[bobbyh]

A lot of bbPress forums have taken advantage of easy user integration with WordPress. The next step to integrating a WordPress blog and bbPress Forum is to create a bbPress Theme to match your WordPress Theme. bbPress doesn’t ship with built-in support for a sidebar, although I found it trivial to add this with a small plugin. What I really missed was a lightweight way to access WordPress’ wp_list_bookmarks Template Tag function, which lets you display your WordPress Blogroll links.

To add this functionality, I wrote this bbPress List Bookmarks plugin. To install this plugin, download the zip and unzip it to your bbPress server under your /my-plugins folder. The zip should extract to a folder named “list_bookmarks”, so the location of these files should be /my-plugins/list_bookmarks. Then, in your bbPress theme, add a wp_list_bookmarks Template Tag with whatever parameters you want (just like you would when editing a WordPress Theme). You shouldn’t need to hack any of the plugin files to get this to work, although of course you’ll have to edit your bbPress Theme to take advantage of this plugin.

This plugin should work whether or not these WordPress tables are located in the same database as your bbPress tables, as long as your WordPress tables are located in the same database as your integrated user tables.

I’ve tested this plugin on my site, which currently uses bbPress v0.8.2.1 and WordPress v2.2.1. If you use WordPress 2.0 or earlier and you want to use this plugin, you should probably upgrade your WordPress first as wp_list_bookmarks is a new function introduced in WordPress v2.1. I don’t think it should matter what version of bbPress you use.

This plugin ships with a database class called bbwpdb.php that lets us access the WordPress database tables. The bbwpdb.php file is basically a clone of the bbPress /bb-includes/db.php file, edited to let us retrieve WordPress tables. The remaining files are simply three WordPress PHP pages needed (wp-admin/admin-db.php, wp-includes/bookmark-templates.php, and wp-includes/bookmark.php), with slight edits to make it use the bbwpdb database class, instead of the WordPress or bbPress database class. The last file (list_bookmarks.php) just glues everything together.

[M]

People that are attracted to bbPress will be attracted because of its out-of-the-box simplicity and its extensibility.

It’s great… if you want a plugin and you’ve messed around with WordPress for any length of time, you’ll feel right at home. I personally dislike polls… _ck_ obviously doesn’t, and he’s not alone. That’s the beauty of bbPress. These features aren’t crammed down your throat; rather they are completely optional.

Also, I don’t think that bbPress was built to win a popularity contest. It was built with certain things in mind and is continuing in that trend. I think that’s great.

One more thing… those people who were attracted to other forum software solutions (ie, SMF, IPB, vB), wanted something feature-bloated. All kinds of things pouring out of every corner. They wouldn’t be attracted to bbPress unless it became a miniature of what they were already using. And what’s the point in that, eh?

[M]

Stick with the ezSQL format… it’ll be much easier.

Something like this (using foreach instead of while):

$query = "SELECT * FROM $bbdb->menu

WHERE set = 'inactive' ORDER BY order ASC";

$r = $bbdb->get_results( $query );



foreach( $r as $rw ) {

// now mess with $rw

echo $rw->database_row . "<br>n";

}

Something that might be helpful would be to browse the source of the ezSQL class in /wp-includes/wp-db.php

The latest from Justin Vincent, the author

http://www.woyano.com/jv/ezsql

The version used in bbPress and WordPress

https://trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-includes/wp-db.php

It might help you… you’d be able to see where mysql_query is begin used, and how to use the ezSQL format best.

I think the reason you’re running into problems with mysql_fetch_array is because it’s already used.

Not sure on that one though… I would have to check.

Also, what might cause an error: $bbdb->query will not return anything at all. $bbdb->get_results needs to be used for multi-dimensional array data, $bbdb->get_row or $bbdb->get_col need to be used for single array data, and $bbdb->get_var needs to be used for non-array/string data. $bbdb->query is used for inserting data, the others are used for retrieving it.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty positive that’s how it goes.

ezSQL is lovely. It certainly takes the pain out of MySQL data manipulation.

