[_ck_]

The rush is that the project is “out there” and people are looking at it and coming to conclusions. Bad conclusions.

I’ve tried to attract/recruit some of the major wordpress plugin writers to bbpress and the response has not been good unfortunately.

What I find interesting is the belief around here that wordpress integration is not a major desire by most people evaluating it. How would we ever know the sheer number of people that have looked and been turned off? At least one person on wikipedia sees it this way:

The project was created by Matt Mullenweg to support users of WordPress. Existing bulletin-board software was overly sophisticated for those requirements, so bbPress was created with the same focus as WordPress: a functional and extensible core, with all other capabilities delivered through plugins.

The “overly sophisticated” really bothers me.

Because that would mean bbpress’s goal is to be under sophisticated. Obviously that’s not the official statement but my point is that’s how it’s being perceived.

Keeping advanced features out of the core is fine. I get that. But some of those features should somehow exist in plugin form by now – at least that’s what I was hoping for. So now I am trying to make that happen, which I can barely do on my own as I am not a professional programmer by any means.

In some good news, GamerZ is happy to have me try porting his WP Polls. The bad news is he is unlikely to stop using his SMF forum software anytime soon and try bbpress. Not that I blame him right now.

[_ck_]

Actually he can’t really “fix” the plugin, it’s an overall integration failure which necessarily adds more mysql queries (just like the plugin needed to allow spaces adds more overhead).

Basically the output template will HAVE to use a difference function call than the “use display name” which fixes it everywhere else before it’s written back to the database.

It’s the cost of integration and yet another example of why bbpress isn’t magically better than any other forum for integration with wordpress.

(or just use my workaround to cut out the extra queries

ps. “mdawaffle” wasn’t a “dig” – isn’t that his nickname?

[_ck_]

Yup this is another area where bbpress has to be fixed before it hits the mainstream (or before the mainstream will adopt it).

If you are using it with wordpress, for now you can route all the login/register links to wordpress which does a better job.

I discovered this by accident from the plugin that email favorites which I then had to hack directly to fix.

I’ll open a ticket in trac if there isn’t one already.

[oledole]

I have WP and BB integrated with BB in a subdirectory. Now I found a strange thing in Firebug’s “Net” section (where Firebug shows “requests”).

When I load anything WP-realted everything looks fine, but when I load something BB-related HTML-request is listed with (404) in Firebug, although the page loads just fine.

URL to the blog is http://www2.enserio.se/blogg/

and the forum is at

http://www2.enserio.se/blogg/forumet/

I’ve had a problem when trying to check the forum at http://www.websiteoptimization.com/, which says that the page (and any other BB-realted page) doesn’t exist and report a 404-error. Somehow I thing it’s related to the Firebug-thing.

I suspect it’s an ‘htaccess’ related problem, but I can’t figure out how to fix it. The htaccess in the WP root is:

# BEGIN WordPress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /blogg/

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . /blogg/index.php [L]

</IfModule>

# END WordPress

and dito in the bb root is:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /blogg/forumet/

RewriteRule ^forum/(.+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/forum.php?id=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^forum/(.+)/?$ /blogg/forumet/forum.php?id=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^topic/(.+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/topic.php?id=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^topic/(.+)/?$ /blogg/forumet/topic.php?id=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^tags/(.+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/tags.php?tag=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^tags/(.+)/?$ /blogg/forumet/tags.php?tag=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^tags/?$ /blogg/forumet/tags.php [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^profile/(.+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/profile.php?id=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^profile/(.+)/([a-z-]+)$ /blogg/forumet/profile.php?id=$1&tab=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^profile/(.+)/([a-z-]+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/profile.php?id=$1&tab=$2&page=$3 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^profile/(.+)/?$ /blogg/forumet/profile.php?id=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^view/([a-z-]+)/page/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/view.php?view=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^view/([a-z-]+)$ /blogg/forumet/view.php?view=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^rss/$ /blogg/forumet/rss.php [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^rss/forum/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/rss.php?forum=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^rss/topic/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/rss.php?topic=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^rss/tags/([a-z-]+)$ /blogg/forumet/rss.php?tag=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^rss/profile/([0-9]+)$ /blogg/forumet/rss.php?profile=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^mlist/ mlist.php? [L,QSA]

</IfModule>

I can’t use the “Options +MultiViews”, gives me an “Internal server error”.

Any input on this is most welcome!

[_ck_]

Er, okay. I don’t follow. Are you making one then?

