Wordpress Single User and Buddypress.

[Harold Mansfield]

You might want to look at BuddyPress (http://buddypress.org/). If you haven't seen it before it's a set of plugins to essentially build a social network on top of WordPress. Members do get their own profile pages. I'm not sure how bookmarking pages would work, but I would thing something similar is there.

There is one catch. Currently it only works with WordPressMU and not WordPress. That will be changing in the not too distant future. The cores of WP and MU are merging and I think once WP 3.0 arrives they'll basically be the same thing and BuddyPress will work on WP alone.

BuddyPress is probably what you're looking for.

Yep, I have been looking at buddypress for some time, but as you said, it's not compatible.

[vangogh]

Is this a new site? If so just install WordPress MU. It's basically the same as WP, but it lets you install additional blogs.

If not then yeah you can't use BuddyPress unless you can wait a couple months. I think 3.0 is getting pretty close.

I'm not sure if there are any plugins outside of BuddyPress though that will do what you need.

[Harold Mansfield]

Interesting. But I hear MU isn't very stable. I'll take a look at it tomorrow.
Edit:
I'm actually going to install MU on a folder of a domain and mess around with it and Buddy Press and see if it's something I should get into

[vangogh]

I've only installed MU locally and it seemed fine to me. I'm using it as a development install of WP so I can have multiple themes working at the same time without having to activate and deactivate them all the time. That gets to be a pain when each might need a certain widget so there's always a lot to activate and deactivate.

It took a little getting used to. There's an extra menu option or two for the main admin of MU. Users who only administer one of the blogs under MU see it the same as they would WordPress, but the overall admin has a couple of extra options.

I think most of the instability is a result from the multiple blogs, but if you're only running one it may not be an issue. It's a pretty easy install just like WordPress. Why not install it locally and see what you think.

MU is basically a wrapper for WordPress. I think the core code of each was a little different, but for the last year or so the cores have been moving closer to each other with each upgrade. By 3.0 they're supposed to merge so WordPress MU and WordPress will essentially be the same with the exception of the extra wrapper in MU. You could install MU temporarily in order to use BuddyPress and then in a few months if you need to replace MU with WordPress and everything should still work.

It might end up being your best option since BuddyPress is probably exactly what you're looking for.

[vangogh]

Harold, I wanted to update the thread. Apparently BuddyPress is already working on WordPress. I had thought it was waiting for WP 3.0, but looks like you can use it right now.

[Harold Mansfield]

Harold, I wanted to update the thread. Apparently BuddyPress is already working on WordPress. I had thought it was waiting for WP 3.0, but looks like you can use it right now.

Been messing around with it. Trying to convert one of my existing blogs.
Having hard time, but I think I'll get it working correctly.
I'm really digging it though, after you posted the info I saw the post about it in my Dashboard.
Thanks for the heads up.

[Harold Mansfield]

After an entire day of trying to get it to function properly, I have come to the conclusion that all functions of Buddypress do not work on the single wordpress installation..still only on MU.

I have tried installing, reinstalling, redownloading and the result is the same.

There is no blog function for users. Plain and simple.
It's not there.

Every other function is there, except that one.

Being that is is new, there isn't a lot of answers out there, but I do see many people asking the same question, with no answers.

This is one of the reasons I hate doing stuff when it's new. Because if it doesn't work properly, I'll spend hours trying to fix a developers problem that I never would have been able to fix anyway.

[Harold Mansfield]

And I finally found an answer:
BuddyPress for single WordPress.org users (not WPMU)!!! - WordPress MU and BuddyPress plugins, themes, support, tips and how to's (http://wpmu.org/buddypress-for-single-wordpressorg-users-not-wpmu/)

Buddypress doesnt not have all of the functions on Single user WP as it does on MU...no user blogs...which to me is the single most important function of the whole thing.

So now I'm off to install MU.

VG, can I install MU over an existing Single user installation and keep all of my content?

[vangogh]

Yeah, the multiple blog parts is an MU feature and not a BuddyPress Feature. I'm not sure if you can install MU on top of single WP. You may want to backup your database first and then go for a clean install. I'm not sure if they use the exact same table structure.

How soon do you need to get this site done. WP 3.0 is right around the corner and it will add the multiple blog capability. Once 3.0 arrives WP and MU will really be the same thing.

[Harold Mansfield]

Yeah, the multiple blog parts is an MU feature and not a BuddyPress Feature. I'm not sure if you can install MU on top of single WP. You may want to backup your database first and then go for a clean install. I'm not sure if they use the exact same table structure.