So I guess that makes the answer to your question “Neither.” $bbdb->get_results should do the trick.

And sorry for the screed.

[_ck_]

The topic metadata is returned with every set of topics returned to bbpress.

In the front page (or any topic page) for example, in the loop it can be found as $topic->views

There is no need for an extra mysql query. It’s possible to make a function that’s called with $topic if you don’t want to do it as simple as above.

[kenzor]

So, if you now go through the template files for your bbPress installation, you will need to replace all instances of “<?php bb_get_header(); ?>” with the WordPress command “<?php get_header(); ?>“. The same thing goes for the footers, so you change all instances of “<?php bb_get_footer(); ?>” to “<?php get_footer(); ?>“.

I used a simpler method to achieve the same result. Rather than going through and changing every call to bb_get_header() and bb_get_footer() I simply created a custom header.php and footer.php file.

Then in the header I have only:

<?php get_header(); ?>

In the footer I have only:

<?php get_footer(); ?>

The benefit of this is you only need 2 custom files, you don’t need to search and replace all instances, and if you need to setup global vars for the more advanced WordPress integration techniques you only have to add them once into your custom header.php.

[_ck_]

I’ve never heard anyone on the various bbPress related channels talk about a need for poll features

Do you realise the irony in that if this thread had a poll, we could more easily evaluate how many people are interested in a poll feature. LOL. Also evaluate in other threads how much interest there is in wp+bb integration.

I simply want more people and therefore more talent in the fray that is bbpress. I’ve tried various clever google search patterns to try to determine the unique number of bbpress installs (that are publicly indexed) and I come up with around 200 installs. How many of these are active and have more than a few members is unknown of course. I’d like to see that number be 2000 by January and the only way for that to happen is to have certain common forum perks available. “Competitive frenzy” is one way to see it but inaccurate to my thoughts. I’d just call it feature motivation

[Sam Bauers]

I don’t think there’s any need to be so ernest about adoption rates of bbPress. I get the impression it would be supported by Automattic even if there was only one user.

Sure there is room for improvement, but I don’t think there is a need to emulate every feature on the forum software check list. I’ve never heard anyone on the various bbPress related channels talk about a need for poll features (for example), although I may be wrong. I think if you want to improve bbPress, then you would be better directing your energy at some of the existing bugs and well-known shortcomings (like search).

I’m not trying to stop you building a poll plugin by the way, and perhaps your suggestions regarding the quality of bbPress are well-founded. I just don’t think you are going to get much support from people around here by attempting to whip them into a competitive frenzy against other forum platforms.

[Sam Bauers]

There is a project with much broader scope to implement a full-blown plugin updater on WordPress which is part of the Google Summer of Code.

[jolaedana]

Great stuff. I think this is something it would be cool if WordPress should attempt- though it’d require one heck of an organizational system.

[fel64]

Certainly there’s no code that does that in bbSync, nor in bbPress I think. Bizarre. post_title? Have you maybe got a plugin that adds titles to posts?

If only errors included where in the PHP code it was

[_ck_]

er, omg, tracing the code I think the option has already been written into bbpress and just not documented?

$bb->load_options = true

put into config.php ?

can it be that easy? does it work or not ready for primetime?

[demonicume]

Fel64, much appreciate your patience.

i get errors now, even though it posts in the forum now.

‘bbPress database error: [Unknown column ‘post_title’ in ‘field list’]

UPDATE bb_posts SET post_title='(No Title)’ WHERE post_id=’4′ ‘

‘Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/host/public_html/domain/forums/bb-includes/db-mysqli.php:158) in /home/host/public_html/domain/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 331’

it does post though. we’re almost!

[_ck_]

Well there’s isn’t any forum development issue that is urgent in a firetruck sort of way (but that’s a cute expression).

