Ratings Feature using Liferay OOTB
Introduction
Sometimes, we want users to rate our content. Like a blog post, a knowledge base article, a document, or a page. Liferay's built-in Ratings feature improves this process. There is no need for creating custom logic; simply enable it and you're ready to go.
In this article, we will look at the out-of-the-box (OOTB) ratings feature in Liferay. Whether you're building a public site or an internal portal, this feature will let you quickly get feedback from your users.
Prerequisites
- Liferay DXP/Portal
Environment Requirements
- Java
- Liferay
Ratings Feature using Liferay OOTB
Step 1: Understanding Rating Types
Before implementing ratings, it's important to understand the three rating mechanisms available in Liferay:
- Likes: Simple one-click rating system
- Stars: Five-star rating system (default)
- Thumbs: Up/down voting system
Each rating type serves different purposes and fits different content types. Choose the one that best matches your users' needs.
Step 2: Implementing Ratings to your portal
To add ratings to your Liferay portal, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Product Menu > Configuration > Site Settings > Community Tools > Ratings
- Now you can see the configurations for every content for which Liferay is providing the ratings feature
- As you can see in the image above, set the configuration as per your requirement and save it.
- Liferay is providing the following rating options for your use:
- Default Value (Thumbs)
- Like
- Stacked Stars
- Stars
- Thumbs
- You can also set the default value according to your requirement
- If you are using MVC and want to put ratings inside the JSP:
- If you are using MVC and want to put ratings inside the JSP:
1<liferay-ui:ratings className="<%=Entry.class.getName()%>"
2 classPK="<%=entry.getEntryId()%>" type="stars" />
3Step 3: Conversion of Rating Values
| Values | Converted to Likes | Converted to Stars | Converted to Thumbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Likes | No Changes | 1 Like equals 5 Star ratings | 1 Like is equal to 1 Thumb-up |
| Stars | 3-5 stars equals one like; 1-2 stars are eliminated | No Changes | 3-5 Stars equals 1 Thumb-up; 1-2 Stars equals 1 Thumb-down |
| Thumbs | A Thumb equals one like; a Thumb down is eliminated | A Thumb-up equals 5 5-Star ratings; a Thumb-down equals 1-Star rating | No Changes |
- As you can see in the table above, this is how Liferay will handle the ratings with different conversions.
Step 4: Use the rating feature on the page
- Navigate to your page and click on the edit button.
- Search ratings in the Fragments and Widgets menu.
- As you can see in the image below, you will get 2 results for the ratings
- Content Ratings
- Page Ratings
- To use the rating feature for a specific page, use Page Ratings, and for any content, use Content Ratings.
- Just drag and drop the ratings on the page.
- You need to select any specific content for the content ratings.
- You can directly use page ratings without any configuration.
- As you can see in the image below, when you click on the content ratings, you need to select any content from the right-hand side menu.
- I have set stacked stars for both content and page ratings from the configuration.
- This is how you can use Liferay’s out-of-the-box rating feature.
Conclusion
Liferay’s out-of-the-box ratings feature is a quick and simple way to get user feedback. You don’t need to build anything from scratch; just enable it from the settings, and it works!
It’s perfect for improving engagement and helping users find the best content on your site.
