system  12  to access, process and view information, pages and applications available to it from system  16  over network  14 . Each user system  12  also typically includes one or more user input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or the like, for interacting with a GUI provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, OLED display, etc.) of the computing device in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and other information provided by system  16  or other systems or servers. Thus, “display device” as used herein can refer to a display of a computer system such as a monitor or touch-screen display, and can refer to any computing device having display capabilities such as a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, a television set-top box, or wearable device such Google Glass® or other human body-mounted display apparatus. For example, the display device can be used to access data and applications hosted by system  16 , and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations are suitable for use with the Internet, although other networks can be used instead of or in addition to the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like. 
     According to one implementation, each user system  12  and all of its components are operator configurable using applications, such as a browser, including computer code run using a central processing unit such as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system  16  (and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) and all of its components might be operator configurable using application(s) including computer code to run using processor system  17 , which may be implemented to include a central processing unit, which may include an Intel Pentium® processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units. Non-transitory computer-readable media can have instructions stored thereon/in, that can be executed by or used to program a computing device to perform any of the methods of the implementations described herein. Computer program code  26  implementing instructions for operating and configuring system  16  to intercommunicate and to process web pages, applications and other data and media content as described herein is preferably downloadable and stored on a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing program code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other type of computer-readable medium or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other conventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated that computer code for the disclosed implementations can be realized in any programming language that can be executed on a client system and/or server or server system such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.). 
     According to some implementations, each system  16  is configured to provide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client) systems  12  to support the access by user systems  12  as tenants of system  16 . As such, system  16  provides security mechanisms to keep each tenant&#39;s data separate unless the data is shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or they may be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one or more servers located in city A and one or more servers located in city B). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/or physically connected servers distributed locally or across one or more geographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to refer to one type of computing device such as a system including processing hardware and process space(s), an associated storage medium such as a memory device or database, and, in some instances, a database application (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also be understood that “server system” and “server” are often used interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database objects described herein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database or storage network and associated processing intelligence. 
       FIG. 8B  shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations of elements of  FIG. 8A  and various possible interconnections between these elements. That is,  FIG. 8B  also illustrates environment  10 . However, in  FIG. 5B  elements of system  16  and various interconnections in some implementations are further illustrated.  FIG. 8B  shows that user system  12  may include processor system  12 A, memory system  12 B, input system  12 C, and output system  12 D.  FIG. 8B  shows network  14  and system  16 .  FIG. 8B  also shows that system  16  may include tenant data storage  22 , tenant data  23 , system data storage  24 , system data  25 , User Interface (UI)  30 , Application Program Interface (API)  32 , PL/SOQL  34 , save routines  36 , application setup mechanism  38 , application servers  50   1 - 50   N , system process space  52 , tenant process spaces  54 , tenant management process space  60 , tenant storage space  62 , user storage  64 , and application metadata  66 . In other implementations, environment  10  may not have the same elements as those listed above and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed above. 
     User system  12 , network  14 , system  16 , tenant data storage  22 , and system data storage  24  were discussed above in  FIG. 8A . Regarding user system  12 , processor system  12 A may be any combination of one or more processors. Memory system  12 B may be any combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system  12 C may be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system  12 D may be any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by  FIG. 8B , system  16  may include a network interface  20  (of  FIG. 8A ) implemented as a set of application servers  50 , an application platform  18 , tenant data storage  22 , and system data storage  24 . Also shown is system process space  52 , including individual tenant process spaces  54  and a tenant management process space  60 . Each application server  50  may be configured to communicate with tenant data storage  22  and the tenant data  23  therein, and system data storage  24  and the system data  25  therein to serve requests of user systems  12 . The tenant data  23  might be divided into individual tenant storage spaces  62 , which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage space  62 , user storage  64  and application metadata  66  might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user&#39;s most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage  64 . Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a tenant might be stored to tenant storage space  62 . A UI  30  provides a user interface and an API  32  provides an application programmer interface to system  16  resident processes to users and/or developers at user systems  12 . The tenant data and the system data may be stored in various databases, such as one or more Oracle® databases. 
