[_ck_]

There is a host that has bbPress available as an instant install script? Interesting!

If you are sharing the users with WordPress you do NOT want a new database.

When you install bbPress you need to use the database information from WordPress.

[Sam Bauers]

OK, this is fixed in trunk now. Just a stupid error on my part in a new function.

I’ll see if it’s possible to re-release the 1.0-alpha-3 or maybe just bump up to 1.0-alpha-4.

@johnjamesjacoby

Thanks for your investigations. “Deep” integration is just there to allow you to use WP functions inside bbPress, you still need to setup cookie and user database integration separately.

There is no way (that I know of) to get bbPress functions inside WordPress. It may “just work” now because of recent changes, but I’m definitely drawing the line there in terms of what we support. bbPress Live should mature further to provide the display of all manner of bbPress data inside WordPress via XML-RPC.

The idea of bbPress running as a plugin is an interesting one, and I’ve thought about it before. It would be a hefty plugin though. I would be interested in seeing a plugin that kind of loaded bbPress like a library and allowed that sort of level of integration, but again, it would be basically loading all of bbPress inside WordPress. Generally, I think we have a stronger foundation as a stand-alone product rather than a plugin and if we can make integration easier by various means then there shouldn’t be a need for it.

The nonce keys don’t need to be shared thankfully – I almost screamed when I saw those added to WordPress.

[John James Jacoby]

Neither alpha3 nor the trunk versions of bbPress seem to create cookies for WordPress. Basically either way fails to generate the others’ cookies.

I might be missing the mark on this one, but is the point of deep integration to have 1 single log in, or to allow use of WP functions inside BBP?

I think the end result we’re mostly looking for, is a unified front from any direction. BBP functions in WP, and WP functions in BBP, with 1 login and registration. Which makes me think that BBP needs to be a WP plugin more than a stand along product to serve this purpose.

I also noticed that the bbPress install doesn’t ask for the nonce key or salt from WordPress. Possible this could be an issue also?

[Sam Bauers]

@Ipstenu

The problem you note will go away if you force logins to occur in bbPress. I am going to write a plguin for WordPress which fixes the problem you currently have.

@thenokiablog

Sounds reasonable…. backup first!

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

Interesting… With shallow integration, logging into bbPress logs me (as user and admin) into WordPress as a user but NOT as an admin. For about 20 minutes. Then I tested Deep Integration and now it fails all together.

[thenokiablog]

i currently have an installation of wordpress 2.6.5 integrated with bbpress 1.0a2. I want to update to wordpress 2.7 but I think it will break the integration.

To my understanding, 1.0a3 will integrate with wordpress 2.7?

Is this what I need to do?

Step 1. Update WP from 2.6.5 to 2.7

Step 2. Update BB from 1.0a2 to 1.0a3

[John James Jacoby]

Well, my first impression of beta 3 without including is that login integration doesn’t work at all.

Without the “deep” integration in the bb-config.php:

1. Logging into WordPress leaves me logged out of bbPress.
2. Logging into bbPress leaves me logged out of WordPress.
3. Logging out of bbPress leaves me logged into WordPress.
4. Logging out of WordPress leaves me logged into bbPress.

With the “deep” integration in the bb-config.php:

1. Logging into WordPress leaves me logged out of bbPress.
2. Logging into bbPress leaves me logged out of WordPress.
3. Logging out of bbPress leaves me logged into both bbPress AND WordPress.
4. Logging out of WordPress leaves me logged into bbPress.

So, login integration worked better in beta 2 unfortunately.

I haven’t tested the themes or functions yet however.

[zurdog]

I built this site using BB Press and WordPress… enjoy!

Z Drinks

[chrishajer]

This:

<li><a href="http://forums.beardownarizona.com/" title="Visit the forums"></a></li>

The bloginfo just grabs the url of the site in case you ever move to another domain name.

[beardownarizona]

Thanks!

Now what if I wanted to add the forums as a subdomain…like forums.example.com? How does that affect the code?

Would this work?

<li><a>http://forums.beardownarizona.com" title="Visit the forums"></a></li>

Thank you for your help!

