BuddyPress.org

had to add my 2 cents..

photo albums are an integral part of most social networks – they were also a promised part of buddypress when it was announced, and given the features that were supposed to be available by 2009 is the reason we have spent so much time working with and testing BP.

While I think it is fine for people to develop and charge for premium plugins, I have found with several projects that a nightmare occurs when core code is updated and plugins are broken – many of the premium plugins developers do not update. Anyone who purchases premium plugins needs to be aware that they may not work in the future, this has hurt other projects in a big way. I vote that buddypress gets photo albums in the core, and as soon as possible.

[blockquote]”dozens of other applications that could be core to someone; event management, mailing lists, groupware, file sharing, paid membership levels, video galleries, group video editing, chat rooms, video conferencing, shopping cart, credit card payment bridge, mobile apps, geolocation”[/blockquote]

– I agree that many of these features are core to a social network in 2010 – If I was Automattic, I would have a developer on salary that worked full time to make sure plugins for these things did not break with future core updates – it’s essential for a stable future of social software in my humble opinion, this is one of the issues that crippled phpfox years ago.

Without some of these things that some people consider “extras” – buddypress is nothing more than a web 1.0 app that some geeks may enjoy, but essentially does nothing more than phpbb or phpnuke did years ago. Boonex’s Dolphin has photo albums, privacy, chat, and all of that – all core – and it still leaves room for premium plugin developers to create fancier flash gallery plugins, and others.

@John James Jacoby – I like your idea of charging for answered questions – that would make things better for those who answer and those who ask – very similar to a group-financing of plugins that get core support I had a couple years back.

@symm2112

I’m looking to do something similar in having login/register on the same page. That should be simple, but not sure about the profile fields piece. I’m need to implement different registrations for different “types” of users. I can do this with different pages with hidden input fields. Not sure how to work this with different profile questions yet though. Keep us abreast of your progress.

It’s possible the wizzes behind BP haven’t responded because you haven’t given enough information to determine if this is user error, bug or random glitch. There should be instructions for posting questions and they should include what you need to let us know to help you.

@do77 , David’s method will save a lot when you will upgrade.

Now for your questions

1.No, You do not need to copy any file(because you want the same layout, so child theme inherits it from parent).

2. Create style.css, and put there the content as David has pointed(do not miss the parent tag and theme name in comments, wordpress uses this to recognize the theme)

3.yes, then you can use firebug to override it as you have already given an example

4.You may not need to do that, because you are not using any other files than css.

5, yes, but please read about wordpress child theme, that will help you in long run.

@idotter, This functionality does not exist within the core of WP or BP.

All of these things are possible to do, but there may not be custom plugins or components to do all of them yet.

@auturo Since I see you and others are posting some new questions in the forum about bbpress integration. perhaps ya’ll should follow Boones’ lead on it regarding (whether to maintain an external installation of bbPress or migrate over). https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/bbpress-integration-after-bp-upgrade I believe the groundwork for what you need to know is here.

I see your point jivany, but so far I’ve seen that about 90% of the active BP Communities use the default theme with some slight modifications. With some clever editing/focus on certain things which almost every BP site has, it could be very useful.

Think of something like http://www.wordpress.tv:

I would also rather see very specific and in-depth tutorial from BP Pro’s sooner then later, but if you look at the questions asked on these forums, you can not skip the basics here and simply presume that the “easier” stuff will be figured out as they go.

Imagine you stumbling upon BuddyPress.org and being able to get a few nice basic video instructions. You get a sense of professionalism and a clear view of what’s possible with the software, the advanced stuff we all like to see can be covered at a later point imo

And about Facebook and Twitter;

A screencast of twitter would have saved me quite some time, and don’t even start about Facebook lol.. I’ve tried 2 hours to find a feed of my status updates and after trying everything known to man I still haven’t found it. Facebook is awesome but it makes no sense whatsoever on certain aspects

@peternicholls – It looks like you created sub-blogs “members” “blogs” and “groups” which you shouldn’t have done. Delete those sub-blogs. Let BuddyPress automattically generate those pages when you click on the links. Just tested the theme and it’s working great on 1.2-rare bp-sn-parent.