     Application platform  18  includes an application setup mechanism  38  that supports application developers&#39; creation and management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage  22  by save routines  36  for execution by subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces  54  managed by tenant management process  60  for example. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL  34  that provides a programming language style interface extension to API  32 . A detailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations is discussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, issued on Jun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or more system processes, which manage retrieving application metadata  66  for the subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as an application in a virtual machine. 
     Each application server  50  may be communicably coupled to database systems, e.g., having access to system data  25  and tenant data  23 , via a different network connection. For example, one application server  50   1  might be coupled via the network  14  (e.g., the Internet), another application server  50   N-1  might be coupled via a direct network link, and another application server  50   N  might be coupled by yet a different network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between application servers  50  and the database system. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used. 
     In certain implementations, each application server  50  is configured to handle requests for any user associated with any organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to a specific application server  50 . In one implementation, therefore, an interface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the application servers  50  and the user systems  12  to distribute requests to the application servers  50 . In one implementation, the load balancer uses a least connections algorithm to route user requests to the application servers  50 . Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as round robin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, in certain implementations, three consecutive requests from the same user could hit three different application servers  50 , and three requests from different users could hit the same application server  50 . In this manner, by way of example, system  16  is multi-tenant, wherein system  16  handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data and applications across disparate users and organizations. 
     As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system  16  to manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user&#39;s personal sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage  22 ). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby. 
     While each user&#39;s data might be separate from other users&#39; data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system  16  that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keep data, applications, and application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and tenant-specific data, system  16  might also maintain system level data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharable among tenants. 
     In certain implementations, user systems  12  (which may be client systems) communicate with application servers  50  to request and update system-level and tenant-level data from system  16  that may involve sending one or more queries to tenant data storage  22  and/or system data storage  24 . System  16  (e.g., an application server  50  in system  16 ) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. System data storage  24  may generate query plans to access the requested data from the database. 
     Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefined categories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and custom objects according to some implementations. It should be understood that “table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more data categories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes a customer with fields for basic contact information such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields for information such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standard entities might include tables for case, account, contact, lead, and opportunity data objects, each containing pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word “entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with “object” and “table”. 
     In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In certain implementations, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to customers that their multiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that their data may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers. 
       FIG. 9A  shows a system diagram of an example of architectural components of an on-demand database service environment  900 , in accordance with some implementations. A client machine located in the cloud  904 , generally referring to one or more networks in combination, as described herein, may communicate with the on-demand database service environment via one or more edge routers  908  and  912 . A client machine can be any of the examples of user systems  12  described above. The edge routers may communicate with one or more core switches  920  and  924  via firewall  916 . The core switches may communicate with a load balancer  928 , which may distribute server load over different pods, such as the pods  940  and  944 . The pods  940  and  944 , which may each include one or more servers and/or other computing resources, may perform data processing and other operations used to provide on-demand services. Communication with the pods may be conducted via pod switches  932  and  936 . Components of the on-demand database service environment may communicate with a database storage  956  via a database firewall  948  and a database switch  952 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9B , accessing an on-demand database service environment may involve communications transmitted among a variety of different hardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demand database service environment  900  is a simplified representation of an actual on-demand database service environment. For example, while only one or two devices of each type are shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9B , some implementations of an on-demand database service environment may include anywhere from one to many devices of each type. Also, the on-demand database service environment need not include each device shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9B , or may include additional devices not shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9B . 
     Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand database service environment  900  may be implemented on the same physical device or on different hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or a combination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “data processing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used herein are not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include any hardware and software configured to provide the described functionality. 
     The cloud  904  is intended to refer to a data network or combination of data networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located in the cloud  904  may communicate with the on-demand database service environment to access services provided by the on-demand database service environment. For example, client machines may access the on-demand database service environment to retrieve, store, edit, and/or process information. 
     In some implementations, the edge routers  908  and  912  route packets between the cloud  904  and other components of the on-demand database service environment  900 . The edge routers  908  and  912  may employ the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol of the Internet. The edge routers  908  and  912  may maintain a table of IP networks or ‘prefixes’, which designate network reachability among autonomous systems on the Internet. 
     In one or more implementations, the firewall  916  may protect the inner components of the on-demand database service environment  900  from Internet traffic. The firewall  916  may block, permit, or deny access to the inner components of the on-demand database service environment  900  based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall  916  may act as one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway, a stateful filter, a proxy server, or any other type of firewall. 