[chrishajer]

How do you ensure? Well, you can look at your wp-config.php and see what the table prefix is there. If you didn’t change it, it’s wp_. bbPress uses bb_ by default. If you don’t change either of them, they will go properly into separate tables in the same database.

There is something simple going wrong with the connection details. It really is as simple as the username, database name, password and host. I think they call the host “advanced database settings” in the installation. If you click that, I think it unhides the table prefix setting and the host setting. I always have to change the host in my installations, so to me that’s not an advanced setting. WordPress recently changed the terminology of that (it used to say something like “99% chance you won’t need to change this”) to something like “get these details from your host.” Maybe you just need to enter the host setting and you are not seeing where to do that.

I’m guessing it’s the host setting you’re not entering, since it’s not visible on the installation screen. If it’s different that localhost in your wp-config.php, my guess is that’s the problem. You need to set that for bbPress.

[beardownarizona]

I’m gettin this same error message when putting my WordPress database name, database user, and database password into the intial setup screen…

chrishajer: when you say “use the connection details for the database you use for WordPress and ensure the table prefixes are different,” how do we ensure the table prefixes are different? Do we do that before we put the information into our database info into the bbPress installer screen?

I’m literally copy and pasting the database/password info from my wp-config.php and putting it into the bbPress install screen, but I’m still getting the error.

Any Ideas?

Thanks!

[chrishajer]

In that Autumn Almanac theme, you can add a link in menu.php. It can easily be before or after the link to Home, of after all the pages that are listed (so, end of the line.) Just add this to menu.php right after <?php wp_list_pages('depth=1&title_li='); ?>:

<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/forum/" title="Visit the forums"></a></li>

That will add an additional list item right after all the rest of the pages in your menu.

You could also do it by creating a page called Forum and then just redirect the content of that page to your forums. That way you could control the page order and have it appear in a place other than the beginning or end of the menu.

You didn’t mention what version of bbPress and WordPress you’re trying to integrate. It matters. Looks like you are using WordPress 2.6.3 – I don’t know how to properly integrate the logins with any version of bbPress. If you spend some time looking through these forums, you will see people who’ve had trouble with integration. Maybe someone else can help you with that.

[beardownarizona]

I currently have wordpress installed in my root directory, but would like to have bbPress installed into a /forum directory and linked from my main homepage.

I already have the link to a “forums page” set up at http://www.beardownarizona.com, however I’m not sure how to implement bbPress so when the link is clicked the user is taken to the forums. I don’t think I can install bbPress on a WordPress page…so I’m trying to figure out the easiest way to have the forums installed an a directory, and then linked from my WordPress menu.

Also, do bbPress users on my site still use the WordPress “register” link?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Meerblickzimmer]

I think it works just with WordPress 2.7 and not with 2.6.5.

[leoleoleo]

When I upgrade 1.0 alpha 3 from alpha 2. Integrate wordpress not work now. (I am using wordpress 2.6.5)

[_ck_]

There’s is still a problem with htmlentities, you either call your filter too soon or too late after bbPress does it’s autop, etc.

demo of bug:

WordPress & bbPress

(the and symbol is converted into an htmlentitiy, then your plugin sees the # and makes it a link) Broken all over bbpress.org

You could make sure the pattern doesn’t end with a semicolon or maybe set priority 9.

[Sam Bauers]

A first attempt at getting WordPress 2.7 and bbPress 1.0 to play nice again is now in trunk [1862].

I’m specifically talking about “deep” integration, i.e. when you include WordPress inside bbPress to gain access to WordPress’ functions.

This will need a lot of testing, so please post any issues you have on the relevant Trac ticket, #972 (which will stay open until some more testing has occurred).

I recommend using the following code at the top of your bbPress bb-config.php file to include WordPress inside bbPress:

if ( !defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {

include_once( '/Full/Path/To/wp-load.php' );

}

Note that this includes “wp-load.php” not “wp-config.php” or “wp-blog-header.php”. This avoids running WordPress’ template loader which presumably isn’t needed inside bbPress. Some implementations may want it though, so if you find you need it then give it a go and let us know how that goes.

