Forum Discussion

cgmcconnell's avatar
cgmcconnell
Expert
14 years ago

Display user's real name instead of user handle?

I'm wondering if there is a way to change the display name of a user from their user login/handle to their real name?  For example, on Lithium Blogs there is an option to use the posters real name, t...
cgmcconnell's avatar
cgmcconnell
Expert
14 years ago

Hey Kaela,

 

Thanks for such a quick response!  In regards to your questions, thanks for bringing up those points, as they relate to my community:

 

1.  Foruntately we have the first and last name for all of our users as we use SSO tied to our existing registration process (which requires a name and is usually accurate).  Additionally, half of our user base are our interntal customers which have 100% accurate information.

 

2.  That's an interesting thought but I feel pretty comfortable switching it on as, by default, we show first and last name on their user profile page.

 

Also, I'm assuming the custom component could be placed everywhere a username is used?

 

Thanks,
Colin

AdamN's avatar
AdamN
Khoros Oracle
14 years ago

Hi Colin,

 

It really depends on how you construct the component. There are a few different context objects you can make use of with freemarker:

  • env.context.message.author - if the component is within the context of a message, this will give you the author of the message.
  • page.context.user - if you place the component on the ViewProfilePage, this will give you the user whose profile page is currently being displayed
  • user.id - On any page, this will give you the id of the user viewing the page

So you could very well construct a single component that handled a bunch of different cases. However, depending on exactly what you're trying to accomplish, it might be easier to just have separate, specific-use components.

 

I hope this helps!