If that’s not the case, it would help us help you if you answer these questions – https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/when-asking-for-support

You say you are using BP 1.1.3.

When you upgraded from the BP 1.0 series, what choice did you make when you upgraded the forums?

https://codex.buddypress.org/developer-discussions/buddypress-forum/

Did you choose to keep the existing installation?

Or did you choose to create a new installation?

—

Also how dependent are you on your external version of bbPress?

Besides the group forums, do your members post in other areas in your external bbPress?

After answering these questions, we’ll have a better idea on how to proceed.

No problem with your post, I just don’t think anyone has gotten around to answer yet

I imagine we will see a first group of WP powerusers who just didn’t want to mess with WPMU. They don’t mind playing with trunk of BP and WP at the same time.

Soon after though, we’ll see the pent up massess who want the functionality, but want no hiccups, plug and play. Support questions will likely shoot the moon. Hopefully that first group will be here to help.

The standard support questions which mercime linked to help us help you. Despite the fact that FB Connect is not BuddyPress and as such is a third-party plugin, there are plenty of existing threads in these forums about issues with FB Connect

I hate to be harsh, but this plugin is un-intuitive and without instructions or explanation.

For instance, you are supposed to select the “which field represents the users location” Well, given there is a field for address, city, state and zip possible….what do you choose? Most Geo plugins use a mash-up of the complete address to search for an accurate location of the user.

The plugin has signs of promise but questions remain. …like what’s up with the “Sponsored by Automattic” ??

@Bowe

setting up different group types is fairly easy. You just have to attach some groupmeta to the group, that basically let you add as many types as you’d like. Then you just check the metadata to figure out what type of group you’re in. Using the groups API you can then add different functionality for different groups.

I’ve written a types-plugin for one of my sites. It doesn’t have an interface, though. The 3 types I needed are hardcoded into it, so it’s really not suited for a release at the moment. There’s also a lot of more stuff, like a shopping cart, part of that plugin. So, I’ve stripped the functions needed for group types out (hopefully al of them).

First we need to add the addtional fields to our registration form:

function sv_add_registration_group_types()

{

?>

<div id="account-type" class="register-section">

<h3 class="transform"><?php _e( 'Choose your account type (required)', 'group-types' ) ?></h3>



<script type="text/javascript" defer="defer">

jQuery(document).ready(function(){

jQuery("#account-type-normal_user").attr("checked", true);

jQuery("#group-details").hide();

jQuery("#account-type-type_one,#account-type-type_two,#account-type-type_three").click(function(){

if (jQuery(this).is(":checked")) {

jQuery("#group-details").slideDown("slow");

} else {

jQuery("#group-details").slideUp("slow");

}

});

jQuery("#account-type-normal_user").click(function(){

if (jQuery(this).is(":checked")) {

jQuery("#group-details").slideUp("slow");

} else {

jQuery("#group-details").slideDown("slow");

}

});

});

</script>



<?php do_action( 'bp_account_type_errors' ) ?>

<label><input type="radio" name="account_type" id="account-type-normal_user" value="normal_user" checked="checked" /><?php _e( 'User', 'group-types' ) ?></label>

<label><input type="radio" name="account_type" id="account-type-type_one" value="type_one" /><?php _e( 'Type 1', 'group-types' ) ?></label>

<label><input type="radio" name="account_type" id="account-type-type_two" value="type_two" /><?php _e( 'Type 2', 'group-types' ) ?></label>

<label><input type="radio" name="account_type" id="account-type-type_three" value="type_three" /><?php _e( 'Type 3', 'group-types' ) ?></label>



<div id="group-details">

<p><?php _e( 'We will automatically create a group for your business or organization. This group will be tailored to your needs! You can change the description and the news later in the admin section of your group.', 'group-types' ); ?></p>



