Admins Can't Favorite Motions? Fixing OpenSlides Bug

Aug 5, 2025 by Pedro Alvarez 53 views

Allow Super/Orga and Committee Admin to Favorite Motions Outside Meeting Discussions

Hey everyone! Ever run into a snag where your super admins, organization admins, or committee admins couldn't favorite a motion because they weren't directly part of the meeting discussion? Yeah, it's a bit of a head-scratcher, but let's dive into the nitty-gritty of this bug and how we can smooth things out.

Understanding the Bug

So, what's the deal? Basically, in OpenSlides, there's this hiccup where admins with elevated privileges—like super admins, organization admins, or committee admins—can't mark a motion as a favorite if they're not explicitly part of the meeting where the motion is being discussed. Think of it like this: they're the VIPs, but the velvet rope is still up for some reason. This can be super frustrating because these folks often need to keep tabs on all sorts of motions, regardless of their direct involvement in the meeting.

Reproducing the Issue: A Step-by-Step Guide

To really grasp the problem, let's walk through how to reproduce it. This way, you can see exactly what's going on under the hood.

Create a Meeting: First things first, you need a meeting in OpenSlides. This is where the action happens, so go ahead and set one up.
Create a Motion: Now, within that meeting, create a motion. This is the item that our admins will want to favorite.
Create and Assign an Admin User: This is where it gets interesting. Create a new user and assign them as a super admin, organization admin, or committee admin. This is the user who will face the issue.
Log in as the New Admin User: Switch over to the newly created user's account. This is crucial to replicate the bug from their perspective.
Navigate to the Motion: Find the motion you created earlier. It's time to try and favorite it.
Attempt to Set as Favorite: Here's the moment of truth. Try to mark the motion as a favorite. If the bug is present, you'll see an error.
The Error: You should encounter an error message, something along the lines of "User not associated with meeting." This is the core of the problem.

Diving into the Technical Details

Let's peek behind the curtain a bit. When the admin user tries to favorite the motion, a request is sent to the backend. This request, or payload, looks something like this:

{
 "action": "personal_note.create",
 "data": [
 {
 "content_object_id": "motion/13",
 "star": true
 }
 ]
}

This payload is essentially saying, "Hey, create a personal note (a favorite) for this motion!" However, the backend responds with:

{"success": false, "message": "User not associated with meeting."}

The backend is the smart part of the application that processes the request. So, the backend is saying, “Hold up! This user isn't associated with this meeting, so no favoriting for you!” This is where the logic gate is causing the issue.

Expected Behavior: What Should Happen?

Here's the kicker: the user should be able to mark the motion as a favorite. After all, they're a super admin, organization admin, or committee admin. Their role should grant them the privilege to favorite motions, regardless of their direct association with the meeting discussion. This is about ensuring that those in charge can efficiently manage and track important items across the entire OpenSlides system. They should have the power to favorite any motion they need to keep an eye on.

Why This Bug Matters

Okay, so an admin can't favorite a motion—what's the big deal? Well, it's more significant than it might seem at first glance.

The Frustration Factor

First off, it's frustrating for the admins. Imagine being responsible for overseeing everything, but the system throws up a roadblock when you try to do something as simple as marking a motion as important. It's like having the keys to the kingdom but finding some doors still locked. This friction can lead to frustration and make the system feel less user-friendly.

Hinders Efficiency

More importantly, it hinders efficiency. Super admins, organization admins, and committee admins often need to monitor a wide range of motions across different meetings. Favoriting motions is a key way they keep track of what's important and what needs their attention. If they can't easily favorite motions, they might miss critical items or have to resort to clunkier workarounds. This inefficiency can slow down decision-making processes and create unnecessary bottlenecks.

Impact on Oversight and Governance

The inability to favorite motions can also impact oversight and governance. These admins are often responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly and that decisions are made in a timely and appropriate manner. By restricting their ability to favorite motions, the system is essentially limiting their ability to effectively do their jobs. This can lead to a less transparent and less accountable system, which is the opposite of what OpenSlides aims to achieve. This limitation on their power impacts the governance and oversight they can provide.

