[Jared Atchison]

Assuming you are the admin of the site, if you manually create a new user do you get a notification email?

If you don’t, the default wp_mail() function likely isn’t working with your web host/server. This is semi common.

The easiest fix is to use an SMTP plugin like https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/configure-smtp/.

 

[Stephen Edgar]

The bbPress theme/s you linked to are for the old bbPress 1.x.

If you are using bbPress 2.x plugin then bbPress will try to use as much of your default WordPress theme as it can. If you want to customize bbPress 2.x then follow the links from here to get started https://bbpress.org/themes/

[dtommy79]

Hi,

I’ve installed bbpress, and I’m using the default twentytwelwe theme. I created a page for the forum index, selected the full-width page template, but the sidebar won’t go away. How can I remove the sidebar?

Thanks

[Robin W]

Converting a Snitz access database forum to BBpress

This documents how I transferred from a website using Snitz and an access database to a new site with BBress using Mysql.

This briefing assumes knowledge of
• FTP programmes and uploading/downloading files
• A way to access your wordpress database eg myphpadmin
• A way to see your access database

Introduction

BBpress has a conversion tool that lets you import data from several other forum packages. However two things are needed for this to work.
1. The data in a MySQL database format
2. A convertor programme that understands the structure of the source (in this case Snitz) forum.

If you already have a MySQL verison of Snitz (Snitz supports Access, MS SQL, and MySQL), then you’ll still need to fix the date, and run a specific Snitz converter, but don’t need the upload to MySql in step 2.

Plan

The plan therefore is to
1. Fix date format (it is different between the two forums)
2. Convert the data to sql format
3. Run a snitz converter
4. Run repair to fix the links

Execution

I can only describe how I achieved this, I suspect there are lots of ways, but this one worked.

I had an access database on site x with hosting company a, and needed to transfer to a Mysql database on site y with hosting company b (basically I was taking over running someone else’s website management)

Step 1 fixing the data format

Snitz stores dates in the format yyyymmddhhmmss
BBpress stores dates in the format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss

You can fix this
• before you transfer the data to sql,
• after you have transferred it
• or during conversion,

this will depend on where you knowledge lies. But you will need to fix it. If you don’t fix this, all the entries you import will show as posted 2014 years ago (basically year 0)

I converted before transferring to sql, as I an old and used to working with flat files! If you are more capable in sql, you could no doubt write a small programme to change the data format after you’ve uploaded to sql, and if more capable in php you could do it within the converter programme (see later)

The Snitz database has two tables with dates in that need changing. These are :

FORUM_TOPICS
FORUM_REPLY

This is how they showed in my Snitz database, but the prefix may be different with yours.

In FORUM_TOPICS you need to change
T_DATE
T_LAST_POST

In FORUM_REPLY you need to change
T_REPLY

I downloaded the access database from the old site to my PC. I then exported the two tables to an excel spreadsheet (in Access go to external data, and look for export to Excel. You’ll need to have created a blank spreadsheet with the name you want to use first) and ran the formula

=CONCATENATE(MID(N2,1,4),"-",MID(N2,5,2),"-",MID(N2,7,2)," “,MID(N2,9,2),":",MID(N2,11,2),":",MID(N2,13,2))

Where column N contained the old date.

I then prefixed the original heading with OLD (eg heading T_DATE became OLDT_DATE) and headed the new column with the heading of the old one (eg T_DATE). I did this to a) preserve the original columns just in case, and b) to use for the clean slug in the conversion (see later).

I then deleted the old table in access, and imported the two excel ones back into Access (as before external data, then import).

I then had the same access database, but with the correct date formulas and a couple of extra columns with the old date format in them.

Step 2 – Convert access database to MySql database

The first thing you’ll need is a MySql database to upload to.

You can use the one you presumably already have with WordPress/BBpress. However you’ll just need to check that none of the names co-incide. Since my Snitz database used capitals (I don’t know if they all Snitz databases do), and BBpress uses lower case, I suspect that there is no risk in doing this, but one for you to consider.