<?php do_action( 'bp_group_name_errors' ) ?>

<label for="group_name"><?php _e( 'Group Name', 'scuba' ) ?> <?php _e( '(required)', 'buddypress' ) ?></label>

<input type="text" name="group_name" id="group_name" value="" />

<br /><small><?php _e( 'We suggest you use the name of your business or organization', 'group-types' ) ?></small>



<label for="group_desc"><?php _e( 'Group Description', 'scuba' ) ?></label>

<textarea rows="5" cols="40" name="group_desc" id="group_desc"></textarea>

<br /><small><?php _e( 'This description will be visible on your group profile, so it could be used to present your mission statement for example.', 'group-types' ) ?></small>



<label for="group_news"><?php _e( 'Group News', 'scuba' ) ?></label>

<textarea rows="5" cols="40" name="group_news" id="group_news"></textarea>

<br /><small><?php _e( 'Enter any news that you want potential members to see.', 'group-types' ) ?></small>

</div>

</div>

<?php

}

add_action( 'bp_before_registration_submit_buttons', 'sv_add_registration_group_types' );

Then we have to validate things and add some usermeta when a regitration happens:

/**

* Add custom userdata from register.php

* @since 1.0

*/

function sv_add_to_signup( $usermeta )

{

$usermeta['account_type'] = $_POST['account_type'];



if( isset( $_POST['group_name'] ) )

$usermeta['group_name'] = $_POST['group_name'];



if( isset( $_POST['group_desc'] ) )

$usermeta['group_desc'] = $_POST['group_desc'];



if( isset( $_POST['group_news'] ) )

$usermeta['group_news'] = $_POST['group_news'];



return $usermeta;

}

add_filter( 'bp_signup_usermeta', 'sv_add_to_signup' );



/**

* Update usermeta with custom registration data

* @since 1.0

*/

function sv_user_activate_fields( $user )

{

update_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'account_type', $user['meta']['account_type'] );



if( isset( $user['meta']['group_name'] ) )

update_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_name', $user['meta']['group_name'] );



if( isset( $user['meta']['group_desc'] ) )

update_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_desc', $user['meta']['group_desc'] );



if( isset( $user['meta']['group_news'] ) )

update_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_news', $user['meta']['group_news'] );



return $user;

}

add_filter( 'bp_core_activate_account', 'sv_user_activate_fields' );



/**

* Perform checks for custom registration data

* @since 1.0

*/

function sv_check_additional_signup()

{

global $bp;



if( empty( $_POST['account_type'] ) )

$bp->signup->errors['account_type'] = __( 'You need to choose your account type', 'group-types' );



if( empty( $_POST['group_name'] ) && $_POST['account_type'] != 'normal_user' )

$bp->signup->errors['group_name'] = __( 'You need to pick a group name', 'group-types' );



if( ! empty( $_POST['group_name'] ) && $_POST['account_type'] != 'normal_user' )

{

$slug = sanitize_title_with_dashes( $_POST['group_name'] );

$exist = groups_check_group_exists( $slug );

if( $exist )

$bp->signup->errors['group_name'] = __( 'This name is not available. If you feel this is a mistake, please <a href="/contact">contact us</a>.', 'group-types' );

}

}

add_action( 'bp_signup_validate', 'sv_check_additional_signup' );

And then we set up the group for the user (there are some constants in this function, so you’ll need to change that):

/**

* Create custom groups for skools, biz and org accounts

* @since 1.0

*/

function sv_init_special_groups( $user )

{

global $bp;



// get account type

$type = get_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'account_type' );



if( $type == 'normal_user' )

{

// Do nothing

}

elseif( $type == 'type_one' || $type == 'type_two' || $type == 'type_three' )

{

// get some more data from sign up

$group_name = get_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_name' );

$group_desc = get_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_desc' );

$group_news = get_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_news' );



$slug = sanitize_title_with_dashes( $group_name );