The Bigger Picture

In the bigger picture, this bug highlights the importance of aligning system permissions with user roles. If someone has a high-level administrative role, the system should reflect that in the actions they're allowed to take. Discrepancies like this can erode trust in the system and make users feel like it's working against them, rather than for them. Fixing this ensures that OpenSlides remains a reliable and efficient tool for managing meetings and motions.

Potential Solutions and Workarounds

Alright, so we've identified the problem and why it's a pain. What can we do about it? While a proper fix would involve tweaking the OpenSlides backend code, there are a few workarounds we can explore in the meantime.

The Direct Association Workaround

The most obvious workaround is to ensure that the super admin, organization admin, or committee admin is directly associated with the meeting in question. This might involve adding them as a participant or giving them some other role within the meeting. While this will allow them to favorite motions within that specific meeting, it's not a great long-term solution. It adds extra steps and doesn't scale well if an admin needs to monitor motions across many meetings. This is more of a temporary fix than a solid solution.

The "Favorite It Later" Approach

Another workaround, albeit a clunky one, is to make a note of the motion and then favorite it later when you are associated with the meeting. This could involve keeping a separate list or using a task management tool. Obviously, this is far from ideal. It requires extra effort and introduces the risk of forgetting or losing track of motions. Nobody wants to add extra steps to their workflow.

A Proper Fix: Adjusting the Backend Logic

The real solution lies in adjusting the backend logic. The system needs to be updated to recognize the elevated privileges of super admins, organization admins, and committee admins. It should allow them to favorite motions regardless of their direct association with a meeting. This would likely involve modifying the permission checks in the personal_note.create action to account for these roles. This is the long-term solution we're aiming for.

The Ideal Scenario

Ideally, the fix would be implemented in a way that's both secure and efficient. The system should still verify that the user has the appropriate administrative role, but it shouldn't restrict them based solely on meeting association. This would strike the right balance between security and usability, ensuring that admins can do their jobs effectively without unnecessary roadblocks. This ensures the system is both secure and user-friendly.

The Importance of Reporting Bugs

This whole situation highlights the importance of reporting bugs. When you encounter something that doesn't seem quite right, speaking up can make a big difference. Bugs like this can slip through the cracks, especially if they affect a specific subset of users or roles. By reporting them, you're helping the developers improve the system and make it better for everyone.

How to Report Bugs Effectively

So, what's the best way to report a bug? Here are a few tips:

Be Clear and Specific: The more details you can provide, the better. Explain exactly what you did, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened. This helps the developers understand the issue and reproduce it on their end.
Include Steps to Reproduce: A step-by-step guide on how to reproduce the bug is invaluable. This allows the developers to quickly verify the issue and start working on a fix.
Provide Error Messages and Logs: If there are any error messages or logs, include them in your report. These can provide important clues about the root cause of the bug.
Use Screenshots or Videos: Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Screenshots or videos can help illustrate the problem and make it easier to understand.
Be Patient and Polite: Remember, developers are people too! They're working hard to make the system better, and your patience and politeness will be appreciated.

The Community Aspect

Reporting bugs is also a way to contribute to the OpenSlides community. By sharing your experiences and helping to identify issues, you're playing a vital role in making the platform more robust and reliable. It's a collaborative effort, and everyone benefits from it. This community involvement is what makes open-source projects thrive.

Conclusion: Streamlining Admin Access for a Smoother Workflow

In conclusion, the issue of super admins, organization admins, and committee admins being unable to favorite motions outside of meeting discussions is a significant one. It highlights the need for system permissions to align with user roles and for the backend logic to accommodate the responsibilities of these high-level administrators. While workarounds exist, the ideal solution involves adjusting the backend to recognize their elevated privileges. By addressing this bug, OpenSlides can ensure a smoother workflow, greater efficiency, and improved oversight for its users. So, let's keep those bug reports coming and work together to make OpenSlides the best it can be! By streamlining admin access, we can make OpenSlides even more powerful.