Or are you just rubbishing my idea of porting one of hundreds of existing php polling programs (a dozen for wordpress alone) to save weeks of development and bug squashing?

bbPress needs some serious options fast if it’s going to hit critical mass and attract additional quality programmers. I just want to see a decent polling feature added as soon as reasonable possible.

[_ck_]

Ah I totally forgot I’ve got visitor tracking which adds some calls but doesn’t explain why it’s more than a dozen calls by design.

If anyone’s interested, I’ve ported the “query diagnostics” plugin from wordpress so you can see each mysql call used, hidden as a report at the end of each page (for administrators).

<?php



/*

Plugin Name: bb-benchmark

Plugin URI: http://CKon.WordPress.com

Version: 0.10

Description: Prints simple benchmarks and mysql diagnostics, hidden in page footers.

based on Jerome Lavigne's Query Diagnostics for WordPress http://vapourtrails.ca/wp-plugins

Author: _ck_

Author URI: http://CKon.WordPress.com

*/



/* INSTRUCTIONS:



1. add this line to your bbpress config.php file:    @define('SAVEQUERIES', true);

2. install & activate plugin

3. do a "view source" on any bbpress page to see hidden results at bottom



*/



function bb_benchmark_output() {

if (bb_current_user_can( 'administrate' ) )  :

if (SAVEQUERIES) :

global $bbdb;

echo "<!-- n === benchmark & query results === n ";



while($qposition < $bbdb->num_queries){

$qsubtime=$bbdb->queries[$qposition][1];

if ($qsubtime>$qmaxtime) {$qmaxtime=$qsubtime;$qmaxquery=$bbdb->queries[$qposition][0];}

$qtotal += $qsubtime;

$qposition++;

}



$timer_stop=bb_timer_stop(0);



echo @shell_exec("uptime")."n";

echo "query count: ".$bbdb->num_queries." nn";

echo "total query time: ".round($qtotal,4)." seconds nn";

echo "total page time: ".round($timer_stop,4)." seconds.nn";

echo "page render difference: ".(round($timer_stop-$qtotal,4))." seconds nn";

echo "slowest call was: ".$qmaxquery."n at ".round($qmaxtime,4)." seconds nn";



if (phpversion() >5.0 && function_exists(memory_get_peak_usage()) && function_exists(memory_get_usage())) {

echo "nn === memory usage === n";

echo "peak memory ".memory_get_peak_usage()." nn";

echo "total memory ".memory_get_usage()." nn";

}



// echo "nn === resource usage === n";

// print_r (getrusage());



echo "nn === mysql queries used === n";

print_r($bbdb->queries);



echo "-->";

endif;

endif;

}



add_action('bb_foot', 'bb_benchmark_output');



?>

[_ck_]

If it makes you feel any better, wordpress doesn’t deal with it well either.

I have to trick it into enforcing trailing slashes like this:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !..+$

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$

RewriteRule (.*) $1/ [R=301,L,QSA]

and that doesn’t even work half the time depending on what other htaccess trickery I’ve got going on

But I notice if I have slugs turned on in bbpress, it will remove the trailing slash always. If I have slugs turned off, it won’t tolerate a trailing slash at all and will 404

I did manage to get the topmost rss feed to tolerate slash or not using this obvious mod

RewriteRule ^rss(/|)$ /forums/rss.php [L,QSA]

One thing that is important to do in bbpress vs how it’s typically done in wordpress, is not re-use/re-load the bbpress core engine if there is a redirect (which doubles the mysql calls) but to try to do it through htaccess

[outchy]

i tried upgrading before and as you can imagine, it broke a lot my stuff so i had to go back down because i couldn’t figure out how to fix it all. and just so you know, i always upgrade my wordpress the day it comes out but this time i was a little out of my league with bbpress. i don’t waste people’s time, i’ve tried everything i know how.

[tisme]

> Probably better to say that not all functions have _hooks_ or _filters_, since pluggable refers to them being overwritable with another function (see bb-includes/pluggable.php).

oh, yes right you are, thanks for pointing that out!

so, evidently post_time() just doesn’t have a hook to callback our custom filter. I failed to modify it by the proper way.

fel, could you please show me how it should be modified to have an apply_filter hook?

