[Erick Hitter]

Ever since upgrading to WP 3 and BP 1.2.5, I regularly encounter the following PHP error:

Catchable fatal error: Object of class WP_Error could not be converted to string in /mnt/target02/350461/cardioexchange-dev.murraylabs.com/web/content/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-core.php on line 566

This error arises in two distinct situations. First, when I am using a custom user import script that calls bp_core_signup_user and the class BP_XProfile_ProfileData to either add or update existing users with profile data from a different system. In the second instance, I’ve just submitted a Gravity Forms-powered form.

I understand that neither of these situations involves a common BuddyPress usage, but I haven’t been able to identify the cause of this problem. As the two situations are fairly distinct, my hope is that someone else has run into this error message in a situation I’ve yet to encounter.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[r-a-y]

This is line 566:
if ( !$domain = wp_cache_get( 'bp_user_domain_' . $user_id, 'bp' ) ) {

It sounds like you’re using some type of caching on your site. Try turning it off to see if the error goes away.

The function where this line resides — bp_core_get_user_domain() — only outputs a link to the user’s profile. Without knowing too much about your code, there’s not much we can do on our end.

[Erick Hitter]

The site isn’t using any caching right now, which is part of why this error perplexes me so much.

I’m beginning to suspect some caching-related things changed between WP 2.9.2 and 3.0, because I didn’t have this problem prior to upgrading.

[r-a-y]

Okay, just re-reading this again. I don’t think you should use bp_core_signup_user().
For your custom script, you can try using wp_insert_user() and then add in the extra profile information later.

Or, you can try using the Import From Ning plugin, which also works with CSVs:
http://teleogistic.net/code/wordpresswordpress-mu/import-from-ning/ (read the comment section)