     In some implementations, the core switches  920  and  924  are high-capacity switches that transfer packets within the on-demand database service environment  900 . The core switches  920  and  924  may be configured as network bridges that quickly route data between different components within the on-demand database service environment. In some implementations, the use of two or more core switches  920  and  924  may provide redundancy and/or reduced latency. 
     In some implementations, the pods  940  and  944  may perform the core data processing and service functions provided by the on-demand database service environment. Each pod may include various types of hardware and/or software computing resources. An example of the pod architecture is discussed in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 6B . 
     In some implementations, communication between the pods  940  and  944  may be conducted via the pod switches  932  and  936 . The pod switches  932  and  936  may facilitate communication between the pods  940  and  944  and client machines located in the cloud  904 , for example via core switches  920  and  924 . Also, the pod switches  932  and  936  may facilitate communication between the pods  940  and  944  and the database storage  956 . 
     In some implementations, the load balancer  928  may distribute workload between the pods  940  and  944 . Balancing the on-demand service requests between the pods may assist in improving the use of resources, increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducing overhead. The load balancer  928  may include multilayer switches to analyze and forward traffic. 
     In some implementations, access to the database storage  956  may be guarded by a database firewall  948 . The database firewall  948  may act as a computer application firewall operating at the database application layer of a protocol stack. The database firewall  948  may protect the database storage  956  from application attacks such as structure query language (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorized information disclosure. 
     In some implementations, the database firewall  948  may include a host using one or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy traffic before passing it to a gateway router. The database firewall  948  may inspect the contents of database traffic and block certain content or database requests. The database firewall  948  may work on the SQL application level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications&#39; connection to the database or SQL management interfaces as well as intercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from a database network or application interface. 
     In some implementations, communication with the database storage  956  may be conducted via the database switch  952 . The multi-tenant database storage  956  may include more than one hardware and/or software components for handling database queries. Accordingly, the database switch  952  may direct database queries transmitted by other components of the on-demand database service environment (e.g., the pods  940  and  944 ) to the correct components within the database storage  956 . 
     In some implementations, the database storage  956  is an on-demand database system shared by many different organizations. The on-demand database service may employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualized approach, or any other type of database approach. On-demand database services are discussed in greater detail with reference to  FIGS. 9A and 9B . 
       FIG. 9B  shows a system diagram further illustrating an example of architectural components of an on-demand database service environment, in accordance with some implementations. The pod  944  may be used to render services to a user of the on-demand database service environment  900 . In some implementations, each pod may include a variety of servers and/or other systems. The pod  944  includes one or more content batch servers  964 , content search servers  968 , query servers  982 , file servers  986 , access control system (ACS) servers  980 , batch servers  984 , and app servers  988 . Also, the pod  944  includes database instances  990 , quick file systems (QFS)  992 , and indexers  994 . In one or more implementations, some or all communication between the servers in the pod  944  may be transmitted via the switch  936 . 
     The content batch servers  964  may handle requests internal to the pod. These requests may be long-running and/or not tied to a particular customer. For example, the content batch servers  964  may handle requests related to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks. 
     The content search servers  968  may provide query and indexer functions. For example, the functions provided by the content search servers  968  may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demand database service environment. 
     The file servers  986  may manage requests for information stored in the file storage  998 . The file storage  998  may store information such as documents, images, and basic large objects (BLOBs). By managing requests for information using the file servers  986 , the image footprint on the database may be reduced. 
     The query servers  982  may be used to retrieve information from one or more file systems. For example, the query system  982  may receive requests for information from the app servers  988  and then transmit information queries to the NFS  996  located outside the pod. 
     The pod  944  may share a database instance  990  configured as a multi-tenant environment in which different organizations share access to the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the pod  944  may call upon various hardware and/or software resources. In some implementations, the ACS servers  980  may control access to data, hardware resources, or software resources. 
     In some implementations, the batch servers  984  may process batch jobs, which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers  984  may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers  988 , to trigger the batch jobs. 
