If you have been using the wol portlets you must have noticed that there is no easy way to invite a friend. Currently the way to invite a friend is to go to his/her public profile page and click on the "Add as Friend" link on the summary portlet of the friend. This makes it necessary for you to remember your friend's public profile page URL before you can request him/her to be a friend.
Here is a "Search and Invite Friends" portlet, derived from the "Directory" portlet that can simplify the "Freind Request" process. The screenshot below shows "paul" has logged in and the "Search and Invite Friends" portlet in his page.
The "Search and Invite Friends" portlet has a basic and advanced version of user search just like the "Directory" portlet. User "paul" now uses the advnaced search features to search for users with email id containing text 'example' and sees the following. User "pau" cannot send himself a friend request, so there is no "Add as Friend" link beside his name. User "ed" already is a friend of user "paul", hence there is no "Add as Friend" link beside ed's name (the "Search and Invite Friends" portlet can be modified to have a "Remove Friend" link in case the searched user is already a friend)
Now user "paul" clicks on "Add as Friend" link beside user "mary" to send her a friend request. This generates a popup box indicating the status of the request as shown below ...
Now login as user "mary" and you will find a friend request from user "paul" in mary's request portlet. If user "mary" clicks the confirm button, then user "paul" and user "mary" will become friends and user "mary"' 's and user "paul" 's "Activity" portlets should show the sameThe request portlet in user "mary" 's page is show below
Now login back as user "paul" and use the "Search and Invite Friends" portlet to search the "example" text again on the email field. The resutl of this search will not show "Add as Friend" link anymore beside user "mary", as they have just become friends. Here is a screenshot of it
Please add any comments on usability and enhancement for this protlet.