How soon do you need to get this site done. WP 3.0 is right around the corner and it will add the multiple blog capability. Once 3.0 arrives WP and MU will really be the same thing.

I had some time on my hands this week, I was hoping to get it done now.
How long before 3.0 ?
Are we talking days, or a couple of weeks ?
What are they projecting ?

[vangogh]

Their roadmap (http://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/) says April, but that could be any time in April. Ultimately it will come out whenever it comes out, but they're shooting for April.

If you need the site setup sooner then go for MU. Again I'm not sure if you can just swap the files and make sure MU is pointing to the same database. Easy enough to give it a try and find out. As long as you back up the database first you should be ok.

[Harold Mansfield]

Well...I'd hate to install MU, just to have to go back to single user and use 3.0.

Maybe I'll just leave the site in "beta" and work around that issue and have people just submit manually via email.

I did find a plug in that allows users to submit with a stripped down text editor/form (contact Form 7 interferes with the theme functions)..I could use that for a while since it requires Admin approval anyway.

[vangogh]

When 3.0 is out, basically MU and WP will merge. In 3.0 WP is going to have the ability to run multiple blogs, just like MU can now. MU will eventually go away as a separate product. After the merge you won't have to worry at all regardless of whether or not you want a single blog or multiple blog.

Just use whichever you need now. WP is making it easy to upgrade on either side and in a few month both MU and WP are going to be the same thing.

[Harold Mansfield]

When 3.0 is out, basically MU and WP will merge. In 3.0 WP is going to have the ability to run multiple blogs, just like MU can now. MU will eventually go away as a separate product. After the merge you won't have to worry at all regardless of whether or not you want a single blog or multiple blog.

Just use whichever you need now. WP is making it easy to upgrade on either side and in a few month both MU and WP are going to be the same thing.

Well, I have been waiting to see what and when. I guess I'll dive in with MU and hope that the transition is easy in a month or so.
Right now it's a blog that I'm revamping, so I guess I won't lose anything by experimenting.

[vangogh]

There was a recent post on the WordPress development site about how smooth the transition should be for everyone, regardless of which you have installed. I was looking for it earlier, but I couldn't find.

I did find it now though. Here's the post (http://wordpress.org/development/2010/02/menus-merge-patch-sprint/)

Here's the part of that post you're most interested in


It was announced at WordCamp San Francisco last year that WordPress and WordPress MU would be merging codebases. This has now happened in 3.0-alpha, and we’re working on smashing bugs and tidying up a few screens. If you’re currently using a single install of WordPress, when you upgrade to 3.0 you won’t see any of the extra screens associated with running a network of sites. If you’re currently running MU, when you upgrade you’ll notice a few labels changing, but upgrading should be as painless as usual. If you’re going to set up a new WordPress installation, you’ll be asked as part of the setup if you want one site or multiple sites, so that’s pretty simple. If you want to turn your single install into one that supports multiple sites, we’ll have a tool for you to use to do that, too. So if you’ve been worried about the merge, have a cup of chamomile tea and relax; it will all be fine

[Harold Mansfield]

There was a recent post on the WordPress development site about how smooth the transition should be for everyone, regardless of which you have installed. I was looking for it earlier, but I couldn't find.

I did find it now though. Here's the post (http://wordpress.org/development/2010/02/menus-merge-patch-sprint/)

Here's the part of that post you're most interested in

Well, I'm going to go ahead an jump to get familiar with MU anyway. I'm thinking I'll have to back up the posts on the current installation and do a fresh installation of MU, and then import.
I can't find any documentation that say's do it otherwise.

I'm actually exited about this...I have a bunch of ideas that I wanted to incorporate into my existing blogs to make life easier for me and the people that send in information and press.

Also, it seems at least once a week someone is asking me about building a community site.

[Harold Mansfield]

Well, MU was a breeze to install. I noticed that the Buddypress/MU site just launched a few new themes and plug ins today.
This is a really exiting time for Wordrpess, I am pretty stoked !
This is so much more that I can offer clients that I couldn't do just a few weeks ago.

[vangogh]

It is pretty easy isn't it. With BuddyPress it's themes need to take over. A BuddyPress theme is basically a WordPress theme with a few additional files. If you include those additional files in your WP theme you should be able to use it for BuddyPress. There's a plugin called bp-template-pack that will bring those files over into your WordPress theme.

I haven't done much yet since I installed both WP and BP a week or two ago, but it is pretty cool. I'm still trying to think of the possibilities they offer and which I want to use for the site.

