BuddyPress.org

BuddyPress.org is the insider community. If you’re registered and paying attention, then you’re one of the cool kids.

There’s a few reasons why BuddyPress.org works and looks different than a usual BuddyPress installation does out of the box. I’ll do my best to explain them for you (and everyone else) but I can assure you, there’s nothing stopping anyone from mimicking this or infinite other kinds of hybrid installations.

1. This site uses the old and very yucky deep integration method with bbPress. Before BuddyPress 1.1 that was the only way to do it. With 1.1 Andy wrote an abstraction layer for bbPress to seamlessly bring its functionality into a WordPress installation.

2. The decision was made that forums made the most sense when linked directly to a group of users. Rogue forum categories without a group of users to attach them to, have taken a back seat for the time being. This has been the topic of debate for a while, but it won’t change for 1.2 and probably won’t change until bbPress as a whole gets a little more attention.

2. Because BuddyPress.org links directly with WordPress user and usermeta tables (which is why your 1 login works at all WP related sites), upgrading and shifting around over a million registered users isn’t a task to be taken lightly.

3. Since Buddypress 1.1 was released, BuddyPress.org hasn’t changed a single bit. Little to no attention has been paid to the inner workings of this site, and all efforts have been poured into the project itself in a very successful attempt to deliver a much more stable and solid project. Even group avatars on this site are still broken from the conversion.

4. The purpose of the support forums is to have a central community devoted to the questions and answers that a wide array of users have while installing, theme-ing, and in general just using BuddyPress. If you have needs that don’t fall within the core code then you’re stepping outside of core support and looking for custom development.

5. Many people on the forums (including myself) have stepped up and taken on side projects (pro bono or as paid clients.) A slew of plugins are available specifically to enhance parts of BuddyPress, but just like with WordPress if nothing currently exists that does what you need, you either need do it yourself or find someone to do it for you in a way that fits your budget.

6. BuddyPress 1.0 launched in April of 2009. It’s less than a year old and 2 major updates have already come through with even more to come in 2010. It’s still a baby compared to WordPress and bbPress, and I think Andy and myself will be the first people to say that it’s still capable of a lot more. Patches are always welcome, and in the past year the number of code committers has doubled (from 1 to 2 ) and the number of significantly contributing code patchers, bug reports, and trac tickets has just about doubled also.

So, if you’re unhappy, I can understand why. In a way BuddyPress.org sets an unrealistic expectation of a turn-key installation. If you feel you’ve been mislead in one way or another, that makes sense to me. Your opinion is valid, and when the site is updated to 1.2, I think you’ll be pleased.

In the meantime, if you choose not to use it that’s okay. If you choose to study the code and start submitting ideas and patches, that’s cool too. Whatever anyone decides to do, I don’t think anyone will be mad. We’re all buddies here, remember?

@michel,

not sure I understand your post, but it sounds like somebody hitch-hiked you into Skype-calls of “how to work with Social-Networks & BuddyPress” ?

Get yourself a good programmer (search for a coder in the job-forum at this website) and I am sure you will find a reliable person who will set-up your very own Social-Networking-website using BuddyPress-plugin-software. For a standard-setup-install (including Group-Forums), this should not take any longer than 1 hour (cost of 1 man-hour).

BuddyPress and WordPress is the most ethical software you can get.

What you will get is not a website the same as buddypress.org, but even better a website very similar to what you can see at http://www.testbp.org and then you can customize it to your needs if you want.

I had to “burn” 2 programmers (they were only asking for money but basically not doing anything or doing things wrong and not giving any feedback) until I found the right person who is reliable and understands his job. Its all about test & fail to find a good and reliable coder, same as finding correct and reliable people in real life.

I use realchat ( http://www.realchat.com/ )on a couple of websites, and it is really solid – it’s not the cheapest thing out there, but it’s also not the most expensive.

Unfortunately there is no buddypress or wordpressmu integration, although there are free integration plugins for vbulletin, phpbb, drupal, and others. So I would think that a plugin developer could look at the code on this page:

http://www.realchat.com/doc/database-integration.html

and create a plugin that would allow logging in via wordpress/buddypress and show buddypress avatars – that would be awesome. In fact I would pay $100 for someone to make that a reality.

I am currently testing the flashchat script which is cheap – only $5 – on one server, wnd will be testing integration with phpbb and with wordpress to see how it works.

Someone wrote an integration script for it and wordpress 2,7 –

http://forum.tufat.com/showthread.php?t=49926

so I am thinking it may work – although the script has user roles from wordpress for user, moderators and admins – it says it does not pull the info for gender icons – If someone would modify that it would be awesome, as it is cheap.

