BuddyPress.org

OH guess what…? 😀 Figured it out.

I have a solution that so, sooo…..SSOOOOOOO many other people have been looking for, and I’m elated to say I’ve found it.

Been cruising Stack Exchange, various WordPress plugin support threads, installing plugin after plugin, reading blogposts made by developers, comments made by disillusioned masses….I mean, it’s endless.

But THANK GOD I found a solution!

So it turns out that the code that BuddyDev mentioned was not to blame for the 500 error I mentioned in my intro. It was actually due to one of the two plugins that is recommended in BuddyDev’s tutorial (and they are now fixing that bug). 🙂

I figured this out as I tried to reproduce the error while activating plugins in a different sequence.

The first time I did this, I’d had BuddyPress disabled when I’d installed both plugins. I’d also already put the code mentioned in their tutorial into my bp-custom file. I then activated BuddyPress, and the site failed.

This time, I had BuddyPress already activated, then installed and activated one of the two plugins BuddyDev recommended to use in the tutorial…and all was well. THEN…I installed the second plugin. And upon clicking ‘Activate’ the site failed again. NOTE: on the second attempt to reproduce the 500 error, I hadn’t put the code from the tutorial into my bp-custom file….

And according to BuddyDev, even before I tried to reproduce the error, the bp-custom code I was using was sound.

So when the site failed upon my attempt to reproduce the error, I knew: that plugin was to blame.

Then, I found out more about that plugin…it is designed to be used for users to have extra fields to fill out upon signup, fields that would show in their Member Profile. And I have Member Profiles disabled. Wa-la!

I then asked BuddyDev if I needed the plugin that failed…and THANKFULLY they said, ‘no — not needed for what you want to do.’

WHEW!! 😀

So, a summary:
– Use custom code in bp-custom (pasted below)
– Use one plugin in particular from BuddyDev
– Do not use another plugin recommended by BuddyDev

The plugin to DEFINITELY use, that was listed in their tutorial: ‘BuddyPress Member Type Generator’…that affects the ability for Webmasters to set custom member types AND an avatar specific to every custom type created! 😀

The other plugin that was recommended in that tutorial, that is NOT needed to change user avatars for custom member types…not ever, as it has nothing to do with avatars — it was merely recommended in their tutorial so people could manage user profiles: ‘BP XProfile Member Type Field’

SO. If you want to have a different default avatar for different member types, then you will need to use the ‘BuddyPress Member Type Generator’ plugin. Not the other one.

Steps to take:
1.] Download the ‘BuddyPress Member Type Generator’ plugin from BudyDev

2.] Read their tutorial (I’ll paste a link below in follow-up comments to this comment)…do everything EXCEPT install the ‘BP XProfile Member Type Field’ plugin — it’s not needed for assigning an avatar via custom member type; it just is recommended in their tutorial to use so you can manage user fields 🙂

3.] Use the code I’ll also paste below (in the follow-up comments) — modify it to your site’s name but insert your site name where I typed ‘sitenameprivate’…etc.

4.] For creating more avatars with custom member types in the future, you’ll always have to update that same code in the bp-custom file…via FTP/SFTP; tbh that process is easy as pie once you realize how to do it

5.] For making your life easier with switching out avatar images for member types without having to re-do the bp-custom file: just save over the image in your media library that is used for that particular member type…so the path is the same and your code won’t need to be changed

Simple, yet difficult to find.

Thank GOD FOR BUDDYDEV!!! <3

WordPress: 4.9.8

BuddyPress: Version 3.2.0

Ohhh, GOT IT!!

looks like this code is exactly what is needed….i pasted it into a custom plugin and wa-la…credit goes to the fabulous @prashantvatsh! he replied in the support forum on his plugin (the ‘BP Custom Functionalities’ plugin)…like super quick, with the correct solution to me needing to restrict access to a user’s OWN profile. brilliant!

here’s that support thread:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/restrict-access-to-users-own-profile/

and here’s the code from prashant that i wound up putting into a custom plugin file and uploading to my site:

add_action( 'wp', 'bp_own_profile_member_redirect' );
function bp_own_profile_member_redirect(){
	if(bp_is_user()){
	    global $bp;
	    $current_user_id = (int) trim($bp->loggedin_user->id);
	    $member_id  = (int) trim($bp->displayed_user->id);
	    if (!current_user_can('manage_options') && $current_user_id == $member_id)
	    {
                //Only admins can view their own profile
	        wp_redirect(site_url()); //you can set any URL here
	        exit;
	    }
	}
}

thanks again for all your help, @venutius — your help was fundamental to me figuring out the next steps (how the BuddyPress avatars exist and how to get those avatars to show what i wanted without messing with bbPress code)…i am truly grateful for all your assistance!

@venutius oh thanks for the suggestions, appreciate the plugin links…but they don’t accomplish what i need to do

i need specific avatars for classes of users, ones that correspond to the styling and hierarchy of my site

so identicons being ‘fun’…? sadly i don’t need fun, lol….i need a streamlined business look and fun with random identicons won’t work

and creating local gravatar avatars for users that ‘don’t have one’ is also random — not corresponding with my site; if i wanted to have default gravatar avatars populate i’d just choose the options that come with WordPress by default — that already is an option

and gravatar is incredibly cumbersome with its pinging to the servers where the gravatars are stored….it may seem minor to many, but it does burden a site

plus, gravatars have weak coding that allow the email address of the user to be ‘scraped’ by bots

so to protect my users from future spam and to keep my site as speedy as possible AND to have my site avatars correspond to the styling of my site i need gravatars to never ever ever be used, and nothing random either

This was already including my childtheme & custom functions.php.
Literally everything slightly related to wordpress was checked.

Best regards,

Anyone have an update on this? I’ve resorted to changing the active components manually since I can’t get them to keep their state when I login to WordPress after

I have all plugins except for BuddyPress disabled and also have switched out to a basic WordPress theme again but still am not getting any sort of confirmation messages/notices when I save a new password change. I’ve checked in my BuddyPress files as well (am running the Nouveau template but have tried switching between that and Legacy to see if it would fix anything) and both have the proper code you specified in it, but nothing’s showing up.