[Harold Mansfield]

I did try the BP Template pack and it was just easier to just grab a whole new Buddy Press ready theme. The one I was trying to convert already had a bunch of layout stuff going on and it just didn't mesh well.

Still setting it up and making some changes to the layout, but I can definitely see the possibilities.

[Harold Mansfield]

Well, I hit a snag.
My registration page doesn't do anything..after I submit it, it just goes back to the top of the page...no message that a new blog or account has been created, and no email conformation.

Also, new blogs that I create under Admin, are not accessible.
I am sure I didn't do something that I was supposed to.

I am pretty sure this is where I lost it:


1. Make sure a line like the following appears in your httpd.conf LoadModule rewrite_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_rewrite.so
2. In the <Directory> directive of your virtual host, look for this line "AllowOverride None" and change it to "AllowOverride FileInfo Options"
3. In the <VirtualHost?> section of the config file for your host there will be a line defining the hostname. You need to add the following if you want virtual hosts to work properly: "ServerAlias *.domain.tld". Replace domain.tld with whatever your one is, and remove the quotes.


Where are all of these things that I am supposed to configure?
Can you be of any assistance VG ?

[vangogh]

Do you have access to your httpd.conf file. Most hosts won't let you access that. They may have given you a php.ini file that will allow you to do some things.

I would be surprised though if you really have to modify either file. I can't imagine the average user needing to mess with httpd.conf files to get BuddyPress working. Is the quote you pulled from BP installation docs?

[Harold Mansfield]

Do you have access to your httpd.conf file. Most hosts won't let you access that.

No. and it was after looking for it for an hour that I realized that I never had it in the first place.


They may have given you a php.ini file that will allow you to do some things.

Don't see that either, but I have seen it before in other installations.



I would be surprised though if you really have to modify either file. I can't imagine the average user needing to mess with httpd.conf files to get BuddyPress working. Is the quote you pulled from BP installation docs?
It's from the Wordpress MU installation.
Now I have taken it a step further and messed up my htaccess.

I had 2 of them htaccess.dist and .htaccess and they had the exact same thing in them.
Me in my infinite wisdom decided that they were redundant and possibly why I was having a problem and deleted one without backing it up.
Now none of my pages, images or posts are accessible...I keep getting a
"was not found on this server" error.

I really don't know much about htaccess files. I almost always have the host make any adjustments that need to be made.

At this point, I have a support ticket in to restore my files to a previous time, which they usually do pretty quickly for me, but other than that..the only thing that I know works is to start from scratch...which with the customizations and edits (which should transfer easy enough) that I made to the theme, plus content and images, will take me about an hour and 1/2 that I would rather not spend starting over.

[vangogh]

I had a feeling you wouldn't see an httpd.conf file. It's used for a lot of settings on the server and is usually not a good idea for the host to let you access it since you could affect other sites on the server. The php.ini file will let you do some things that you otherwise wouldn't have access to. Some hosts provide it and others don't. You may be allowed to create one if it's not there, though you'd have to ask your host.

The .htaccess file might have been the one WordPress created for permalinks. If they had the exact same things in them just copy the one still there and move it to the place where you deleted it.

I've only installed WordPress MU locally, but I don't remember having to mess with server files like httpd.conf. For me things worked right away and I was able to set up new blogs. That install didn't have BuddyPress though.

I'm thinking this is an issue with your host not being set up for MU more than anything. See if you can get them to upgrade the httpd.conf file or at least find out what they say when you ask.

[Harold Mansfield]

Yep, you were right. All of those settings were server side and it had to be done by them...I never had access to them.

Just got a message that it was all done..it was the "wildcard" setting that needed to be set by them on the server so that all domains configurations would be recognized.

[Harold Mansfield]

Seems like my host has everything repaired and set up properly, but for some reason all of my image paths are just gone.
Not a big deal to replace them, but I thought it was odd...but I don't have time to investigate...it's easier to just replace them.
I need to get a working model live and functioning A.S.A.P.

I'll keep you posted...probably post it up for review and testing when I'm done.

[vangogh]

Glad it's working. I knew it didn't sound like something you should have been doing. Definitely a host thing. Sorry about the image paths, but like you said it's not big of a deal.

[Harold Mansfield]

Seems like my host has everything repaired and set up properly, but for some reason all of my image paths are just gone.
Not a big deal to replace them, but I thought it was odd...but I don't have time to investigate...it's easier to just replace them.