I took the safety of creating a fresh blank database (my hosting package allows the creation of databases and manages them through phpMyadmin).
There are numerous programmes on the web that do access to Mysql conversion, but for no particular reason I chose Bullzip http://www.bullzip.com/.

However this needs a 32bit ODBC driver to work, so unless you already have Mysql on your local PC, you’ll need to download the driver from http://www.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/ – choose the 32 bit one.

Once installed it is a doddle to do the conversion.
You’ll need :
The access database on your pc
The host address of your MySql database
The database name
The username
The password.

Run the wizard, and it’ll upload in minutes.

Finally if you’re going to do the date conversion discussed in Step 1 at this stage, now’s the time to do it.

Step 3 – Importing/converting the data

This is easy once you’ve got your head around it, but initially it can be very frustrating.

In essence you need to translate what one forum calls something to what the other needs.

For Snitz, I used the following translation

Forum section FORUM_FORUM forum
Forum id	FORUM_ID	_bbp_forum_id
Forum parent id	CAT_ID	_bbp_parent_id
Forum title	F_SUBJECT	post_title
Forum Slug  (see note 1)	FORUM_ID	post_name
Forum description	F_DESCRIPTION	post_content
Forum Display Order	F_ORDER	Menu_order
Forum Date Update		Post_date
		
Topic section	FORUM_TOPICS	topic
Topic id	TOPIC_ID	_bbp_topic_id
Forum id 	FORUM_ID	_bbp_forum_id
Topic author	T_AUTHOR	post_author
Topic title	T_SUBJECT	post_title
Topic Slug (see note 1)	T_DATE	post_name
Forum id (if no parent 0) 	FORUM_ID	post_parent
Topic date update 	T_DATE	post_date
	T_DATE	post_date_gmt
	T_LAST_POST_DATE	post_modified
	T_LAST_POST_DATE	post_modified_gmt
		
Tags section		
Ignored		
		
		
Post section	FORUM_REPLY	reply
Post id	REPLY_ID	_bbp_post_id
Forum id	FORUM_ID	_bbp_forum_id
Topic  id	TOPIC_ID	_bbp_topic_id
Author ip	R_IP	_bbp_author_ip
Post author	R_AUTHOR	post_author
Topic slug	R_DATE	post_name
Post Content	R_MESSAGE	post_content
Topic id	TOPIC_ID	post_parent
Topic date	R_DATE	post_date
		
User Section	FORUM_MEMBERS	user
Store old user id	MEMBER_ID	_bbp_user_id
	M_NAME	user_login
	M_PASSWORD	_bbp_password
	M_EMAIL	user_email
	M_HOMEPAGE	user_url
	M_AIM	aim
	M_YAHOO	yim
		

[NOTE if you copy this and post in a word doc, you should be able to get a nice tabbed table]
Note 1

I used OLDR_DATE & OLDT_DATE from the step 1 as my clean slugs. A slug is what BBpress uses for a URL to reference a post. It needs to be clean – ie not have formatting, odd characters like spaces etc. in it. I did debate using the topic ID, but was unsure if this was unique for BBpress – it may well be fine. So I used the references above as I was pretty sure that with our forum being not that busy, that no two people would have posted in the same second. If you choose to use some other field, such as topic ID, you’ll need to change the field in the converter document – see below.

This is then used against the example converter that BBpress supplies.

Whilst initially looking daunting, this is fairly easy to change to get it to work.

Step 3.1 Creating a Snitz.php

Firstly go to your site. Using FTP go to web/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/admin/converters and locate example.php. FTP this to your PC and using an editor (notepad ++ is good – download it from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/) you need to change the default “froms” to those above

But first save it locally as “snitz.php”, and change the first couple of lines to read

/**
 * Implementation of snitz converter.
 */
class snitz extends BBP_Converter_Base

If you don’t do this, the converter won’t recognise it.

