BuddyPress.org

Hi @nmschaller,

bbPress is a separate plugin and BuddyPress doesn’t manage bbPress. For questions about forum settings, you can use the bbPress support.

When you use BP groups component, you can add a forum to each of them. In this case only, you have to install bbPress. Of course you can also use bbPress as standalone on a BP install, or use bbPress with WordPress, without BP.

BP doesn’t use “pages” but templates, and the only pages created during installation are in for internal purpose. The “member” page is used to show the member directory, but also profiles or members activities. This dynamic content is displayed on different templates, depending the context, and using WP’s page system to fire all that via a same page slug (aka internal path).

your-site/members/some/thing/ where /some/thing/ is using his own template part displayed on “members page”.

So far i understand you use bbPress and now you want a members directory, and eventually some additionnal fields on user’s profiles. And most of this should be private or “members only”, right ?

The main problem is that you want some custom behave that need some knowledge (you seem to have), but you cannot edit functions.php Unfortunately, this is the place where to add customisation. And what to tell about bp-custom, which is another crucial cusmisation file.

You want to drive and have no steering wheel ! Annoying… 😉

The question is Do you need BuddyPress or can you use another solution ? 🙂

Depends your project, really. Members directory or extended profiles can be done with separate plugins.

Read here:
http://chrislema.com/best-wordpress-membership-plugin-2014/

Or digg into the Codex if you decide to use BuddyPress.

Would it work if I would not connect the “members” page with BuddyPress in the settings, set the page to private and pull the dynamic content for the members list by a stortcode?

No, no, no. That page is core, must exist and should be blank. Just a (custom) title.

Do I need to learn to code to use BuddyPress?
No, but it’s better if you know some basics.

To make the member directory for loggedin users only, you have to:
– create a child-theme (is explained on WP and BP codex)
– copy/paste index.php from wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-templates/bp-legacy/buddypress/members/index.php
to
/wp-content/themes/your_child/buddypress/members/index.php

In this copy, right after <div id="buddypress">, in the existing php opening tag just after, you add if(is_user_logged_in() ):

At the end of the file, you’ll find the closing div tag of #buddypress.
Just before this closing tag, again an opening php tag, you add endif; before the do_action you’ll see there.

If you did it correctly, the directory is now only be visible for loggedin users.

Some basics:

open php tag <?php
closing php tag ?>

open html tag <div>
closing html tag </div>