Turns out I had to investigate and the reason my images are not displaying probably has something to do with the fact that my Miscellaneous Settings are missing from my dashboard.

Even when I re-upload the php file, or the entire folder WP-Admin, still nothing.

When I access the page directly, it's empty except for a "save settings" button.

I re-downloaded a fresh install of WPMU and still, no Miscellaneous Settings tab.

I just raised my alert level from "Easy to Install" to "The headache I thought it was going to be".

[vangogh]

I'm surprised you're having so much trouble. I don't think the problem is either WordPress MU or BuddyPress though. I've installed both without any problem whatsoever. Sounds to me more like your host isn't all that great and have some things set up that aren't helping.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'm surprised you're having so much trouble. I don't think the problem is either WordPress MU or BuddyPress though. I've installed both without any problem whatsoever. Sounds to me more like your host isn't all that great and have some things set up that aren't helping.

It would probably help if I knew what to tell them.
I did some searching and it seems that WPMU doesn't have a "Miscellaneous" settings tab...is that true? Do you have one on your install ?

Also, are all of your functions working ? Have you created any test user accounts ?
Edited:
Never mind, I didn't have the settings correct

[vangogh]

I just looked and it doesn't have the Miscellaneous settings. I guess that would be why you can't find it.

The only place I've installed MU is locally so I'm the only user. I have set up 3 blogs under the main one so there are 4 blogs running in total, each with a different theme. It was an easy way for me to set up client sites I was working on without having to change settings or have to turn posts and pages on and off.

[Harold Mansfield]

I just looked and it doesn't have the Miscellaneous settings. I guess that would be why you can't find it.

The only place I've installed MU is locally so I'm the only user. I have set up 3 blogs under the main one so there are 4 blogs running in total, each with a different theme. It was an easy way for me to set up client sites I was working on without having to change settings or have to turn posts and pages on and off.

Yeah, that was a a lot of wasted time again...looking for a fix for something that wasn't broken.
Funny enough, I found the file edit to make the Miscellaneous tab appear in the menu, only to find out 5 minutes later that it is useless and is not supposed to show up.:rolleyes:

Also it looks like the image thing has something to do with the image rewrite rules...they must have either forgotten or changed something when they put in the wildcard settings for the domain....should be a quick fix now that I can tell them exactly where to look.

Part of my problem is I'm not just installing it and setting it up, I'm editing the theme, importing and configuring old posts, and trying to breeze through the learning curve all at once to get everything ready for use.

Probably could have saved myself a few hours time, if I had just taken 30 minutes to read a few instructions and tips about working with MU.

[vangogh]

Part of my problem is I'm not just installing it and setting it up, I'm editing the theme, importing and configuring old posts, and trying to breeze through the learning curve all at once to get everything ready for use.

Yeah that'll make it harder on you. It's how I first learned WordPress though. I wanted a blog and my first experience was modifying the default theme so it looked like the rest of my site. I did spend a few days reading through the codex before beginning though.

On the bright side all the mistakes you make now will give you that much more experience on the next site and since WordPress and MU are going to basically be the same thing in a couple months time you're going to know more than many people will.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'm kinda glad that I'm having to troubleshoot problems, but I got a since of false accomplishment when I installed the platform, and a new theme and everything showed up and seemed to function properly.

Behind the scenes, I am still having specific problems with user functions:

1. Registering test profiles don't show up as users, however, it won't let me re-register using the same email. And now I have gone through almost all of my emails addresses trouble shooting it.

2. Email notifications are not being sent. No welcome email. No new account notification.

3. New user blogs are not being created, only those that I create under my admin account.

If I can get to the bottom of those 3 things, I could be on my way.

[vangogh]

1. You should be able to clear out the email addresses directly in the database.

2. Sounds like either a setting you're missing or your system isn't sending out emails of any kind.

3. I think there's also a setting for this.

[Harold Mansfield]

Finally some success.
Like I said, I am not good with the htaccess thing, but I did find a solution to the images disappearing problem.

I found multiple threads about this, but almost all of them were closed without a solution. Very frustrating.

Apparently, my htaccess file was bare bones and didn't include the right stuff:

I had


# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress


I changed it to this:


RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

#uploaded files
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/$ index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.*wp-content/plugins.*
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^.*/wp-admin$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ $1/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule . - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-.*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>

..and all of my images are back where they are supposed to be.
With so few places with the right answer, maybe this will help someone in the future.

[vangogh]

At least that's one problem solved.

