This is how I did it.
I modified header.php in the buddypress theme AND the member theme.
There is probably a better way since the forums location is included as part of the integration, however it works, and you can use this principle to include a hard coded link to anywhere.
Find the bit of code that starts <div id="header">
The first bit is the routine to run the blogs page, the second opens up bbPress in a seperate tab.
`<?php if ( function_exists( ‘bp_blogs_install’ ) ) { ?>
<li<?php if ( bp_is_page( BP_BLOGS_SLUG ) ) {?> class=”selected”<?php } ?>><a href=”<?php echo get_option(‘home’) ?>/<?php echo BP_BLOGS_SLUG ?>” title=”<?php _e( ‘Blogs’, ‘buddypress’ ) ?>”><?php _e( ‘Blogs’, ‘buddypress’ ) ?></a></li>
<?php } ?>
<li><a href=”http://www.mypartyonparty.biz/forums” target=”_blank” title=”<?php _e( ‘Support’, ‘buddypress’ ) ?>”><?php _e( ‘Support’, ‘buddypress’ ) ?></a></li>
<?php do_action( ‘bp_nav_items’ ); ?>`
What I’d like to do is present the forums in the same way that is done on here (BuddyPress.org, ) that just needs a bit of thinking about…
Hope that helps
The only way to do this, is with “deep integration.”
You will want to scour the bbpress.org forums for some more information about how to do this.
I’m going to assist Trent in including deep integration as part of his revised integration write-up that’s coming next. BuddyPress.org uses deep integration, but it’s still tricky and still has pro’s and con’s, particularly on a shared host and also with xmlrpc requests.
By the time that bbpress turns 1.0, most of the integration issues should be resolved, but you’re still loading ALL of WordPress + bbPress to make things go.
Akismet does work for WPMU, bbPress, etc… Akismet does not however work site-wide, only on a blog by blog basis, exactly like you’ve mentioned, even if your site isn’t making money.
Akismet is not a WPMU site-wide plugin, and to use it site wide currently requires the enterprise version.
As i didnt like the orange colors in BuddyPress, i did a slightly little make over …
http://wordpress-blog.nl
And yes .. I did integrate bbPress in the current theme with a few minor steps 
“I’m keeping this topic open for now, but it’s on my watch list because it’s already breaking some rules. If it gets too rowdy in here I’m locking it up. 
“
What rules did i broke, just that i wrote down, that i edit and integrate bbpress into a buddypress theme ?
“(cause you’re not ok with the wp policy) “
There are many website’s out on the net who arent: “oke” with the WP policy (what ever that should be) …
I dont see the problem, and the only who makes a problem out of it, are you guys
No idea ?
i’m not using groups, i don’t use bbpress, the search don’t work … i think that buddypress is not for me,
Here are the instructions from Burt to test your host/server setup for XML-RPC support.
Follow this link to download the XML-RPC test that Burt created: http://ourcommoninterest.org/downloads/xmlrpc-sayhello.zip
The test consists of two files. The first file is a bbPress plugin that you activate in the bbPress plugins area that acts as a XML-RPC server and responds to a simple “say hello” type call. The second file goes in the root of your MU setup.
This test bypasses all the “bbpress_live/discover_pingback_server_uri()” stuff that might be giving you problems. If this works then the issue is most likely in that area and could be a host/server problem.
To load the test, first install the “oci-bb-sayhello.php” file to your bbPress install root in a folder called “my-plugins” (create the folder if it doesn’t exist). Then log into bbPress and activate the plugin. Next, drop the “oci-bp-sayhello.php” file into the root of our MU install so that you can navigate to it easily. Then load “your-site/oci-bp-sayhello.php” in a browser and see what the output is.
There are several possible points of failure if the test fails to authenticate the BuddyPress user that is created for the connection between BuddyPress and bbPress.
1) The BuddyPress connection username/password isn’t the same as the username/password that exists in bbPress. That username/password is stored in “wp_site_meta”.
2) The bbPress user is not an administrator.
I came here because I want such a theme but a stable core, or a one click mu/bbpress/bp install is my first choice. Go for it!
Hi Gordon
Good to see you’ve now got it to work.
I’m having the same problems you had – to the letter – with getting forums to work. Am using shared hosting in the UK. Forums are not being created on the bbpress side and I’m getting the “There was an error posting that topic.” message on Buddypress.
Has anyone got the link to the xml-rpc testing files?
Thanks!
I’am currently working on a matching bbPress theme for BuddyPress … But, it only fit my (tweaked) theme for BuddyPress
The forum is up and running, but the theme is still in development
The color scheme i use can be seen over here:
http://wordpress-blog.nl
The bbPress template is PAINFUL to modify. Doesn’t work the same was as WordPresss.
I’ve found though that the blank theme available from
http://www.refueled.net/blank-themes/
make creating a matching theme so much easier.
Check them out.