// create dive skool group

$group_id = groups_create_group( array(

'creator_id'	=> $user['user_id'],

'name'			=> $group_name,

'slug'			=> $slug,

'description'	=> $group_desc,

'news'			=> $group_news,

'status'		=> 'public',

'enable_wire'	=> true,

'enable_forum'	=> true,

'date_created'	=> gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s')

)

);

// add the type to our group

groups_update_groupmeta( $group_id, 'group_type', $type );



// delete now useless data

delete_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_name' );

delete_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_desc' );

delete_usermeta( $user['user_id'], 'group_news' );



// include PHPMailer

require_once( SV_MAILER . 'class.phpmailer.php' );



$mail = new PHPMailer();

$mail->IsSMTP();

$mail->Host = SV_SMTP;



$auth = get_userdata( $user['user_id'] );

$profile_link = $bp->root_domain . '/' . $bp->groups->slug . '/' . $slug . '/admin';



$message = sprintf( __( 'Hello %s,



we have created a group for your business or organization. To get more out of your presence on Yoursitenamehere please take some time to set it up properly.



Please follow this link to fill in the rest of your profile: %s



We wish you all the best. Should you have any questions regarding your new group, please contact us at support@yoursitenamehere.com.



Your Yoursitenamehere Team', 'group-types' ), $auth->display_name, $profile_link );



$mail->SetFrom("support@yoursitenamehere.com","Yoursitenamehere");

$mail->AddAddress( $auth->user_email );



$mail->Subject  = __( 'Your new group pages on Yoursitenamehere', 'group-types' );

$mail->Body = $message;

$mail->WordWrap = 75;

$mail->Send();

}

}

add_action( 'bp_core_account_activated', 'sv_init_special_groups' );

When you write a group extension we’ll have to swap the activation call with a function like the one below to be able to check for group types.

/**

* Replacement activation function for group extension classes

*/

function activate_type_one()

{

global $bp;

$type = groups_get_groupmeta( $bp->groups->current_group->id, 'group_type' );

if( $type == 'type_one' )

{

$extension = new Group_Type_One;

add_action( "wp", array( &$extension, "_register" ), 2 );

}

}

add_action( 'plugins_loaded', 'activate_type_one' );

The last thing we need to do is add our group type names to group and directory pages:

/**

* Modify the group type status

*/

function sv_get_group_type( $type, $group = false )

{

global $groups_template;



if( ! $group )

$group =& $groups_template->group;



$gtype = groups_get_groupmeta( $group->id, 'group_type' );

if( $gtype == 'type_one' )

$name = __( 'Type 1', 'group-types' );



elseif( $gtype == 'type_two' )

$name = __( 'Type 2', 'group-types' );



elseif( $gtype == 'type_three' )

$name = __( 'Type 3', 'group-types' );



else

$name = __( 'User Group', 'group-types' );



if( 'public' == $group->status )

{

$type = sprintf( __( "%s (public)", "group-types" ), $name );

}

elseif( 'hidden' == $group->status )

{

$type = sprintf( __( "%s (hidden)", "group-types" ), $name );

}

elseif( 'private' == $group->status )

{

$type = sprintf( __( "%s (private)", "group-types" ), $name );

}

else

{

$type = ucwords( $group->status ) . ' ' . __( 'Group', 'buddypress' );

}



return $type;

}

add_filter( 'bp_get_group_type', 'sv_get_group_type' );



/**

* Modify the group type status on directory pages

*/

function sv_get_the_site_group_type()

{

global $site_groups_template;



return sv_get_group_type( '', $site_groups_template->group );

}

add_filter( 'bp_get_the_site_group_type', 'sv_get_the_site_group_type' );

It’s quite a bit of code, but it should get you started. This hasn’t been tested with 1.2 btw.

“I would like to keep the home and blog slugs pointing to where they are, but fix the members and rest of the links to point to my root domain slugs.”

Then hardcode the full URL in the header above. No functions, just a web address. Easy. Works.