PS

couldn’t get the subtle difference between ‘filters’ and ‘actions’:

> *Actions* Your plugin can respond to the event by executing a PHP function, which might do one or more of the following:

…

Modify what is displayed in the browser screen (admin or end-user)

> *Filters* are functions that WordPress passes data through, at certain points in execution, just before taking some action with the data (such as adding it to the database or sending it to the browser screen).

which filter or action for instance could be added to the topic_class*() if any?

[_ck_]

Find/tell me one some of the best WordPress or other php open source poll programs and I’ll do my best to port it over…

[Sam Bauers]

This plugin adds a Sphere link to topic pages which allows you to search the Sphere service for related content to your topic.

It does a similar job to the Sphere Related Content plugin for WordPress

It’s easiest to just to install it and have a look to find out what it does.

http://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/58

[_ck_]

“her” plugin is for admin… yes… and very dangerous to override to allow visitors to have that kind of override…

Do you want me to port “TextControl” to bbpress?

It has markdown among many other options.

http://dev.wp-plugins.org/wiki/TextControl

http://ckon.wordpress.com/2006/08/14/updated-version-of-text-control-that-works-with-wp-21/

[tisme]

hello fel,

some name suggestions:’bbMark’, ‘markMini’ etc and possible permutations

italic, bold, blockquote and link is basically what I need.

ck removed a lot of filters, I’ve tried remove them too — works better, but his plugin is for admin user level, isn’t it?

I just can’t dig it: how do I encode HTML back to Markdown at ‘edit_text’?

PS a bit of documentation on “bbPress text flow” (something like: http://www.michelf.com/img/blog/wordpress1.5-text-flow.png) wont hurt

[Trent Adams]

1) I would ‘t worry about the plugins to help out if you need it (small percentage) as they are intended to get it fixed which will eventually make it into the core. Those plugins would only require minor changes if something was changed in bbPress, but I doubt it would happen often.

2) I had great luck with the phpbb converter myself and have stated in one of the threads which one I used. I would just look around a bit before choosing one.

3) Since the upgrade process is so easy, there is no need to wait! As well, the changes scheduled for the next series of releases are small changes and no worth waiting for!

4) So1o just released a new version of the private forums plugin that is exceptional and recently addressed the problems with the RSS feed being private. It is found in the ‘extend’ tab of this forum in the plugin browser!

5) fel64 is absolutely right. mdawaffe is the head dev and he is working on wordpress code at the same time. They will always be compatible as they are working toward more shared function (at least not conflicting). Issues will be worked out as we go, but shouldn’t be a problem.

Thanks,

Trent

[rfleigh]

hi guys, please help..

i have a regular php website to which many people are already registered. is it possible to integrate the BBPress login to be the same ? or does integration only work between BBPredd and WordPress?

i would like people to only log in once to my site and have access to the registered people content, as well as to the forums without loging in again.

thank you

[Andrew]

I just set up a bbpress forum and use the WP user database. It works well though plugins are needed and some hackery of bb-config is required (see here.

I use the private forums plugin. There is another plugin that blocks all access to the site. You could always make ma minor mod to bbpress source to force login and not rely on a plugin.

I’ve seen some discussion on WP about BBpress. I believe they changed the way they handle tags in order to not step on bbpress.

[Ziyphr]

I’ve monitored bbPress for some time and plan to use WP for a big site and would need to convert a phpBB(2) forum over to bbPress. What’s the latest on:

1) WP integration – last I heard you had to fiddle with cookie settings and some usernames wouldn’t work on the forum login. I’d be wary of using plugins as this could cause problems upgrading in future.

2) phpBB(2) conversion – is there any script that will convert everything perfectly?

3) future plans – is there a new version in development or is everything on hold for now? (i.e. should I just go and install the current version or wait another month or two)

4) private forums – an essential feature for me is to have a staff board that is 100% secure. Again I didn’t really want to rely on a plugin for this and last time I think I read it wasn’t secure because of an RSS problem.

5) lastly – is bbPress compatibility high on the list when new versions of WordPress are released? (i.e. could a new WP break by forum?)

Cheers.

[ameriblog]

i just downloaded and installed bbpress. everything worked fine. i have the most recent release of wordpress installed in my main site directory and bbpress is installed in the /forums/ directory.

when i go to http://www.mysite.com/forums/ it displays the main page, but with no images/styles. when i try to view my css file in the browser (http://www.mysite.com/forums/bb-templates/kakumei/style.css) it displays my main wordpress page.

i have pretty permalinks running on both and would like to keep it that way.

[fel64]

This means their bbpress login will mysteriously fail.