Then you need to work through each of the lines of code changing the “default” source database tables and names to the correct ones.

So looking at you new snitz.php, you’ll see for instance the first conversion is :

// Forum id. Stored in postmeta.
$this->field_map[] = array(
'from_tablename' => 'forum', 'from_fieldname' => 'forumid',
'to_type' => 'forum', 'to_fieldname' => '_bbp_forum_id'

So to get this to work for Snitz you need to change the source table from ‘forum’ to “FORUM_FORUM” and the from field needs changing from ‘forumd’ to’ _bbp_forum_id’

Making the lines now read :

// Forum id. Stored in postmeta.
$this->field_map[] = array(
'from_tablename' => 'FORUM_FORUM', 'from_fieldname' => 'FORUM_ID',
'to_type' => 'forum', 'to_fieldname' => '_bbp_forum_id'

Using the translation table above you work through each of the lines, doing the substitution.

I commented out the tags section, as I couldn’t see that Snitz had tags. I also commented out the “
Store old user salt” and “User password verify class” sections as passwords won’t come across – see later on this.

CRITICALLY I also added the following as the example doesn’t had a bit that brings the actual topic content across !

// Topic content.
		// Note: We join the posts table because topics do not have content.
		$this->field_map[] = array(
			'from_tablename'  => 'FORUM_TOPICS',
			'from_fieldname'  => 'T_MESSAGE',
			'join_tablename'  => 'thread',
			'join_type'       => 'INNER',
			'join_expression' => 'USING (threadid) WHERE post.parentid = 0',
			'to_type'         => 'topic',
			'to_fieldname'    => 'post_content',
			'callback_method' => 'callback_html'

Once all that is done, save the file locally.

Then using FTP upload it to the same directory that example came from
Viz : web/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/admin/converters
Now you’re ready to run the conversion!

You’ll need the following info
Database server (localhost if your using you local Mysql database)
Database name
Database User
Database password

Then in Dashboard, go to tools>forums>import forums

Select “snitz” from the converter list, and fill in the database info from above.

Click to select users, presuming that you want to bring these across.

Then click start, and sit back and watch. If you’ve got everything right, you’ll see a steady stream of lines such as “converting topics 1-100”

If Fails :

If it falls over, then you’ll need to work out which part of the snitz converter it doesn’t like (it’ll give you a line number). Usually you’ve got punctuations wrong, or called something by a wrong name. Remember snitz (in my case anyway) uses capitals, and bbpress needs lowercase, so ensure that’s all ok.

If nothing comes through (it usually says “starting conversion…conversion complete”), then you have got the connection wrong, as it’s not finding the database and tables.

If Success :

Then you’ll need to repair the links (Dashboard>tools>forums>repair forums). Otherwise in my case the forum listings came through, but with no topics listed against them.

Do as the tool suggests – I ran several at the same time, and wrote most of this document whilst waiting !

Finally – users

If you successfully imported your users, they’ll have accounts, but their passwords won’t work – Bbpress can’t bring these across.

The easiest way is to tell them to click “lost password” and enter their email address and then they can reset their own.

And that’s how it’s done !

[palmdoc]

Hmm strange. One minute there, another minute gone. Now I can’t see the forum listing again. I disabled all plugins but bbPress and Buddypress, used the default BP theme and I see only the group listing and not forum listing.
I have put the site in Maintenance mode

[Stephen Edgar]

I did have a “forums” in trash, I deleted it but it’s still linking to /forum-2. Any idea how to “refresh it”?

Try changing your permalinks, click save, change them back and save again and that should flush them.

Ah I get the – being added, I was more concerned with the forums/forum/ part of the link, instead of just /forums/.