Thanks for posting the solution. I'm sure someone will find it helpful. Doubtful you'll be the only one with the same problem.

[Harold Mansfield]

Almost had another success,
I see that on multiple threads it is said the Buddypress doesn't send out activation emails...it actually overrides the natural function of WPMU (which I think is completely stupid, it should be the Admin's decision..not code a permanent solution).

So by creating and uploading bp-custom.php:


<?php
function snark_reenable_welcome_email() {
remove_filter( 'wpmu_welcome_user_notification', 'bp_core_disable_welcome_email' );
}
add_action('init', 'snark_reenable_welcome_email');
?>


Email notifications are now being sent to both new user emails (except Gmail), and to Admin....However, the activation link triggers an error message:


Fatal error: Call to undefined function bp_page_title() in /usr/www/virtual/eborg9/www.clusterfox.org/wp-content/themes/Detox/header.php on line 6


I really find it hard to believe that people go through this much on a normal installation...I mean how could the activation link error go unnoticed ?

Here's the kicker..with one new user activation, it worked fine, with another it triggered an error.

And it won't send to Gmail at all.

*It should be noted that I had to install
http://www.marcocimmino.net/cimy-wordpress-plugins/cimy-swift-smtp/
To even get the emails to send in the first place.

It say's it is compatible with Gmail, but even in the tests to Gmail addresses, it gave me a success message that the email was sent, but none ever showed up in my in box.

[Harold Mansfield]

Now I am totally stumped.

When I register with one email (private) address, I get errors following the activation link.

When I register another (private) email address, it goes through just fine.

When I register with a Gmail address, I don't get an activation email at all.

How do you track down that bug?

[vangogh]

Very strange. I really am surprised with all the problems you're having since it seems like basic stuff you're trying to do. BuddyPress is still relatively new, having just reached version 1.2 so I can understand some bugs, but basic things really should be working.

How much have you been customizing things? Is it possible changes you're making to fix one thing are causing problems in other areas?

That's a hard one with the email. I can understand the email not arriving in gmail if for some reason it came across as spam. Getting an error with email and not the other is hard to figure out. One possibility is your hosting account. Based on some of what you discovered with this thread and some problems you've had in other places I don't have a lot of trust in your hosting company. Email is one thing they could cause problems with depending on how they have things set up.

[Harold Mansfield]

A couple of things I found on the Buddypress forum that were know bugs for many people, so I don't feel so bad.

Everything seems to be functioning fine now, I actually posted it up in the review section.

Yes, of course I have been customizing things, but mainly the template, not any functions or plug ins.

It is very new, I noticed that with the selection of compatible templates. 95% of the sites that I have seen are all using the stock template.

There is not a whole lot of troubleshooting articles or forum posts online..amazingly enough, I can't log into the Buddypress forum and when I try to reset my password, it doesn't send me the email (Gmail). I thought that was funny since I was having the exact same problem with the script.

[vangogh]

Maybe Gmail and BuddyPress don't like each other. Cool that you've reached the point where you're asking for reviews. I saw you posted a thread, but haven't gotten to it yet.


Yes, of course I have been customizing things, but mainly the template, not any functions or plug ins

I guess I was in part thinking of some of the issues you had in regards to the hosting. I wasn't sure of all the things you had done to try and troubleshoot. Even working on the template could throw things off. For example


Call to undefined function bp_page_title()

could be a result of removing an included file in the header.

[Harold Mansfield]

Maybe Gmail and BuddyPress don't like each other. Cool that you've reached the point where you're asking for reviews. I saw you posted a thread, but haven't gotten to it yet.



I guess I was in part thinking of some of the issues you had in regards to the hosting. I wasn't sure of all the things you had done to try and troubleshoot. Even working on the template could throw things off. For example



could be a result of removing an included file in the header.
That's what I assumed as well, but I didn't make any changes to the header file and reinstalled it again just to make sure it wasn't corrupted.

I found the issue being discussed on the forums, apparently I'm not the only one that it has happened to.
Seems to be fine now.

[vangogh]

Glad it's working. What was the solution?

[Harold Mansfield]

Glad it's working. What was the solution?

The main thing is that this is so new, that even plug ins for Buddy Press that we made a few months ago are already incompatible with the newer version.

Second was, the designer of this theme, had some too much going on and all of it wasn't functional.

I think I'll follow BIll's advice about the new or dedicated IP and that may clear up my spam folder issue.

The bad activation link...I think it was an incompatible plug in "Buddypress Welcome Pack".