No it won’t. No matter what cookies users have, they will not prevent them logging in.

schmitt, must say I really liked your site. Not at all interested in things financial but it was engaging nonetheless.

You could put these lines at the top of your bb-login.php:

header('Location: http://www.example.com/');

exit;

Obviously changing the URL to that of your wp-login.php. I don’t know how else you’d do that. This may have all sorts of crazy adverse effects because I haven’t tried it myself; maybe ck can say how he did it?

[_ck_]

I don’t think wordpress allows “@” does it?

You shouldn’t allow email addresses as usernames on a forum.

Very bad idea.

However that said, this same routine could be used to override that.

[Andrew]

Great plugin, perfect for what I needed. Only thing missing is an email to notify the new user the account has been created.

I noticed that creating a user account in WordPress does not notify the user via email, so perhaps the current behavior is correct. Thoughts?

[Andrew]

Yes, but users reading the above… make sure to replace the MD5 hash with the one from your site. Do not simply cut and paste.

[_ck_]

I would like to suggest this forum would seriously benefit from:

1. “Tips and Tricks”

2. “Integration with WordPress”

as two new sub-forums

[_ck_]

There is an obscure cookie control plugin for wordpress that I found somewhere around here I think:

http://www.2diabolos.com/blog/plugins-pour-wordpress/setcookieparams/

the bbpress config options you want are like this:

$bb->wp_table_prefix = 'wp_';  // WordPress table prefix.  Example: 'wp_';

$bb->wp_home = 'http://example.com/blog';  // WordPress - Options->General: Blog address (URL) // Example: 'http://example.com'

$bb->wp_siteurl = 'http://example.com';  // WordPress - Options->General: WordPress address (URL) // Example: 'http://example.com'



$bb->usercookie = 'wordpressuser_ab1b1c8b2de0ca2b381c25a6b6e812a1';

$bb->passcookie = 'wordpresspass_ab1b1c8b2de0ca2b381c25a6b6e812a1';

$bb->cookiedomain = 'example.com';

$bb->cookiepath = '/';

you also obviously want this plugin:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/2?replies=3

and less obviously this one is a must for WP integration:

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/usernames-with-spaces-do-not-work?replies=24#post-7904

unfortunately it’s not setup here as a formal plugin but it should be – see my dot fix at the end

[_ck_]

I guess part of my concern is how casually it’s either told or assumed that BB integrates with WP, and that BB is ready for primetime. There’s good reason why it’s set at a pre-1.0 version number.

Many people here are integrating micro-forums with a handful of members, never more than a few people on at the same time. If there’s a problem, it can wait as it’s not an active website.

But my experience with BB was that tried integrating BB with several hundred members on a WP site. I eventually had to take it offline a week later. Here’s why:

First it took a day or two to find the plugin to fix spaces with usernames. Eventually I found out spaces were not the only problem, dots were not covered so I had to patch that.

Then I found out that many people had their cookies set to “remember me” which means even when you fix the cookie path so it off the root, it’s useless because the old cookie will never delete. Had to deal with dozens of emails and complaints and give them all individual instructions. Then there’s the problem of hundreds of people making hundreds of posts without any mods.

Unlike WordPress, the bbpress moderation tools are non-existant. It’s a non-issue for a micro-forum because you’ve literally got a 1 to 10 mod to user ratio. But now multiply that by 700-800 very active members. You’d then need 70 to 80 mods since every message posted has to be read by hand, by going into the thread and dealing with each one!

The ideal ratio is maybe one mod to 100 users or higher would be better, but you can’t do that without the right tools. There’s no way to browse through all posts at once and moderate immediately or setup some kind of automation process.

There’s no working badwords filter, there’s no way to limit posts that are too short or too long, there’s no post merging tool, there’s no adjustable posting rate per user, there’s no way to keep in touch with moderators. All this has to be added in with plugins, many not fully debugged yet or working correctly with 0.8.2.1 Some of them were not improved until just recently after I made feature requests after trying to use them.

It was exhausting and depressing so I took bbpress offline. But I am trying to help improve bbpress, not just complain. I think it’s about to hit critical mass with the growing number of people using it and more powerful plugins available and it has a lot of potential.

If I had a commercial forum with ads and made money off it, I’d go buy vbulletin as it’s the king and has years of trial and error and getting it right. But most people who use bbpress won’t be doing it for commercial reasons.

So that’s why I’m curious when I read that someone walked away from another forum program and switched to bbpress…