Rating content and calculating average ratings in MySource Matrix

A new feature was released in version 3.16.6 of MySource Matrix that allows you to calculate an average rating for content based on the comments and ratings users have made. The average rating is calculated as comments are created (or approved, it's up to you) and then stored in a metadata field. This field can then be used to sort pages based on their average rating.

Adding this feature to an existing comment system is fairly easy, but I'll just run through the basics of building a comment system first.

I've built a basic site with two standard pages. Both pages have a paint layout applied that nests in an asset builder and an asset listing that are used to create new comments and list existing ones. The general idea here is that every page will have a form that users can use to create new comments and apply a rating. Under the form will be a listing that prints the current comments and the ratings users applied to them.

The home page with a couple of comments and ratings

Asset Builder

The asset builder is configured to create comment assets. In my case, I have made them Live by default, but you could choose to create them as Under Construction so you can moderate comments. On the Create Locations screen, I have configured an Additional Create Location to create the comment asset under the current asset. I've made the links TYPE_2 so they are not shown in menus.

The bottom of the Create Locations screen, showing the additional create location

The create form for comments has been customised (bottom of the asset builder's Details screen) so that the rating can be added when the comment is created. I've also renamed Title to Subject.

The contents of the Comment Create Form Layout asset

Asset Listing

The asset listing is configured to list comment assets. The root node is set as the site asset, but this will be replaced dynamically by the current asset. Direct links only is set to Yes and there is a dynamic parameter set to replace the root node with the current asset's ID.

I've customised the No Results bodycopy to print a message encouraging users to post a comment and I've printed the rating as both a percentage and as a star rating in the default type format.

The contents of the Default Format bodycopy

Paint Layout

I've nested the asset builder and the asset listing in the default type format. Be sure to nest the asset builder first otherwise new comments will not appear until the next page refresh. This is obviously not a problem if you are moderating comments as they will not appear until they are approved.

The contents of the Default Format bodycopy

Adding Comments

Once the paint layout is applied, users are presented with the following form:

The home page before any comments have been added

Once they have added a few comments, we can start to work out the average rating. The image on the left shows two comment assets under the home page. Both are TYPE_2 linked so they don't appear in menus. By linking comments directly under each page, we can easily list them using a dynamic root node. If you are moderating comments, you may find it easier to create an asset listing of all Under Construction comments under the site with a link to their Simple Edit interface rather than manually looking for comments under pages.

Calculating Average Ratings

Now that we have our standard commenting system created, we can implement the new average rating functionality. All we do is apply a metadata schema to the assets that are rated and ensure there is a Text field in the schema in which to store the average rating. Then we create a trigger that sets the average rating when a new comment is added.

The metadata schema I have created is shown below.

This metadata schema contains a single section and Text field

Make sure you set a default value (e.g., zero) so that unrated content gets a default rating.

The trigger I have created is shown below. Remember to enable triggers on the Trigger Manager Details screen.

The trigger to calculate average ratings

Once this trigger is enabled, I added a new comment to the page to force the trigger to run. I now have three comments with three different ratings; 20%, 40% and 80%. Once the trigger has fired, the value 46 has been entered into the Rating metadata field for my page. Note that the rating has been rounded down so that an asset with a rating of 99.6% is not rated at 100%.

The metadata screen of the home page

Now I can configure an asset listing to show the most popular pages in my site. This asset listing is configured to list standard pages under my site and is sorted by the value of the Average metadata field. The Default type format is configured to print the asset's name and the average rating and I've limited it to 10 assets per page.

The asset listing of the most popular pages in the site

The rating is just a percentage, but you could get tricky with JavaScript and use the values to prints stars and other graphical elements. Just remember to put a textual value in there somewhere to ensure it is accessible.

And that's it. You can use this average rating anywhere you normally use metadata, including sorting search results. And of course, this is MySource Matrix so you can configure all the frontend interfaces shown here in any way you want.