That is the default bbPress structure, you can turn off the ‘forums prefix’ in settings and you would end up with /forum/general-discussion/

[Stephen Edgar]

Apologies… I should have clarified that in my last post…

bbPress .po & .mo https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/bbpress/dev/nb/default
WordPress .po & .mo https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev/nb/default

I am also using WordPress 3.6 Beta and bbPress 2.3 RC1

[Grubbi]

Ok, completely new to WP. Wanted a website with a forum…so thought this was my best bet.

Have installed bbPress. Have created forums. My forums are shown on my link but not http://mywebsite.co.uk/forums, instead it’s http://mywebsite.co.uk/post_type=forum

I did some digging around…apparently I’m to change my permalinks…but when I change them my forum disappears and I get an error –

Not Found

The requested URL /forums/forum/general-discussion/ was not found on this server.

Not sure why it’s got forums/forum??

Anyway…I’ve been trying in vain to add a forum “tab” on my home page, so that people can click the forum tab to take them to the forum home page.

I tried adding a Menu…but it says that the theme only supports one menu. (I have Home) So I did a custom link, dragged it over to the home menu…but nothing changes on my home page.

I’ve seen another saying to create a page and use a bbPress template in the drop down to link the page to the forum…except I don’t have any bbPress templates in the drop down, only “default template”, £ront page template” and “full width page template, no side bar”.

All I’m trying to do is add a forum tab to my home page…so it reads “Home…Forum” etc… Is this not doable?

[Stephen Edgar]

https://codex.bbpress.org/import-forums/vBulletin/

What version of vBulletin are you converting from?
What part is it stuck on or is it just not starting?

That is the key is to ensure you have the correct values for each of these:

Select Platform – vBulletin
Database Server IP or hostname
Database Port Use default 3306 if unsure
Database Name Name of the database with your old forum data
Database User User for your database connection
Database Password Password to access the database
Table Prefix

Have a look in your vBulletin config file which should be in your vb install /includes/config.php

[Daniel.Haugen]

Hi, I’ve searched around the web for some hours now and hopefully I’ll get the correct answer from you.

I need to translate the plugin bbPress into Norwegian, I’ve fetched the translation from http://translate.wordpress.org/projects/bbpress/dev/nb/default and made sure every string is there with the .po editing software Poedit. I’ve downloaded both .po and .mo file for the Norwegian translation.

Norwegian is activated generally as WordPress language already.

So the problem is the localization and naming of the files, I’ve tried different directories and names:
wp-content/languages/bbpress-nb_NO.po and .mo
wp-content/languages/bbpress-nb.po and .mo
wp-content/languages/bbPress/bbpress-nb_NO.po and .mo
wp-content/languages/bbPress/bbpress-nb.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-nb_NO.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-nb.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-langauge-nb_NO.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-langauge-nb.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-plugin-nb.po and .mo
wp-content/plugins/bbPress/languages/bbpress-plugin-nb_NO.po and .mo

None of them seems to work, what is the correct localization and naming?

[Stephen Edgar]

In the next release of bbPress version 2.3 users can link to images by default but to actually upload images you will need to install a plugin to support this. I know of one plugin that does this but there maybe more… https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

[Unsal Korkmaz]

I’ve been playing around with the theme lately. I can’t seem to figure out how to make the promotion bar and showcase text show up. What are the required conditions for these items to be displayed?

You just mark posts or pages with clicking stars on edit panels:

If you are using full content layout, promotionbar should be set for Before Content  or In Site Footer. Its set in In top of Sidebar as default.

Also the posts loop could still use some work imo, especially on wide sites:

View post on imgur.com

There’s way too much empty space below that title. I’m gonna suggest some mockups.

This is why i love Responsive design: http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/scaffolding.html#responsive
You can change loop with

/* Large desktop */
@media (min-width: 1200px) { ... }

If you ask me, its not bad looking tbh. Its clean but if you can explain me how it can be better for large desktops with full content (long) layout, i can help you to accomplish that design.