This isn’t possible with the level of integration that buddypress has with the forum component, bbpress. Maybe in future.
At this point in development, will i need to develop one theme for my buddypress and one theme for my bbpress? so that there will be no difference between the two?
In short, yes.
If you want your site-wide forum theme to look like your BuddyPress theme, you’ll have to customize both themes.
I currently use vbulletin and a regular wordpress blog and find that the bridge is so nice. I agree that an MU/VB bridge would set things perfect for me. However, seeing that we can’t have the bets of both worlds just yet, can anyone give me a good reason why I should more to bbPress? I understand that it is a young forum but does anyone really see it getting better? And if so, soon?
https://buddypress.org/extend/plugins/
‘BuddyPress Groups for bbPress’. That’s a bbPress plugin, so be sure to install it in the right place. It’s made by a suspicious chap called Burtadsit, so watch out
Hi I have noted that with mu 2.7 branch you cannot deactivate a group and then activate it as it does not create the group at bbpress. I can only create a group/forum when I delete and recreate from scratch.
hey,
thanks for the answer I would also like to keep everything going on in BP and would not like to see my members go to bbpress so after installing it I can’t remove it right ? how do I hide it ? just with a phony folder name ? or is there another better cleaner way ?
Thank you
@Trent,
Turns out the problem wasn’t of my making at all and I was doing everything correctly!
So why didn’t it work?
My hosting provider doesn’t allow rpc calls to the same server, so I ended up splitting the installation, WMPU and Buddypress on my main domain and bbPress on another domain on a different server.
All works great! If you want to read the saga it’s all in its own thread here: https://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=2027
SOLVED!!!!!
Searched for \”cannot yet handle MBCS\” in the forum and came up with Trent\’s post about the same error, once again I\’m running PHP 5.2.9 it wasn\’t that, a quick tweek to line 53 (based on Trent\’s advice)
so I edited /my-plugins/buddypress-enable.php and changed line 53 from:
$post_text = html_entity_decode( $post_text, ENT_COMPAT, \”UTF-8\” );
to:
$post_text = utf8_decode($post_text);
Worked brilliantly – actually fixed the errors on both sides (BuddyPress and bbPress)
Well… It’s working kinda!
Forums are created, topics can be made on either side, and replies to topics created
However when I created a topic or reply to a topic in BuddyPress I get
“There was an error posting that topic.” or “There was an error posting that reply.”
they are created though.
And on the bbPress side, when I create a topic, or rpely to a topic, I get:
“Warning: cannot yet handle MBCS in html_entity_decode()! in /home/sites/my-partyonparty.biz/public_html/forums/my-plugins/buddypress-enable.php on line 53”
once again, they are created tho.
How about bbpress plugins in the forum working on buddypress CMS, would it happen?
It’s my intention to make bbPress integration with WPMU and BuddyPress even simpler and better over time. Many changes have already been made to both WPMU and bbPress core to help BuddyPress along and that cooperation will exist in the future.
Here’s my hosting co’s reply:
Hi Gordon,
Thanks for the ticket, I’m afraid I haven’t got an easy solution for you. WE don’t allow RPCs to be made back to the same server, I can understand your usage is entirely legitimate, but a poorly designed rpc back on a server can easily result in a nasty infinite loop, eating up server resources.
However, rather than just send you away empty handed, I can think of a way round it. However, you would need packages on separate webservers – this will allow them to call each other.
Best Wishes
Craig Cotter
Heart Internet Support
I know it can be done in theory….. (just a few more lines in the bbPress bb-config.php file to cope with being on a different server)
So I guess it’s time to write the distributed integration tutorial if anyone has any pointers..
Hi Jen,
Depending who you ask, everyone will give you a different response.
It is my experience that using bbPress 1.0 Alpha 6 will yield the most positive results.
Remember however that bbPress also is not 1.0 yet, and that you are still going to need to babysit it and upgrade it and help it play nicely with any application you choose to integrate it with.
Because of the efforts of some bbPress users, they’ve created plugins and hacks to help more tightly integrate the 0.9 branch cookies with WPMU, but in my personal opinion you’re still taking a step backwards by using an older version than what’s available. Using the 1.0 branch will help better prepare you for what is currently happening versus what has already been, if that makes sense?
Are there any errors in your server logs?
Based on those database values I’d say that it’s clear that when you create a new group it’s not creating a new forum in bbPress, otherwise your new group would also have a meta_key with a value of “forum_id” and your bp_forums table would have a new entry as well.
This might be a hard one to track down as it could be a problem with your host/server and not with BuddyPress/bbPress.
Just as a matter of being thorough… did you follow Trent’s steps or the steps in the forum component readme file?
When I did my setup I used the readme file steps and everything worked smoothly. Nothing against Trent’s tips and tricks, but I found that if I followed the readme steps it worked fine.
Do you have a way to try the same setup on a different server or maybe on your local machine?
