ModerationRule | Metadata API Developer Guide

Represents a rule used in your community to moderate user-generated content. Each rule specifies the user-generated content the rule applies to, the criteria to enforce the rule on, and the moderation action to take. You can create rules that block, flag, or replace user-generated content that contains offensive language or inappropriate content. This type extends the Metadata metadata type and inherits its fullName field.

Community moderation rules created with the Metadata API are more powerful than moderation rules set up in the Community Management UI. For example, in the UI you could create a rule that moderates posts and comments. In the Metadata API you could create a rule that moderates only the Link Name of a Link feed type. Use the Metadata API to express complex moderation rules.

Don’t update moderation rules you create using the Metadata API in the Community Management UI. If you do, you overwrite relevant Metadata API fields or the fields are ignored.

Important

Keep the following things in mind when creating moderation rules:

Your organization can have up to 30 rules. This limit is per organization, not per community.
Each rule can have up to three criteria.
Rules that block content run first, followed by rules that replace content, then rules that flag content. If two or more rules perform the same action, the oldest rule runs first.

File Suffix and Directory Location

ModerationRule components have the suffix .rule and are stored in the moderation directory of the corresponding package directory. The file name format follows community_name.moderation_rule_developer_name.rule.

Version

ModerationRule components are available in API version 36.0 and later.

Special Access Rules

To view, create, edit, and delete moderation rules, you need the Manage Communities or Create and Set Up Communities permission.

Fields

Field Name	Field Type	Description
action	ModerationRuleAction	Required. Indicates the moderation action that you want to take.
activate	boolean	Required. Indicates whether the moderation rule is active (`true`) or inactive (`false`).
description	string	A description of the moderation rule.
entitiesAndFields	ModeratedEntityField[]	Indicates the types of user-generated content this moderation rule applies to.
masterLabel	string	Required. Label for the moderation rule.
userMessage	string	The message you want your community members to see when their content is blocked. Use the `%BLOCKED_KEYWORD%` variable to display up to five blocked words in the user message. If you don’t specify a message, the user sees the standard message: “You can't use `%BLOCKED_KEYWORD%` or other inappropriate words in this community. Review your content and try again.”

ModerationRuleAction

The moderation action to take when your criteria is matched.

Field Name	Field Type	Description
ModerationRuleAction	ModerationRuleAction (enumeration of type string)	Required. Indicates the moderation action to take when your criteria is matched. The valid values are: `Block` `Replace` `Flag`

ModeratedEntityField

The fields and entities you want to moderate.

Field Name	Field Type	Description
entityName	string	Required. Indicates the types of user-generated content the moderation rule applies to. Post and comments only apply to content created in groups and user profiles. All feed types, such as polls and links, are supported.
fieldName	string	Indicates the field the moderation rule applies to. To moderate feed posts, use entityName `FeedItem` with fieldName `RawBody`. To moderate feed comments, use entityName `FeedComment` with fieldName `RawCommentBody` These two field names are internal only and don’t appear in other API documentation. Note
keywordList	KeywordList string	Indicates the keyword list that you want to moderate against.

Declarative Metadata Sample Definition

The following is an example of a ModerationRule component.

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<ModerationRule xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
3   <description>Blocks Bad Word List in posts, comments, Link URLs, titles, and poll choices.</description>
4   <masterLabel>Blocking Rule</masterLabel>
5   <action>Block</action>
6   <active>true</active>
7   <userMessage>You can't use %BLOCKED_KEYWORD% or other inappropriate words in this community. Review your content and try again.</userMessage>
8   <!-- Applies the rule to FeedComment.RawCommentBody (an internal only field), if it contains words from the keyword list specified -->
9   <entitiesAndFields>
10     <entityName>FeedComment</entityName>
11     <fieldName>RawCommentBody</fieldName>
12     <keywordList>community1.badword_list</keywordList>
13   </entitiesAndFields>
14   <entitiesAndFields>
15     <entityName>FeedItem</entityName>
16     <fieldName>LinkUrl</fieldName>
17     <keywordList>community1.badword_list</keywordList>
18   </entitiesAndFields>
19   <!-- Applies the rule to FeedItem.RawBody (an internal only field), if it contains words from the keyword list specified -->
20   <entitiesAndFields>
21     <entityName>FeedItem</entityName>
22     <fieldName>RawBody</fieldName>
23     <keywordList>community1.badword_list</keywordList>
24   </entitiesAndFields>
25   <entitiesAndFields>
26     <entityName>FeedItem</entityName>
27     <fieldName>Title</fieldName>
28     <keywordList>community1.badword_list</keywordList>
29   </entitiesAndFields>
30   <entitiesAndFields>
31     <entityName>FeedPollChoice</entityName>
32     <fieldName>ChoiceBody</fieldName>
33     <keywordList>community1.badword_list</keywordList>
34   </entitiesAndFields>
35</ModerationRule>

The following is an example package.xml that references the previous definition.

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
3   <types>
4     <name>ModerationRule</name>
5     <members>community1.blocking_rule</members>
6   </types>
7   <version>36.0</version>
8</Package>