Initial Letters Avatars

[srenault-meeds]

Rationale

Default avatars used for space and user are outdated. It proposes something like a default icon which is not accurate with what other platform can propose to users.

1. Functional Requirements

Top User Stories

• User - Avatar proposed by default

When logging in the first time, my avatar is set as followed: a. round avatar with no border, and background color randomly chosen from a color palet of 15 colors b. initials uppercase (white) and 2 letters max

When updating my name AND the default avatar is still on, then the avatar is updated accordingly

Example:

• Space - Avatar proposed by default

When creating a space, the avatar is set as followed: a. square avatar with no border, and background color randomly chosen from the same color palet of 15 colors b. initials uppercase (white) and 2 letters max chosen among 2 first words of the space name

When updating the name of the space, then the avatar is updated accordingly

Example:

• Update of avatars elsewhere Of course, each time an update is done, it is done anywhere the avatar are displayed (notifications, search card, mention, popover, etc.)

Impacts

Gamification

Notifications

Analytics

Unified Search

2. Technical Requirements

Expected Volume & Performance

No special change for the stored information. The new avatar should be stored the same way as when a user uploads his own avatar.

Configurability

The branding colors list has to be provided and modifiable using properties.

Upgradability

This shouldn't be applied to old empty avatars, thus no upgrade plugin is necessary.

Feature Flags

No Feature Flag is needed.

3. Software Architecture

Access

• No change on GUI nor on REST endpoint

Services & processing

In order to make the default avatar generally applied including email notifications, the default avatar should be an image rather than a Vue component which displays initials when the avatar is a default one. To be able to generate images, we will use regular Java AWT package to generate the avatar. The avatar generation has to happen in storage layer to make sure that retrieving the default data is centralized and concurrently secured. Thus, the method RDBMSIdentityStorageImpl#getAvatarFile has to be implemented in CachedIdentityStorage#getAvatarFile using a FutureCache which returns a FileItem. The default cache size should be small (500) with a small live time (300 seconds).

The business logic of RDBMSIdentityStorageImpl#getAvatarFile has to be implemented this way:

The default avatar generation process shouldn't trigger the listener of avatars update since it's a placeholder file generation and no action was made by users to attach avatars. Consequently, the gamification and analytics listeners shouldn't be triggered.

When a user or a space is renamed, if the identity has a default avatar, then a new default avatar has to be generated. In order to be able to know whether the attached avatar to a space or a user is a default generated one, a special FileItem#FileInfo#name has to be used with name DEFAULT_AVATAR. This information has to be added in Profile DTO private boolean defaultAvatar. The avatar update process must not trigger any listener as for default avatar creation since it's a placeholder, thus this update has to operate in Storage layer by simply deleting the associated FileItem and let the above described generation flow happens when retrieving the Space/User identity profile.

hint: In order to make the renaming detection easy to do, the SpaceIdentityProvider#populateProfile has to change in order to map Profile.FULL_NAME with Space#displayName as made in OrganizationIdentityProvider#populateProfile, so that we can compare the DisplayName and detect if we need to update the generated avatar or not (we may need to update RDBMSSpaceStorageImpl#renameSpace to add this mapping as well).

In term of UI, when the user provides a new name, it should refresh to display the new avatar without requesting to refresh the page.

[rdenarie]

When updating my name, then the avatar is updated accordingly

What if I change my avatar (to not use letter), then change my name ? Can you confirm that my avatar should not change ?

[srenault-meeds]

When updating my name, then the avatar is updated accordingly

What if I change my avatar (to not use letter), then change my name ? Can you confirm that my avatar should not change ?

Yes, of course

[margondicco]

Go fonc

[srenault-meeds]

Ready for tech spec writing

[boubaker]

Ready for tech review by DAO members ( eXo : @rdenarie )

[rdenarie]

Go tech

[srenault-meeds]

FYI, we have suggested to use a color palet instead of the colors from the branding. Indeed, using colors from branding means that:

• if the theme colors are updated, then default avatars would have to be updated
• if the theme colors are the same between primary, secondary and tertiary color, then default avatar would have the same display

So to avoid this, we will use a unique color palet of 15 colors.

[plamarque]

Updated title of this MIP to be more descriptive because in the end, the solution is to generate avatar images using initials of the user or the space name.

[boubaker]

PRs and ACCs ready for review ( eXo : @rdenarie )

[rdenarie]

Ok for me, you can process to merge. Thank you