Hi Boone,
there is the option “4. (optional) Select some groups. Invitees will receive invitations to these groups when they join the site.”.
This is showing 20 Groups, but those look like being taken from the first 20 Groups out of the full list of Groups.
Lets say I do have 300 Groups, then only the ones starting with the letter “A” are being listed under this “option”.
Is there a way to make this like a Random-List of Groups ?
Or even better: is there a way to remove this “4. option” in the backend ?
I mentioned that about halfway back up the page you simply need to double up the %
It should be %%INVITERNAME%%
The sent invites screen groups name shows up fine on my installs, you have definitely activated option in backend to allow group invite to be sent?
Erich my concern is that – given your assertion on the other thread “Now your site Is up and running” that it is very difficult to get a new site off the ground without being able to send email when you create groups – you are perceiving an issue where one doesn’t necessarily exist, certainly it might be nice to have the email address fields available on the group send invites screen but it’s not a necessity as there is a reasonably simple path to the profile send emails from the group creation stage, a little explanatory text would smooth things along a little for users. I won’t ramble on as I covered some of these points on the other thread, and I’m in danger of repeating myself and of being boring
@Erich73 and @hnla – The Send Invites tab during the group creation process is indeed part of BP core. I’m not necessarily saying that you should remove the Send Invites step from group creation. I think it’s a good idea to give group creators a chance to populate their groups. (Though, if you wanted to, there are ways that you could remove the step.) My plugin does not currently allow for group creators to invite members to their group by email directly from the Groups section of the site – only from the Profile section. This is mostly a technical issue (ie I haven’t reconfigured the group invitation screen to do so yet). In the future I may add the functionality that Erich73 is looking for.
@roydeanjr – Can you be more specific about the error that you get? This plugin doesn’t really affect group creation at all, since groups are essentially created by the end of step 2 (the screen where you check “Create Group Blog”) and the invitations don’t come until the end of the process. Do you have the same problem with group blogs even with Invite Anyone turned off? Exactly what does the error say?
@hnla – The tab nav string is in in the file invite-anyone/by-email.php, function invite_anyone_setup_nav(), around line 199 where it says ‘name’ => __( ‘Send Invites’, ‘buddypress’ ). I’m noticing that I’m inheriting the BP string translation, since the phrase occurs in BuddyPress core. If it would help, I can change that to the bp-invite-anyone domain, so that you could use a language file to apply the change just in that place.
As for hidden groups: I am using bp_has_groups with the user_id of the logged in user to populate that group list. Thus the Invite New Members screen should only show the groups that the user is a member of. It’s possible that you’re seeing all groups because you’re testing with an admin account. Have you verified your hidden group problem with a non-admin account?
A couple of minor? issues:
default message text has %whatever% instead of %%whatever%%
Slightly more of an issue?
enabling ‘Allow group Invites’ unfortunately drops ALL groups into screen this includes ‘Hidden Groups’ as such on production I have had to disable feature although I think I can probably get a fix in place to not show hidden groups for the interim.
Of course it might be a case that this ‘user’ has actually created the hidden group and is the owner/admin and so does want to invite to this group so simply preventing hidden groups from showing might not be the answer and things become trickier – I guess hidden groups would need to be tested to see whether the user was the owner /admin of that group and only then would that group be displayed otherwise it would be removed from the list.
Our situation is slightly different as we don’t allow users to create groups and we would never want or need to send email invites to join hidden ones so I’ll either try and run a check to see if a group is marked as hidden or failing being able to achieve that I’ll have to run with the option disabled.
Off Tangent: one further link on the account tabs is one too many, even with a generous min-width tabs now wrap which is very unfortunate as there is no real way round that short of increasing page min-width,. Now have to spend time finding an alternative approach to those tabs which I hadn’t factored into things *sigh* The tab approach laid out as is in the default layout is a flawed approach given that plugins can add their links to these tabs, as with any layout there has to be a limit if working a horizontal tab style set of nav links otherwise one has to run them vertical really.
@Erich73 – I can understand your point of view, but my feeling is that the Send Invites feature is essentially independent of groups. The way I’ve built it, it’s really an extension of an individual’s profile. Because of the way that a user’s sent invites are tracked, it makes more sense to organize things that way. At some point in the future it might be possible to include email fields directly on the group creation invite screen, but for now my plan is to leave it as it is, because it will complicate things quite a bit to handle both regular group invitations and email invitations in the same form submit.