Update: Maybe this is what you are looking for: Want responsive but not wide not for large screens?

[wpmhweb]

Thanks for the answers.

@netweb, thank for this tip, I’ll the plugin a try.

[Stephen Edgar]

Is this WordPress MultiSite setup or two separate WordPress installs for each of your domains?

Either way neither is a known issue and should work as you expect it would.

Try switching the problem site to the Twenty Theme and disable any other plugins to see if there is a conflict some, re-enable each plugin one by one and test your site again to see if you can find the conflicting plugin.

[Stephen Edgar]

This will be enabled by default in the upcoming bbPress 2.3

You can test out the extremely stable bbPress 2.3 RC1 via this download link to test yourself 🙂

[Stephen Edgar]

Try running the ‘Repair Tool’ located at /wp-admin/tools.php?page=bbp-repair ‘Remap existing users to default forum roles’

[Stephen Edgar]

https://codex.bbpress.org/theme-compatibility/

Also checkout the bbPress Debug Bar by @mzaweb https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/debug-bar-bbpress/

[afjsystem]

Eureka…!!! sorry, i don’t mean to spam this thread. but finally i made it fixed.

hope this help for others
these is my installation : WP 3.5.1 (multisite subdir)+ BP 1.7 rc1 + Bbp 2.3 rc1
by default it should work to any themes..

my trouble previously : (look above)

Managed fullwidth : (thanks to @jaredatch)
– identify your theme’s file with fullwidth.php
– rename that file to bbpress.php
– you’ll get no sidebar, meaning your forum is fullwidth

Removing dot list style : (thanks to @jaredatch again)
– put the code below into your main theme css. ussually called style.css

#bbpress-forums li {
margin: 0;
list-style: none;
background: none;
padding: 0;
}

– you SHOULD put under #main area and not in #sidebar or other IDs.

that’s all.
cheers

[allg33k]

I tried using a handful of different plugins to change the default avatar. However whenever someone changes thier avatar the “mystery man” icon is still showing in the bbPress profile. What plugin are people using to do custom avatars with bbPress? Is there one that will allow people to choose from a couple different default avatars?

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Copy bbpress/templates/default/bbpress/loop-single-reply.php into a bbpress folder in your theme, and in that copy remove from:

` if ( bbp_is_user_keymaster() ) : `

and
` endif; `

[Spudnic]

Thank you for your speedy reply.

This is working great for adding additional information.

But how can i edit what is already displayed in that field by default? IE; totally remove the author role and even author name so i can display custom links there.

you may have already touched on this in my other thread, i will need to re-read it more carefully.

[tibmix]

I’ve restricted access to /wp-admin using .htaccess file within the /wp-admin directory.
I have a forum with BuddyPress + bbPress installed.
All forum users receive the default subscriber/participant roles upon registration.
Visitors not logged on are free to roam the forum (no posting though).

But logged-in users are asked for the username/password that is set for site admin (for /wp-admin, specifically) immediately after accessing a forum or a topic.

How can I stop WP asking regular forum users for username/password set for /wp-admin?

I can provide url to site, a test user credentials and the content of .htaccess file.
Thank you.
T.

[rbptoy]

I have two recent installations of BP. The first one is http://www.mancaveland.com and it is my main domain account with hostmonster. The second is http://www.hollisterwatch.com and it is an addon to the account. The first one has all of the options like keymaster, member etc. The second is missing these options all together. Is this a known issue?

Thanks,

Brian

[Fee]

I’ve the same problem. Solved it by replacing the_title() with bbp_forum_title() on my theme’s page template – but that’s not a real solution, because the problem is in all tested themes (bp-default, twentytwelve) and needs some conditions to use it only with bbpress forums.

[eddiemoto]

On an interesting side note, I added the short code for the index and it seems to work. Is this the proper way or did it just work because it was a shortcode.

(Worked for the default theme, not Canvas. Canvas just displays some non-formatted HTML)