BuddyPress.org

Good call, @Roman. Defining both fixed one problem, but introduced many more.

Delving deeper, I believe that multisite is designed, on purpose, to keep things separate amongst network sites. That includes avatars, group avatars, etc. That is why each site has a separate upload directory (wp-content/blogs.dir/3/files/avatars, wp-content/blogs.dir/4/files/group-avatars and so on…).

By default, each subsite’s upload path is something like wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files. And the home site’s upload path is wp-content/uploads. If no root blog is set (which @Roman pointed out that we can’t set a root blog AND enable multiblog), then the code will set the current site as the root blog and grab that site’s upload path. For example, if I’m on site 5 of a WPmultisite/BPmultiblog install, the site will look to pull files from the wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files folder. Accordingly, it will find any files that were uploaded to that directory, from site 5. It won’t find your avatar, because you likely uploaded them via the home site, and those avatars reside in the wp-content/uploads folder.

While this design probably works for most implementations, it does not suit my purposes. I need to show avatars and group avatars across all sites (sounds like you both do as well). With that in mind, here is the path I’m heading down:

The Network Admin Sites/Settings page (accessible via wp-admin dashboard at wp-admin/network/site-settings.php?id=4) allows you to update the “Upload Path”, “Upload URL Path”, and “Fileupload URL”. For my project, I modified all subsites to be the same as the home site upload path: “wp-content/uploads”, “http://example.com/wp-content/uploads”, and “http://example.com/wp-content/uploads”, respectively. HOWEVER, you can update them until you are blue in the face, but you will never successfully upload to the directory you update to. This is because WP overwrites these custom upload paths with the default upload paths mentioned above. This is done on the last line of wp-includes/ms-settings.php. As @Andrea Rennick points out on wordpress.org, this was done to protect ourselves from…ourselves by hosing things up in a multisite environment. On that same WP thread, @cooliojones proposed the fix of commenting out the last line in wp-includes/ms-settings.php, which is ms_upload_constants();.

YES, it’s a core hack, and NO it’s not the ideal solution, but I’m plowing forward with it anyway because I don’t want my project to die while I throw on my One Love cape and try to solve all the BP/WP integration problems of the world. I guess you have to ask yourself which is more important to you: common avatars across sites OR maintaining separate upload directories across sites?

Hope that helps.

As a last second, chuck it into the end zone and pray…Since I only need group/avatars to display across the multisites, I’m thinking it would be ideal if there way some way to define separate upload paths for group/avatars from all other uploads. Anyone have the golden ticket for that?

Related Reading:

HI, I am a recent transfer website owner from ning.com. I have a community there, and i’m moving this weekend to the WP platform. I have many questions, that I can’t really seem to find the specific answers to. The plug-in that this user spoke of (The features and more) can buddypress really manage a social community like the ning platform, and what about other features? Here’s what the user wrote:

@boonebgorges thanks for your response and plugin link, in terms of functionality it is almost exactly what I need, only:
– Need it to manage users instead of groups
– Need it to show their full profile fields (including xprofile)
– Need options to deactivate(very important) or delete users
– Need function to export list to excel sheet

I need similar functions in a plug-in and need to know whats the BEST plugin or what combination of plug-ins will give me the features for a membership community that I want, members want, and that are essentially need to maintain a viable members community. Here is what I need as far as features and functionality:

-Secured membership registration and login seprate from WP admin. So members CAN’T access the backend of my admin panel.

-After they join they are sent to their members profile page to add a bio, photos, videos, music, etc..and everything post in their profile page, and in the community videos, photos, and music display like on a youtube page or gallery style. I also, need profiles that look more custom instead of simple layouts or designs. This is a BIG problem we had with our ning platform. Wish we could offer up to 6 or more profile page templates for members to choose from, complete with comments and a better layout for uploaded videos, photos, music (In a player on profile.)

-Members display in a four/five accross…four/five down style grid instead of up and down like a list.

-Search for members, based on attributes or career choice or find all member in a certain category.