@hnla – I think you’re right that a large part of the issue has to do with the language around the group creation process. If you examine the underlying mechanisms, you’ll see that a group is actually fully created after step 2 (the settings page), and the avatar and send invites screens are really just setup screens after the group is created. That speaks to @roydeanjr ‘s point, which is that it is possible in theory to deactivate the Send Invites page altogether during group setup, and to find another way to encourage group admins to invite people to groups.
@roydeanjr – I don’t think that the current method is causing groups not to be created in the db (because of the point I mention in the previous paragraph) but it certainly does sometimes cause some confusion with people using back buttons during the process, etc. What’d be nice is a message on each page to the effect of “Forget a step? Once you’ve finished the initial setup, you can reconfigure the group on the Group Admin tab” or something like that.
Another option:
Stage 3 – Simply complete the group creatoin process. Make sure everything is completed on the back end so that step does not get overlooked.
Then write some code that will check how many members there are: if there is only one then display some text every time the group is viewed by the one member that says: “No one has joined this group. Invite your friends or check here to no longer see this prompt.” Then add a checkbox that turns this simple prompt on or off.
If the prompt is on then include a link to the Invite Anyone or Send Invites page.
By doing this you would somewhat separate the function of creating groups from the Sending invites. Granted, sending invites is probably something many people would like to do when they create a group but with the current flow this is causing some backend inconsistencies and groups are not actually getting created in the database. My suggestion might eliminate the disconnect?
something like this should work (removes the links from the group creation steps and the group page)
function my_remove_invites_create_group_steps( ) {
global $bp;
//admin eats wheaties and can do anything
if ( is_site_admin() )
return;
//send invites on group creation steps
unset($bp->groups->group_creation_steps['group-invites']);
}
add_action( 'groups_setup_globals', 'my_remove_invites_create_group_steps', 100 );
function my_remove_invites_groups_setup_nav( ) {
global $bp;
//admin eats wheaties and can do anything
if ( is_site_admin() )
return;
bp_core_remove_subnav_item( $bp->groups->slug, 'invites' );
bp_core_remove_subnav_item( $bp->groups->slug, 'send-invites' );
}
add_action( 'groups_setup_nav', 'my_remove_invites_groups_setup_nav' );
Sorry not Boone but your comments made me think about another logic issue for users.
Your point about standard default BP and send invites is why the original plugin was created to provide access to all members.
With the plugin activated, now when creating groups one reaches stage 4? and the send invites is the complete member base, Boone having removed link to send email invites on this screen.
Ignore step 4 and complete creation of group and you are presented with the new group main page with invite screen now having the link to send email invites taking you to profile.
The only slight issue here is that having created the group and now having the option to send email invites the user might well assume that the invite is being sent to Invite their friend to THE group they just created and from which they just navigated – however if you have the invite to group option disabled in admin config then the user can’t send an invite that explicitly invites to that group?
What would help users a lot would be a little more by way of general instruction as they perform various tasks, in this instance at stage 4 ‘invite friends’ it states simply “Select people to invite from your friends list.” there is a tonne of space to add something like :
“If you don’t wish to invite friends at this stage click ‘finish’ At a later time you can select the group tab ‘send invites’ and either select from site member list or click link to send email invites from your profile page. “
In fact the creation screens should display a step by step guide that simply details the process and options. It can easily sit there to the right (if we’re talking about default theme) This is something that I will be adding myself anyway in general terms where it might aid the user to have more detailed info.
It’s possible that simply expanding the textual guidance and instructions would at times help overcome basic newbie confusion when performing functions across BP?
@kriski – If you want to add users directly to groups (skipping invitations), try https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-group-management/. It’s not great for adding in bulk yet, but I plan to add checkboxes in the next version that’ll make it easier.
@Erich73 – Good call on the group creation issue. I think the answer is just to turn off the message for the group creation process. I’m about to check in version 0.5.2, which makes this correction. Email invitation can only be done from the normal Send Invites screen, so the confusion shouldn’t happen. Not sure about your email problem – has your friend checked the spam folder? I’m using the same wp_mail function that the rest of the BP functions use.
@roydeanjr – Very strange about the first errors – almost makes it seem like the plugin was loading before Buddypress was. If it starts happening again, please let me know, and give me as much info about your system setup as you can so I can try to reproduce it. And thanks for the kind compliments 
@kriski – If you want to add users directly to groups (skipping invitations), try https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-group-management/. It’s not great for adding in bulk yet, but I plan to add checkboxes in the next version that’ll make it easier.