I have looked into the ajaxchat, and it looks cool with the way it can integrate into buddypress, was that on wpmu.org I think? – But as I commented there, I am concerned about the ajax chat and server resources, and privacy issues. Not that I have had any issues with it, I just imagine with a lot of people using it at once it may start to hiccup since it relies on sql for messaging. I would love to here real world performance issues with it running 75 users at once on a shared server.

An integrated chat room would be awesome – wish I could help more with it!

(now back to my learning php for dummies book) sigh.

Mike to solve your problem with the login direction thing.. I’ve solved that with some jquery stuff which opens the reset password dialog:

examples:

http://emberapp.com/bowromir/images/firefox-6

http://emberapp.com/bowromir/images/firefox-7/

The code to display the reset password:

<h6>If you've forgotten your login details you can reset your password. Fill in your email or username and you'll receive an email with further instructions on how to reset your password.</h6><p></p>

<form name="lostpasswordform" id="lostpasswordform" action="<?php echo site_url('wp-login.php?action=lostpassword', 'login_post') ?>" method="post">

<p>

<label><?php _e('Username or E-mail:') ?><br />

<input type="text" name="user_login" id="user_login" class="loginpanel" value="<?php echo esc_attr($user_login); ?>" size="20" tabindex="10" /></label>

</p>

<?php do_action('lostpassword_form'); ?>

<p class="submit"><input type="submit" name="wp-submit" id="wp-submit" class="button-primary" value="<?php esc_attr_e('Get New Password'); ?>" tabindex="100" /></p>

</form>

Another thing you could do for the time being is style the wp-login page with your own logo:

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bm-custom-login/

I am having the same problem. I’ve traced it down to the fact that when the Buddypress plugin is activated the tables are not created. I started putting die() statements in bp-core.php and found that the install and check install functions were not running.

I went back to bp 1.0.3 and did the install and it worked. The tables were created. Here is my info:

1. Which version of WP/MU are you running?

2.8.6

2. Did you install WP/MU as a directory or subdomain install?

directory

3. If a directory install, is it in root or in a subdirectory?

subdirectory

4. Did you upgraded from a previous version of WP/MU? If so, from which version?

no clean install

5. Was WP/MU functioning properly before installing/upgrading BuddyPress (BP)? e.g. permalinks, creating a new post, commenting.

yes

6. Which version of BP are you running?

tried to install 1.1.3

7. Did you upgraded from a previous version of BP? If so, from which version?

no

8. Do you have any plugins other than BuddyPress installed and activated?

no

9. Are you using the standard BuddyPress themes or customized themes?

standard

10. Have you modified the core files in any way?

no

11. Do you have any custom functions in bp-custom.php?

no

12. If running bbPress, which version? Or did your BuddyPress install come with a copy of bbPress built-in?

came with it built in

13. Please provide a list of any errors in your server’s log files.

In Apache I got:

[Sun Feb 14 10:51:51 2010] [notice] child pid 8139 exit signal Segmentation fault (11)

or with different pid each time I tried to install

in php there was this in the log

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:54] PHP Notice: Constant DB_NAME already defined in /Users/chris/Sites/wpmu/wp-config.php on line 23

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] PHP Notice: Constant DB_USER already defined in /Users/chris/Sites/wpmu/wp-config.php on line 26

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] PHP Notice: Constant DB_PASSWORD already defined in /Users/chris/Sites/wpmu/wp-config.php on line 29

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] PHP Notice: Constant DB_HOST already defined in /Users/chris/Sites/wpmu/wp-config.php on line 32

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] PHP Notice: Constant VHOST already defined in /Users/chris/Sites/wpmu/wp-config.php on line 39

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] WordPress database error Table ‘wordpress.wp_blogs’ doesn’t exist for query SELECT * FROM wp_blogs WHERE domain = ‘localhost.localdomain’ AND path = ‘/wpmu/’ made by require, include, include_once, require_once, require_once

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] WordPress database error Table ‘wordpress.wp_sitemeta’ doesn’t exist for query SELECT meta_value FROM wp_sitemeta WHERE site_id = 1 AND meta_key = ‘site_name’ made by require, include, include_once, require_once, require_once, get_current_site_name

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] WordPress database error Table ‘wordpress.wp_blogs’ doesn’t exist for query SELECT blog_id FROM wp_blogs LIMIT 0,1 made by require, include, include_once, require_once, require_once

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] WordPress database error Table ‘wordpress.wp_sitemeta’ doesn’t exist for query SELECT meta_value FROM wp_sitemeta WHERE meta_key = ‘wpmu_sitewide_plugins’ AND site_id = 1 made by require, include, include_once, require_once, get_site_option