-Want a upload feature on whatever page or place I designate for members to upload content like videos, music, photos.

-Add paywalls on whatever page I need to, for the purpose of selling premium content to members.

-Add featured profile/members and delete/block members at will.

-Don’t want to use multisite plug in if I don’t half to. Rater not use it.

Any help here, or a push in the right direction with plug-ins for buddypress please let me know. Thanks in advance good people. Blessings.

Thank you Paul. I have this same conflict. Understanding the best set up for my situation. My struggle is knowing the difference and how to use them.

I’m using The Bounce Theme from themeforrest which is buddypress friendly. (http://themeforest.net/item/bounce-professional-wordpress-buddypress-theme/2324726?sso?WT.ac=category_item&WT.seg_1=category_item&WT.z_author=GhostPool)

Can you elaborate a bit more on your last comment? It opened a window of understanding for me.

My current set up is:
Settings > Buddypress > Components > Unchecked “Discussion Forums”
Settings > Forums > Forums base “forums”, Forum slug “forum” (although I would like my own names)
Settings > Forums > Unchecked “Enable Group Forums”

From here can you explain how to set a landing page so that it looks like site wide forums (“mydomain.com/forums”)? Ie; can see all forum at once, then enter a forum to see the topics, then enter the topics to see the comments. I can find them if I go to a bbpress forum and click “view” (ie; /forums/forum/forum-rules/) then remove “forum/forum-rules/” to just have “mydomain.com/forums”, but that is not a “page” and cannot be “edited” and by default says, “Forums Archive – mydomain”. ( I think I know this but want to see your way)

Additionally, if I am at my buddypress profile page (admin) and click “forums”, it takes me to /members/admin/forums/ which seems to be different from /forums/forum/. And when it does it shows topics and not the forums I created in bbpress.

I’d imagine there is something I have missed.
I’ve:
Watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0jSsra_n0c
Read: https://codex.buddypress.org/user/setting-up-a-new-installation/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/#a-installing-forums-for-groups-only
Read: http://wpmu.org/guide-to-buddypress-forums-how-to-set-up-group-or-sitewide-forums/

Sorry I’m this is confusing. I am so twisted and upside down with this. It’s the best I can do with out showing you.

Thank you Buddypress for the hard work you have put into your products!

Go to codex above and find the page for members loop. You can pass an argument to show newest members.

Ideal is , I think, beyond the scope of what BP is able to achieve at the moment and I guess would be encapsulated in the approach and methodology that bbPress has now. I suppose in an ideal world I had hopped that I would or could do page-members.php but things aren’t that straightforward when dealing with accounts/profile screens. On a recent project there was a requirement for a new front.php for single groups, in that scenario I didn’t want or need a sidebar simple enough to remove from my new template, but now that becomes a tad harder? so i would need to start finding means of testing what components/actions were in effect, which I can see getting very messy.

`bp_get_query_template()` filtering sounds like a bad approach really, overly complex for what is a relatively trivial requirement when talking about customizing templates for frontend coding.

Then check the other fields. Here is a copy of one of my local sites wp-config.php:
<?php
/**
* The base configurations of the WordPress.
*
* This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
* Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
* by visiting { @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
* wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
*
* This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
* installation. You don’t have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
* to “wp-config.php” and fill in the values.
*
* @package WordPress
*/

// ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘bpdev’);

/** MySQL database username */
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’);

/** MySQL database password */
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”);

/** MySQL hostname */
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8’);

/** The Database Collate type. Don’t change this if in doubt. */
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);

