Communication: Add send as regular message option for replies

[asliayk]

Checklist

General

• I tested all changes and their related features with all corresponding user types on a test server.
• Language: I followed the guidelines for inclusive, diversity-sensitive, and appreciative language.
• I chose a title conforming to the naming conventions for pull requests.

Server

• Important: I implemented the changes with a very good performance and prevented too many (unnecessary) and too complex database calls.
• I strictly followed the principle of data economy for all database calls.
• I strictly followed the server coding and design guidelines.

Client

• Important: I implemented the changes with a very good performance, prevented too many (unnecessary) REST calls and made sure the UI is responsive, even with large data (e.g. using paging).
• I strictly followed the principle of data economy for all client-server REST calls.
• I strictly followed the client coding and design guidelines.
• I added multiple integration tests (Jest) related to the features (with a high test coverage), while following the test guidelines.
• I added multiple screenshots/screencasts of my UI changes.
• I translated all newly inserted strings into English and German.

Motivation and Context

Currently, when replying to a message, the response is always created as an AnswerPost. However, there is no option to post the reply as a regular Post instead. This limitation is not always ideal in scenarios where the reply is relevant to the entire conversation rather than just being tied to the original message. (Closes #9953)

Description

This PR introduces "Also send as direct message" option when writing a reply.

• A checkbox has been added below the input field for replies.
• When selected, the reply is sent both as an AnswerPost and as a regular Post within the same conversation.
• The Post version of the reply includes a link to navigate to the related thread, similar to Slack.

To achieve this feature, an original_post_id column has been added to the Post table. This column stores the ID of the first message in the thread (i.e., the original post), enabling seamless navigation from any reply back to its corresponding thread.

• hasForwardedMessages field, which was present in both Post and AnswerPost, has been moved to the parent class Posting.

Steps for Testing

Prerequisites:

• 1 User
• 1 Course with Communication enabled

1. Log in to Artemis.
2. Navigate to the Communication section of a course.
3. Select a message and type a reply in the input field.
4. Before sending, check the "Also Send as Direct Message" checkbox below the input field.
5. Verify that the reply is sent both as an AnswerPost and as a regular Post in the same conversation.
6. Locate the "replied to a thread" line above the post.
7. Click the "replied to a thread" link and confirm that it navigates to the original thread.

Testserver States

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Review Progress

Code Review

• Code Review 1
• Code Review 2

Manual Tests

• Test 1
• Test 2

Test Coverage

Client

Class/File	Line Coverage	Confirmation (assert/expect)
message-reply-inline-input.component.spec.ts	not found (modified)	❌
message-reply-inline-input.component.ts	77.35%	✅ ❌
post.component.spec.ts	not found (modified)	❌
post.component.ts	93.1%	✅ ❌
posting-reactions-bar.component.ts	85.94%	✅ ❌
metis.service.spec.ts	not found (modified)	❌
metis.service.ts	90.15%	✅ ❌
course-conversations.component.ts	92.68%	✅ ❌
post.model.ts	100%	✅

Screenshots

reply input with checkbox

navigation link to the thread

Summary by CodeRabbit

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added support for marking posts as replies with an original post reference, including UI elements to view and navigate to the original thread.
  • Introduced an option to send messages as direct messages, with dynamic labels based on conversation type.
  • Added new translation keys for thread-related actions and message-sending options in both English and German.

• Improvements

  • Enhanced post display to indicate replies and provide direct navigation to original threads.
  • Improved reply and thread action buttons with context-sensitive behavior.
  • Refined channel selection to exclude archived channels when forwarding posts.
  • Added markdown stripping for original post content display to improve readability.
  • Optimized post retrieval by ID with caching to improve performance.
  • Updated navigation logic to open threads appropriately based on post type and conversation context.

• Bug Fixes

  • Ensured thread navigation works correctly for posts with valid conversation references.

• Tests

  • Added tests for toggling direct message sending, form resets, direct-message post creation, markdown stripping, and post retrieval by ID.

• Style

  • Introduced new CSS classes for improved layout and text handling in post components.

[FelberMartin]

Re-approve, tested on TS2

[eylulnc]

Tested on TS2, works as described.

[HawKhiem]

Tested again on TS3. Reapprove

[github-actions]

End-to-End (E2E) Test Results Summary

	Tests	Passed ☑️	Skipped ⚠️	Failed ❌️	Time ⏱
End-to-End (E2E) Test Report	201 ran	197 passed	3 skipped	1 failed	53m 13s 708ms

Test	Result	Time ⏱
End-to-End (E2E) Test Report
e2e/exercise/programming/ProgrammingExerciseStaticCodeAnalysis.spec.ts
ts.Static code analysis tests › Configures SCA grading and makes a successful submission with SCA errors	❌ failure	1m 47s 113ms

[github-actions]

End-to-End (E2E) Test Results Summary

[github-actions]

End-to-End (E2E) Test Results Summary

[github-actions]

There hasn't been any activity on this pull request recently. Therefore, this pull request has been automatically marked as stale and will be closed if no further activity occurs within seven days. Thank you for your contributions.

[github-actions]

There hasn't been any activity on this pull request recently. Therefore, this pull request has been automatically marked as stale and will be closed if no further activity occurs within seven days. Thank you for your contributions.