Ticket Comments Feature¶

Overview¶

The Ticket Comments feature in Arctyk ITSM enables threaded communication between users within a ticket. Each comment is linked to a specific ticket and includes the author, timestamp, and formatted text content.

This feature supports collaborative troubleshooting, communication between requesters and support staff, and serves as a permanent activity record.

Architecture Overview¶

Key Components¶

Comment model: Stores user-submitted comments and timestamps.
CommentForm: Validates and sanitizes comment text using Bleach and TinyMCE.
Comment Views: Handle the creation and deletion of comments.
Template Includes: Embed comments directly within the ticket detail view.

Model Definition¶

The Comment model is defined as follows:

class Comment(models.Model):
    ticket = models.ForeignKey(Ticket, related_name="comments", on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    user = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    comment_text = models.TextField()
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return f"Comment by {self.user} on {self.ticket.title}"

This structure ensures: - Comments are deleted automatically if the ticket is removed. - Each comment has an author and timestamp. - Display order defaults to chronological (oldest to newest).

Comment Form¶

The CommentForm enables input and ensures clean, safe HTML:

class CommentForm(forms.ModelForm):
    comment_text = forms.CharField(widget=TinyMCE())

    class Meta:
        model = Comment
        fields = ("comment_text",)

    def clean_comment_text(self):
        html = self.cleaned_data["comment_text"]
        allowed_tags = bleach.sanitizer.ALLOWED_TAGS | {"p", "br", "pre", "code"}
        allowed_attrs = bleach.sanitizer.ALLOWED_ATTRIBUTES | {"a": ["href", "target", "rel"]}
        return bleach.clean(html, tags=allowed_tags, attributes=allowed_attrs)

Integration in Ticket Detail View¶

The comments section is embedded within the ticket detail page:

@login_required
def add_comment(request, pk):
    ticket = get_object_or_404(Ticket, pk=pk)
    if request.method == "POST":
        form = CommentForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            comment = form.save(commit=False)
            comment.ticket = ticket
            comment.user = request.user
            comment.save()
            messages.success(request, "Comment added successfully.")
            return redirect("tickets:detail", pk=pk)
    else:
        form = CommentForm()
    return render(request, "tickets/ticket_detail.html", {"ticket": ticket, "form": form})

Template snippet:

<h4>Comments</h4>
{% for comment in ticket.comments.all %}
  <div class="comment mb-2 p-2 border rounded">
    <strong>{{ comment.user.get_full_name|default:comment.user.username }}</strong>
    <small class="text-muted">{{ comment.created_at }}</small>
    <div>{{ comment.comment_text|safe }}</div>
  </div>
{% empty %}
  <p>No comments yet.</p>
{% endfor %}

<form method="post" class="mt-3">
  {% csrf_token %}
  {{ form.as_p }}
  <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Add Comment</button>
</form>

Audit Logging¶

All comment actions (creation and deletion) are logged through Django signals or the change log system (if enabled). This allows administrators to track who commented, when, and on which ticket.

Summary¶

The Ticket Comments feature provides real-time collaboration and auditability for every ticket. It integrates directly into the ticket detail page, offering safe and formatted communication between support staff and end users.