/**#@+
* Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
*
* Change these to different unique phrases!
* You can generate these using the { @link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
* You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
*
* @since 2.6.0
*/
define(‘AUTH_KEY’, ‘gKR[~e-<4 |Jj1DVfT-RM.m(|=M7(OB;tp/bfQt9+9[+FcIK<Gdp[(*u~2@-_H*J');
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’, ‘_$y7AKT$.Zz`XHS3 DxndhyLGd/3ITTfE3oJqphSGS:x1*TH@45D 6NIjU7y64om’);
define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’, ‘i6[pr$z#c,0E&EI]j]:K}cG9N`J[:JsL]wgy%[coeV>h(<c#W%Ye');
define(‘NONCE_KEY’, ‘@GH9@ITlC&Py&cG3O5sKaVrm;vqP/4mKYz#=n>K?`%:C.q56yFO4WEaY:g^Rs+>+’);
define(‘AUTH_SALT’, ‘QulXiJdP`zXXz*D*]RbfXfH[$C6 Z;:n>pLwcrSZvkY!7|*mHxyS>#n^qqiD2noO’);
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_SALT’, ‘3/{(F|iduMA;QfF%OPY:jHTH:D8jcmWB&h`gfs$K4L&uTVhg1.05nz~h.COtvf+7’);
define(‘LOGGED_IN_SALT’, ‘YG?P2/ <+A,W8L:r<0^9~n1c<aO-w|OTl~.o^T39ZPp)tz7&V~[x57X&n,(*(iA0');
define(‘NONCE_SALT’, ‘|G0,AO(>,Ak @y a/A;Kf3it9W~Lv[/q*?,Pe!Dqf~WDzKzD?JJQ+V%.:]icGtzq/’);

/**#@-*/

/**
* WordPress Database Table prefix.
*
* You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
* prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
*/
$table_prefix = ‘wp_’;

/**
* WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English.
*
* Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen
* language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
* de_DE.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to ‘de_DE’ to enable German
* language support.
*/
define(‘WPLANG’, ”);

/**
* For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
*
* Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
* It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
* in their development environments.
*/
define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);

/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined(‘ABSPATH’) )
define(‘ABSPATH’, dirname(__FILE__) . ‘/’);

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . ‘wp-settings.php’);

Just to re-iterate what @karmatosed is asking: you need to assign a wordpress page to the forums: http://screencast.com/t/ssfUP6jqLRWl

If that’s done, and you have FTP access to your site, you could check to see if the bb-config.php file has been created: it should be sitting at the root of your site (not inside a folder like wp-content). There is a link in this forum post to the bb-config file if you need to manually add it:

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/installing-buddypress/forum/topic/bbpress-2-0-2-forums-cant-find-existing-bb-config-php/?#post-129751

@jwordsmith – Sorry if you were confused during the forum installation.

You shouldn’t have to click on “Use existing installation”. Try clicking on the “Uninstall group forums” button and then click on “Install Group Forums”.

Hopefully that fixes your issue.

@chouf1
– I am using a child theme of bp-default theme, a port of apeatling’s design of BP 1.0 BuddyPress theme https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/1.0/bp-themes/bphome/screenshot.png
– Also that IS screenshot of the BuddyPress Group Forums new topic page. You can see the Group Name and Group Admins above the forum topic

But going back to the syntax highlighter, I do see the issue now if I post HTML/PHP code just like yours instead of CSS which I posted above and used lately. I was able to find a work-around by using `[ sourcecode lang=”title” ] the code [ /sourcecode ]` (just remove the spaces before ahd after the brackets) Result: https://mercime.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/bp161-shevolved-php.png

Yo, i understand your frustration, but debuging by the “common way” is the first thing to do.
If your install worked before upgrading and no more after, it’s logical to think that there is somewhere a conflict or a missing piece of code.
Custom themes and plugins are mostly the culprit. JS sliders, plugs with text editors are also common sources of problems.

There is no universal answer. Each site is different, each problem too.
I recently get a blank page because of a missing > in one of my template loop !
I updated to 1.6.1 and all my pages disapeared and i had to recreate them one by one.
After 4 years of BP usage, it’s just an incident. But i understand, especially it it’s the first time you run such a trouble, how this can be annoying, for sure !

On this topic, you claim all “it’s no more working.” but no one said what he did, what theme he use and what type of install he manage. All these details are missing in this topic. And so far i know, nobody here is a soothsayer. I’m not.