@Erich73 – Good call on the group creation issue. I think the answer is just to turn off the message for the group creation process. I’m about to check in version 0.5.2, which makes this correction. Email invitation can only be done from the normal Send Invites screen, so the confusion shouldn’t happen. Not sure about your email problem – has your friend checked the spam folder? I’m using the same wp_mail function that the rest of the BP functions use.
@roydeanjr – Very strange about the first errors – almost makes it seem like the plugin was loading before Buddypress was. If it starts happening again, please let me know, and give me as much info about your system setup as you can so I can try to reproduce it. And thanks for the kind compliments
Assuming you are saying these are not existing members:
It’s not the function of the plugin to add members but originally the plugin solved the issue of only being able to invite people that were already on your friends list by allowing access to all members rather than just ones own friends, later it was extended by Boone Gorges (quite brilliantly I might add ) to include the ability to send email invites to non members.
If indeed you need to add new members in bulk or just force add users en mass to groups it might be better to start a new thread and ask the question, someones bound to have an idea but your post might get lost in this thread?
Assuming you are saying these are not existing members:
It’s not the function of the plugin to add members but originally the plugin solved the issue of only being able to invite people that were already on your friends list by allowing access to all members rather than just ones own friends, later it was extended by Boone Gorges (quite brilliantly I might add ) to include the ability to send email invites to non members.
If indeed you need to add new members in bulk or just force add users en mass to groups it might be better to start a new thread and ask the question, someones bound to have an idea but your post might get lost in this thread?
hI!
Invite users to group is nice idea, but I am struggling with one thing.
How do I add users – so they are members of the group in bulk?
I have over 200 people to add for 15 groups…
it would be nice to have ‘upload csv or copy and paste names
is there anyway I can do this?
kind regards
Kris
hI!
Invite users to group is nice idea, but I am struggling with one thing.
How do I add users – so they are members of the group in bulk?
I have over 200 people to add for 15 groups…
it would be nice to have ‘upload csv or copy and paste names
is there anyway I can do this?
kind regards
Kris
Could be I got the same issue here. 2.92 WordPress (single user) and latest BuddyPress installed via BuddyPress Template Pack Plugin.
With nothing disabled in BP general settings, everything enabled in component setup.
There is no “create group” in the “groups” tab. Only “My Groups” and “Invites”. Clicking the “groups” tab goes to http://www.ultimatecultureclash.com/members/cupedoll/groups/ which seems fine.
But I want forums. And it seems forums are a property of groups. So I need groups. How to create groups?
(After much confusion) I enter MANUALLY: http://ultimatecultureclash.com/groups/create/step/group-details/
This goes to /groups/create/step/group-details/images/images/bg_body.gif which looks good. The heading says “Create a Group” and there’s input fields for “Group Name” and “Group Description”.
But entering group name, group description and pressing “Create Group and Continue —->” button only reloads blog homepage and creates nothing.
Here’s more examples. “Activity” tab + “Personal” tab resolves to http://www.ultimatecultureclash.com/members/cupe3903doll/activity/just-me/ which is probably right. But “Profile” tab + “Edit profile” tab redirects back to home page.
How weird is that?
And one more thing I noticed. When tabs resolve where they should? I get logged out. But when tabs redirect to home page? I remain logged in.
Nice work Boone. A few bugs and suggestions.
-When the invite errors (email already exists or bad email address), the custom body message is ending up in the custom subject instead of in the custom body
-When an email has opted out and you try to send an invite to that same email with no groups checked it tries to load this page: /members/admin/invite-anyone/sent-invites/send/ and loads no page. Once I click a group, then the proper error is thrown that they’ve opted out.
-How about having an admin defined header/footer for the email message. Then, the option for the invite sender to put a custom message in between the admin defined header/footer? That way people can do whatever they want with the email message. You could include the “sign up” and “opt out” text as part of the default for the footer. Then, admins can add to it or modify it as they see appropriate.
-Instead of the “clear” function on the Sent Invites screen how about changing Sent Invites tab into multiple tabs: “Pending Invites” “Accepted Invites” “Opt Out Invites” and “Cancelled Invites” (this would require you adding a cancel button to the “Pending Invites” screen). Or if you don’t want separate tabs you could do a filter on the “Sent Invites” tab with these categories, and default it to “Pending Invites”
Got pretty much the same issue here. Latest WordPress (non-MU) and BuddyPress installed via BuddyPress Template Pack Plugin.
With nothing disabled in BP general settings, everything enabled in component setup.