[14-Feb-2010 09:45:55] WordPress database error Table ‘wordpress.wp_sitemeta’ doesn’t exist for query SELECT meta_value FROM wp_sitemeta WHERE meta_key = ‘active_sitewide_plugins’ AND site_id = 1 made by require, include, include_once, require_once, apply_filters, call_user_func_array, mu_filter_plugins_list, get_site_option

14. Which company provides your hosting?

No hosting, I’m installing it locally on a MAC with MAMP

https://wordpress.org/development/2009/09/keep-wordpress-secure/

https://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/three-tips-to-protect-your-wordpress-installation/

No exact idea about how many memory is needed for BP, but for wp-mu it is in the wp-settings.php :

line13: define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);

For WP single it is 32M…

https://trac.mu.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-settings.php

To know the php memory_limit on your server, use:

phpinfo();

or

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-memory-usage/

has anyone gotten this to work with the latest version of buddypress? I downloaded it at https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-member-filter, installed it but i can’t find the right files to change (the members.php). This plugin is exactly what my site needs, and i can’t wait to use it.

I dont have the lesser idea about the memory limit…but I think it is small, something like 8 or 16 Mb… How I can solve it?

I tried buddypress also on this other configuration:

WPmu 2.9.1.1 + PHP 5.2.3 + BP 1.2 RC3 b2715

It gave me this error:

Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.

Warning: require_once(/home/www/khron.com/wordpress-mu/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-core.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/www/khron.com/wordpress-mu/wp-content/plugins/budypress/bp-loader.php on line 19

To answer DJPaul’s question, you can install this plugin:

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-memory-usage/

To try to give more PHP memory:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/253495

BuddyPress — even on the most recent, cutting-edge “trunk” versions — is not built and has not been tested against WordPress 3.0-alpha. I am not Andy but I would guess that it is not going to be tested against WP 3.0 until it gets to a release candidate version.

So in the interim, YMMV.

http://foliovision.com/seo-tools/wordpress/plugin-reviews/faq-tastic

“- What is the best way to populate a ‘live’ (on a public server) site, view/test it online, but keep it hidden/private for non-admins (to prevent copycats, leaking, Google indexing etc)? The ‘privacy settings do no offer this choice? do I need a plugin for that?”

The simply brilliant way: edit your computer’s hosts file.

Slap MU up wherever, even on an IP address, but change your own host file to show the old domain at the new location. Proceed as usual. You & your computer is the only person to see the site “live”.

(oo bad construct there – computers aren’t people. yet.)

You won’t need any google-fu or the more privacy plugin. When the time comes, all you need to do is remove your own hosts file edit, update the DNS to the new server, and wait.

“- Which way to Chenge the Site url is working best (see https://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL ), are the 2 ‘defines’ enough currently?”

in MU? Oh heck no. Nowhere near enough. The url is saved in a multitude of places. That’s why I suggested the hosts file way.

Yes, you have to keep editing it to go back to the live site, but it’s way less painful.

This’ll help.

Installing WordPressMu – The E-Book

Also, there’s a WordPressMU forum here:

https://mu.wordpress.org/forums/view/all-topics

Put it up on the wordpress repo with the appropriate tags

I was thinking of making a plugin that would create forums in ways that don’t require group creation/membership…perhaps this is something that shares similar functions to your plugin.

We did not write the WordPress FB Connect plugin. You need to talk to the author. I’ve marked this thread as not a support issue as it is not to do with BuddyPress.

I’ve marked this as not a support issue because it clearly isn’t.

That IS the plan – the 1.2 version out now are release candidates. They go out here for testing and feedback, and when they are official, THEN they go in the repo.

This way, the bugs get worked out by users who *choose* to upgrade knowing they may find issues. If all these changes were in the repo, you would have had upgrade notices 3 times in the last couple weeks.

sorry, edit.

@andrea-r,

sorry to be a little out of topic, but if you speak about future, i would ask what about code optimization and php memory ?

When reading on the codex, nothing is said that WP need by default 32 mo php RAM.

And the wp-health plugin is still under alpha dev…

And sure there is a problem with php memory.

On most shared host, this php memory is set to 16 Mo max… and no way to give more (even throught htaccess, wp-settings, wp-config tricks..)

This mean that WP/Mu can’t work with more than 4 or 5 plugins in best case.

And since 2.8, the memory consumption is growing a lot.

I’ve installed the Carrington theme/plugin site-wide on this site, but I don’t have a smartphone yet, so I don’t even know how to test it. If you have a chance to take a look on your mobile, let me know…

I guess it’s not detected in online emulators, not this one anyway. Are there other/better emulators I could try?

The Carrington theme is only WordPress of course. I’m curious if it at least works on the blog parts, including member blogs, or not at all. Perhaps it is possible to expand that theme.

I imagine that will be the plan. But since this plugin hasn’t been released yet for public consumption it has to be downloaded or updated via svn.