Other common forum user behavior: no or less feedback when a solution is found. So coming here and saying “it’s not the problem” after an answer, is not fair. If it’s not the problem, why do you ask for help ? And if it’s the problem, why don’t you explain it ?
Pages are gone is not the probleme description, it’s the problem RESULT description.

A clearly explained problem brings to a clearly solution.
I don’t know what happens for you. I only try to help you with common questions intented to guide your debug search.

Let me suggest you that if you want to know what 1.6.1 did, go to the trac and compare the version changes. It’s very easy to find this information on the Trac. But you have to read the code.

If “it’s not the problem” with common guidance as read above, may i suggest you to activate the debug mode in wp-config file. Perhaps some warnings or server information will help you further.

Sorry it’s also a common help answer. And as i’m french, sorry for my poor english.

Sigh, I can’t get member-access to work, and can’t believe there isn’t an easier way to restrict pages to members/non-members. In my case I’d like to restrict the member listing page to members only. Was hoping to find some non-hacks here. I’ll keep looking but this appears to require code changes…

Interesting ‘plugin’ that GRA4.. it is a connection to their website. A little more than phoning home. Your members get included into their website. Wherever their ‘plugin’ is activated, all the members show up on all the other websites. They have a plugin for oscommerce, phpbb and wordpress and they are working on a plugin for drupal. All members are gathered to their website and you have NO admin privileges. You have NO control over the content on the website and I don’t know for sure, but I think there could be some major security (and privacy) concerns for all of your website members.

They don’t tell you straight out that you aren’t adding functionality to your WordPress website, they are providing a portal to their website, which shows up on your website making it appear like it’s your website. Quite crafty. – A FACADE-

They are using ‘elgg’ social software on their server. They authenticate using cookies and they secretly provide your website with a ‘secret key’ and their coding changes the .htaccess rewrites for your website to redirect your members to their website. The page they tell you to add, is the same name as the directory of their plugin and the rewrite for permalinks makes it appear that your members are looking at a page, but they are looking at another website. The shortcode they tell you to put on the page you create for their plugin calls the function that imports the data from their website to display on that page. So, basically.. it’s an interface with their website gra4.com. Their website shows up on an ip address in the United States, but they are Russian (no prejudice, just an observation), to share the information. Part of their coding calls a another website virturossiya.org/c (which shows up as ‘GRA4SetConfigValue(‘GRA4_remote_url’… in one of the files. That website also shows up on an ip in the USA, but the page title is in Russian and the favicon is a red star. (looking at that last domain name I can see ‘virtual russia’).

In conclusion, from my perspective, it’s a scam. You do NOT get your own social network with their ‘plugin’, you get to include your members into their website, without your members knowing it.. I don’t think that would be consistent with the spirit of WordPress or BuddyPress. I would stick with BuddyPress or one of the other true WordPress plugins that provide social networking within WordPress, unless you want to find yourself answering questions you have no answer for sometime in the future.. Let alone the risk of your own website and hosting information somehow being hacked. The concern I have is, if they are being honest, why hide all of this from WordPress users of their plugin? With their obvious ability to rewrite and redirect, who knows (really) where your website and member information is going?

If they do get back into the WordPress Repository, I would really be careful of these people. Always check to see if a plugin requires a connection with remote servers before you consider using a plugin.

@frank13 the list mentions one of the most powerful ways to speed up any wordpress install:
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/

it is a bit of a slog to *properly* select the right features for your particular install but W3 is pretty powerful – just be careful, the plugin is dangerously good – meaning that if you don’t know what you’re doing it can $#&! your site

my suggestion was for two reasons, I don’t understand why testbp.org exists because that functionality can be performed by buddypress.org

also, buddypress.org is for some strange reason very slow

look up your site using this service and see ifyou can find bottlenecks:

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/120720_0E_TC8/ (3.3 second for testbp.org)

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/120720_3N_TDF/ (7 second for buddypress.org)