Ive written quite a few of these and have ended up with the following base data structure...
messageID senderID (tied to userID in a user table) recipientID (tied to userID in a user table) messageSubject messageText dateSent readStatus senderDeleted recipientDeleted Most of the fields are obvious im sure... but readStatus is just a bit flag to decide whether or not the recipientID has viewed the message (1 being yes, 0 being no) senderDeleted and recipientDeleted are also just bit flags to indicate yes or no. when a sender deletes the message, you flag senderDeleted as 1 when a recipient deletes the message, you flag recipientDeleted as 1 When both deleted flags are 1, it's ok to remove the record completely To populate an 'Outbox' (messages you've sent) you grab all messages where the senderID is you and senderDeleted is 0 To populate an 'Inbox' (all messages to you) you grab all messages where the recipientID is you and recipientDeleted is 0 As for an alert, you just query the message table where recipientID = currentUser and readStatus = 0 to get new, unread messages and display a JS alert or whatever. You could also use some ajax to check for new messages every XX seconds/minutes or whatever and display a message ..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. Bobby Hartsfield http://acoderslife.com -----Original Message----- From: Toby King [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 7:50 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: messages in an application I have an application (almost fully developed) well the key functionality is in place and working. I have been asked to build in some type of messaging functionality. Basically there are approx 8 key users who use the system regularly. They would like to have the functionality in the system where by they can send and receive messages. As the users work different shifts they woould like to be able to be advised when they login as to whether there are any messages for them to read. If there are any messages they want to be able to read the messages and reply if necessary. Just wondering what the best way is to do this. I also want to be able to check that a user has looked at the message. Thanks in advance. T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:299408 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