Also note that all filters and actions set in WordPress whether default or added by plugins or themes are cleared out completely. That means that plugins and themes installed in WordPress cannot add filters or actions to bbPress at all. This may have some implications I’m not aware of yet.

Go nuts!

[John James Jacoby]

Now that WordPress 2.7 has revamped the admin panel, is bbPress going to follow suit with a matching one? I came along after it had been made to match 2.6, so I never got to see what it used to look like.

[razorcreed]

would this work with 2.7? and is there any install documentation of doing it this way?

[vuuch]

So this is a bummer… I have the database name, user name (same as database name) and my password for the database. NO LUCK with the install.

My database is working with wordpress today at http://www.vuuch.com/wordpress and I put the bbpress.org files at http://www.vuuch.com/forum. When i go to this location I am told “There doesn’t seem to be a bb-config.php file. This usually means that you want to install bbPress”. So I use the “let’s get started” link and complete the database name, user and password info. After pushing the save button I get a failure note “There was a problem connecting to the database you specified. Please check the settings, then try again.”.

I have tried a few times, I have reset the password to make sure I have it right. I called godaddy, but the are no help with wordpress. I am stuck! Please help!

[_ck_]

For those that haven’t been around awhile, code development on bbPress tends to happen in bursts. There will be little or nothing or just trivial bug fixes for a few months and then BAM, Michael and Sam will post a whole bunch more code.

Just because you don’t get feedback on a problem from a developer doesn’t mean they don’t think it’s important, it just means they can’t make it a priority right now for some reason or another. Everyone would love bbPress to have every feature and every feature work amazingly but there simply aren’t enough people or hours available to make it happen. Every feature one person insists is absolutely critical is quite trivial to another person.

Last but not least, be careful what you wish for. If bbPress had all the features like the more mature WordPress does, it would also share the same number of problems, backward incompatibilities and constant changes. If they did to bbPress what just happened in WordPress between versions 2.3 and 2.7, I would not be making plugins for it anymore (because they all would be broken). Since bbPress takes a slower path, it tends to get things more “right” the first time around.

I think 2009 holds big things for bbPress.

Someone new to bbPress a year from now might wonder what some early adopters were complaining about.

[johnhiler]

I was going to sit this thread out, until I saw some of the recent comments.

I understand that there is frustration over the WordPress integration issues (I share them as well). But I don’t think it’s fair or productive to lash out at the very people that make this community move forward (Sam and _ck_, among others).

The motivation and energy of key contributors is the most precious asset of an open source community, as they are what keeps the community forward.

The feedback and ideas of key users is also hugely important, as they tell the community where to go.

But when feedback attacks the motivation and energy of key contributors, I’ve learned not to just sit back. Because even if the feedback is 100% dead on, if the key contributors are hurt by the way it’s delivered… then as a community, we have been stopped dead in our tracks.

I think we all agree that full integration with a shared signin is a priority. If we unite behind that goal, maybe we can achieve it. I just think that the motivation and energy of key contributors is key to our getting there.

One last thought: Sam appears to work mostly on bbPress, whereas the integration work needs to be done on the WordPress side. So if we want to advocate for full integration, maybe we should organize as a community? If you look at the most popular “ideas” for WordPress, full integration isn’t on the list:

https://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/?show=popular

I am probably missing it, but I don’t even see full integration as a submitted idea here:

https://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/search.php?q=bbpress&forums=1

If we could agree as a community on the wording, I’m sure we could all vote it up. We only need 159 votes to get onto the list of Most Popular Ideas. Maybe that would help Sam’s ticket get some developers assigned to it.

I would rather focus our energies there, especially since I don’t believe that our discussions here are going to change the priorities of the WordPress development team (which is what we need to move forward).

Best,

John

[Sam Bauers]

Kevin, the cookie and login integration that works with BB0.9 – WP2.5 also works with BB1.0 – WP2.6 or 2.7. The only issues remaining arise when you login via WordPress instead of bbPress, the simple fix for this is to redirect WordPress logins to bbPress, but I will be building a plugin to make this (and some other things) easier.