     In some implementations, the QFS  992  may be an open source file system available from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara, Calif. The QFS may serve as a rapid-access file system for storing and accessing information available within the pod  944 . The QFS  992  may support some volume management capabilities, allowing many disks to be grouped together into a file system. File system metadata can be kept on a separate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming applications where long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system may communicate with one or more content search servers  968  and/or indexers  994  to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in the network file systems  996  and/or other storage systems. 
     In some implementations, one or more query servers  982  may communicate with the NFS  996  to retrieve and/or update information stored outside of the pod  944 . The NFS  996  may allow servers located in the pod  944  to access information to access files over a network in a manner similar to how local storage is accessed. 
     In some implementations, queries from the query servers  922  may be transmitted to the NFS  996  via the load balancer  928 , which may distribute resource requests over various resources available in the on-demand database service environment. The NFS  996  may also communicate with the QFS  992  to update the information stored on the NFS  996  and/or to provide information to the QFS  992  for use by servers located within the pod  944 . 
     In some implementations, the pod may include one or more database instances  990 . The database instance  990  may transmit information to the QFS  992 . When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be available for use by servers within the pod  944  without using an additional database call. 
     In some implementations, database information may be transmitted to the indexer  994 . Indexer  994  may provide an index of information available in the database  990  and/or QFS  992 . The index information may be provided to file servers  986  and/or the QFS  992 . 
     In some implementations, one or more application servers or other servers described above with reference to  FIGS. 8A and 8B  include a hardware and/or software framework configurable to execute procedures using programs, routines, scripts, etc. Thus, in some implementations, one or more of application servers  50   1 - 50   N  of  FIG. 8B  can be configured to initiate performance of one or more of the operations described above by instructing another computing device to perform an operation. In some implementations, one or more application servers  50   1 - 50   N  carry out, either partially or entirely, one or more of the disclosed operations. In some implementations, app servers  988  of  FIG. 9B  support the construction of applications provided by the on-demand database service environment  900  via the pod  944 . Thus, an app server  988  may include a hardware and/or software framework configurable to execute procedures to partially or entirely carry out or instruct another computing device to carry out one or more operations disclosed herein. In alternative implementations, two or more app servers  988  may cooperate to perform or cause performance of such operations. Any of the databases and other storage facilities described above with reference to  FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A and 9B  can be configured to store lists, articles, documents, records, files, and other objects for implementing the operations described above. For instance, lists of available communication channels associated with share actions for sharing a type of data item can be maintained in tenant data storage  22  and/or system data storage  24  of  FIGS. 5A and 5B . By the same token, lists of default or designated channels for particular share actions can be maintained in storage  22  and/or storage  24 . In some other implementations, rather than storing one or more lists, articles, documents, records, and/or files, the databases and other storage facilities described above can store pointers to the lists, articles, documents, records, and/or files, which may instead be stored in other repositories external to the systems and environments described above with reference to  FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A and 9B . 
     While some of the disclosed implementations may be described with reference to a system having an application server providing a front end for an on-demand database service capable of supporting multiple tenants, the disclosed implementations are not limited to multi-tenant databases nor deployment on application servers. Some implementations may be practiced using various database architectures such as ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of the implementations claimed. 
     It should be understood that some of the disclosed implementations can be embodied in the form of control logic using hardware and/or computer software in a modular or integrated manner Other ways and/or methods are possible using hardware and a combination of hardware and software. 
     Any of the disclosed implementations may be embodied in various types of hardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof. For example, some techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, at least in part, by computer-readable media that include program instructions, state information, etc., for performing various services and operations described herein. Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that may be executed by a computing device such as a server or other data processing apparatus using an interpreter. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as flash memory, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD); magneto-optical media; and hardware devices specially configured to store program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM) devices and random access memory (RAM) devices. A computer-readable medium may be any combination of such storage devices. 
     Any of the operations and techniques described in this application may be implemented as software code to be executed by a processor using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++ or Perl using, for example, object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media encoded with the software/program code may be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately from other devices (e.g., via Internet download). Any such computer-readable medium may reside on or within a single computing device or an entire computer system, and may be among other computer-readable media within a system or network. A computer system or computing device may include a monitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of the results mentioned herein to a user. 
     While various implementations have been described herein, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present application should not be limited by any of the implementations described herein, but should be defined only in accordance with the following and later-submitted claims and their equivalents.