There is no “create group” in the “groups” tab. Only “My Groups” and “Invites”. Clicking the “groups” tab goes to http://www.ultimatecultureclash.com/members/cupedoll/groups/ which seems fine.
But I want forums. And it seems forums are a property of groups. So I need groups. How to create groups?
(After much confusion) I enter MANUALLY: http://ultimatecultureclash.com/groups/create/step/group-details/
This goes to /groups/create/step/group-details/images/images/bg_body.gif which looks good. The heading says “Create a Group” and there’s input fields for “Group Name” and “Group Description”.
But entering group name, group description and pressing “Create Group and Continue —->” button only reloads blog homepage and creates nothing.
I’ve read somewhere that this might be theme-related? I run Atahualpa, pretty extensively customized. Yet the BuddyPress Template Pack Plugin was supposed to integrate everything painlessly (for ignorant non-coders like me). And the weird thing is how smoothly it seemed to have done the job. Until it came to creating groups.
Happy to help. Thanks for the great plugin. Looks like you understood all my ideas perfectly.
A few other things I found today:
-I just tried the Facebook Connect plugin which creates the user using the Facebook login. When a user created that way visits the “Send Invites” (ie. http://purebiggestloser.com/members/username/invite-anyone/ ) then only the first text box and the “Hi there” appears for the form. This is likely a problem with how the Facebook Connect plugin is creating the login, but maybe you could see what info you’re trying to pull and see what it’s creating wrong. I’ll see about looking at it later too.
-This might be purposefully done, but the “Send Invites” tab isn’t available on the Groups page unless the person is moderator. Personally, I think that everyone that’s a member of the group should have access to invite people to the group. Plus, even if the person is not a moderator of the group and they go to the send invites page on their profile they can invite people to all the groups for which they are members.
-I’d also look at just having a comma delimited text area for the email addresses instead of the a-e set of text boxes. Just use explode() in PHP and you’re there faster and I think most people are familiar with comma delimitted text areas. Probably would require a little more validation of the list though. However, then you could quickly incorporate the Plaxo widget I linked to previously.
Hello to everyone following this thread. I just released version 0.4 of my Invite Anyone plugin, which, as promised, adds the invite-by-email feature.
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/invite-anyone/
Here’s what’s new:
– “Send Invites” tab added to the Profile section
– “Send Invites” has two subsections: Invite New Members and Sent Invites
– On Invite New Members, users can enter email addresses, a custom invitation message, and check off some groups that the invited member will receive invitations to when they join the site
– On Sent Invites, users can see all the invitations they have sent, as well as whether or not the member has accepted yet
– When a user accepts an invitation, they receive invitations to all groups to which inviter(s) have invited them, as well as a friendship request from each individual who sent an invitation
– A link is added to group Send Invites pages that goes to the profile Send Invites page and pre-checks the group’s box
– There’s a Dashboard panel for sitewide admins that allows them to control some of the default behavior of the Send Invites page, as well as the visibility of the Send Invites tab. You can create a blacklist of users who are not allowed to send email invitations (good if you have spammers in your community!), limit by blog role, or by length of time since joining the site.
It’s been fairly thoroughly tested, but it’s possible (likely even!) that there are still annoying bugs. Please let me know if you find issues or have suggestions.
When you say populated, do you mean invited or have you logged in as those users and joined the groups (or accepted the invitations)?
When you create a group, you have the option of making it Public, Private or Hidden. Public groups are free for anyone to join, and their content is viewable by anyone. Private groups are listed in sitewide directories, so that others can see the group names and descriptions when searching and browsing for groups, but the content of the group can only be seen by group members. Group membership for private groups is controlled, so that a member can only join if they’ve requested membership or been invited by a current member. Hidden groups are like private groups, except that they do not appear in sitewide group listings and search.
You could create one group that all people join when they register.
Use DJPaul’s Welcome Pack plugin for that:
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/welcome-pack/
Otherwise go the external bbPress route, and yes, you’ll need to theme it.
[EDIT]
Forgot that Paul changed his plugin so it sends out group invites, instead of auto joining groups.
If you want to make Paul’s plugin automatically join groups.
Change the following lines in the Welcome Pack plugin from:
groups_invite_user( array( 'user_id' => $new_user_id, 'group_id' => $group_id, 'inviter_id' => $group->creator_id ) );
groups_send_invites( $group->creator_id, $group_id );
to:
groups_join_group( $group_id, $new_user_id );
I should say I haven’t tried this, but it should work.