The “deep” integration issues where people load WordPress inside bbPress are still outstanding, and as I said may never be resolved and might eventually be unsupported. The XML-RPC functionality being developed is intended as a launching pad for people who need bbPress data inside their WordPress installs, I also expect that there will be some functionality written to get data going in the other direction as well. We are using this already “internally” with the BuddyPress forums component which communicates with bbPress 1.0 to provide group forums and eventually other functionality to that software. There is also already a plugin to pull some basic data from bbPress to WordPress widgets.

I don’t think you should blame Matt for XML-RPC being added either, I think it was mdawaffe who wanted pingbacks and I think I was the person who liked the idea of a complete XML-RPC server enough to actually write it.

Features tend to forge ahead when they have a champion for them and as the only major contributor to the code at the moment that kind of leaves it up to me as to what gets done. There has only been a small amount of thorough and reported testing of deep integration done by users so far who are actually trying to make it happen (see #972). That doesn’t exactly excite me to work on a feature that neither I nor the company I work for particularly need, especially when I already have a low opinion of the technique in the first place. In the same breath though, I understand that others may want it and I’m not actively trying to stop it from happening either. If someone fixed, patched it and put it in Trac, I would commit it with a smiley emoticon and a “props” in capital letters.

So in short, it needs someone to take the lead on it, if you want it done sooner rather than later.

Talking about community discontent by referring to the contents of these forums seems a bit disingenuous. These are support forums which by their nature invite people to announce their problems, all we can tell by it is that some people have problems with the software, sometimes. I’m pretty sure we aren’t getting every user coming through here. It’s not a gauge, and perhaps the dreaded Facebook page will help us find the people who don’t post here a bit more easily, perhaps it is something that can be used to gauge what the community mood is like. If anything it might give me a little comfort to know that a few people out there like what we’re doing here. My development time isn’t a zero sum game, I didn’t steal 30 minutes from my “writing code” time to setup that page. I need to enjoy myself while I work, maybe doing that helped me get through that particular day. At the other end of the tubes is me, a person. Hi. Nice to meet you.

On that personal note it isn’t nice to be blasted for something as cursory as not initiating topics in the forums for two months. I’ve been contributing to bbPress for almost two years now. There have been times when I’ve taken close to the full burden of support here, even before I worked for Automattic. Recently we got two community moderators who are very competent. _ck_ and chrishajer have been outdoing themselves around here. I have taken it a little easier for the past month while I focused on some other tasks.

I’m really only catching up on some of the more recent goings on around here, including your very interesting threads about the overall direction of bbPress. I completely want those conversations to happen, you make good points there too and I like the general direction of what you are saying, even though you make incorrect assumptions about some details. I wish I had been there in real-time to discuss it, but I will try to respond where I can.

Finally, bbPress is important to Automattic at the moment primarily as a tool for it’s own uses. Thus there is little or no promotion of it at this stage. If we gain some traction in the real world one day it might be treated like WordPress, but for now it will basically be whatever the people who contribute to it want it to be, and as usual when resources are limited, those who can write good bug reports or contribute real code will get their needs met first.

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

You could probably do it with RSS. If you’re using wordpress, you can do this (I have it as a sidebar widget).

<?php require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/rss-functions.php');

$today = current_time('mysql', 1);

// insert the feed URL here

$rss = @fetch_rss('http://www.domain.com/forums/rss');

if ( isset($rss->items) && 0 != count($rss->items) ) {

// set the number of items from the feed to display (6)

$rss->items = array_slice($rss->items, 0, 5);

foreach ($rss->items as $item ) {

echo '<h1>';

echo wp_specialchars($item['title']);

echo '</h1>';

echo '<p>';

echo wp_specialchars($item['description']);

echo <a href="';

echo wp_filter_kses($item['link']);

echo '">(Read More)</a>';

echo '</p>';

}

}; ?>

The main (all posts) RSS feed is: http://www.domain.com/forums/rss

All subsequent forums (fori?) are: http://www.domain.com/forums/rss/<whatever&gt;

Like this subforum would be: https://bbpress.org/forums/rss/forum/plugins

This page would be: https://bbpress.org/forums/rss/topic/forum-exporter-plugin

If you don’t have wordpress, look into MagpieRSS