Maybe I’m just being impatient, maybe it’s far too soon for bbpress to attract a decent base of plugin developers/users. I’d just like to see it sooner than later. 0.8.2.1 added some critical features, with just a few more it’s almost ready to hatch.

Let’s look at the finish line, one possible goal for bbpress. Take a look at a typical Simple Machines forum aka SMF (PHP+mysql, open source)

http://forums.lesterchan.net/ (that’s GamerZ)

look at the useful features on the page.

Now look at the lovely low query counts down below.

I’m a big vbulletin fan but that works better than vbulletin IMHO.

I wouldn’t call that forum “heavyweight” and I wouldn’t call SMF “bloated”. So what’s going to be bbpress’s niche then if it’s not going to do what SMF does?

(ps. poke through the menus on SMF 2.0 too http://www.simplemachines.org/community/ oh and then look at the insanely low query count at the bottom of a full page of posts)

[fel64]

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

One of these days you’re going to have to show us the crystal ball that tells you everything about the users and potential users of bb.

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?

I think that tidbit (or at least, in my case) is based on a hand-me-down from Trent who’s pretty close to the folk at automattic and they’d be the ones to know.

How would we ever know the sheer number of people that spontaneously combust when they use bb?! You make it sound like the entire internet trooped over and looked at bbPress yesterday, saw that there was no plugin for this or for that and decided that they would stick to phpBB.

I think that the implied opposite of ‘overly sophisticated’ (is that a polite ‘bloated’?) can equally be ‘lean and mean’ rather than ‘underly sophisticated’.

I think that bb just isn’t ready in a lot of ways for what you’re trying here. At 0.8.2.1 it doesn’t _need_ to have a full gallery of plugins yet just like it doesn’t yet have a full feature set. Sure more plugins are a good thing but it’s not urgent in the sort of firetruck way.

[fel64]

Yup. Add global $bb_cache; to bbpress’ config.php.

[_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.

[Sam Bauers]

I’ve updated the plugin to version 0.1.5 which adds support for plugins with sub-directories.

[sam_a]

I know the emails have to come from somewhere, but still… this was surprise.

Could there be a notice somewhere that the admin email is used to send every registration notification? Spambots are getting it too

I had expected that bbPress would use it only to send notifications to the admin.

[crowspeaker]

fel,

I’ve installed brand new version of WP and BBP and am running then locally. The only plugins I have activated are (in WP) BBSync and BBPress Integration. I also have WP integration running in BBP.

However, it never actually seems to post anything. WP posts the new blog post, but the topic is not created in the forum.

[Sam Bauers]

> bbPress needs some serious options fast if it’s going to hit critical mass and attract additional quality programmers.

What’s the rush?

[_ck_]

Ah I have another idea that would allow it to use the regular post editor and all it’s features/hooks.

bbpress won’t display any post normally that doesn’t have a status of 0. “1” is deleted. But something like 9 could be the wikipost for the topic. That way even older topics could get a wikipost. All we have to do is check for a post status of 9 with the topic id and if so, display it after the topic summary on top. Hook it to show an edit button that works for any subscriber (or maybe a level setting so only mods, etc can edit it) and of course a button within the topic summary to start a wikipost if there is no post with a status of “9”.

Too exhausted to start on this project this week but will look at it next. If anyone wants to have a go at it, please do.

[_ck_]

Hmm. Well I don’t think it’s an old theme but it might be another plugin hooking topic_last_poster(). I will have to dig.

Also, how many forums + topics are you showing on your front page?

I’ve got 8 forums and 35 topics with roughly 20 unique last poster usernames on the front page.

Not that it really matters, if you are only hitting 11 queries than it’s still quite efficient. What’s funny is it could be single digit queries except that bbpress tests that it exists by hitting the database with a useless query every time it starts.

[Andrew]

Thanks. Someone else contacted me with another fix.

add this

<div style=”clear:both;”></div>

just before the end of wrapper div.. before this

</div>

<div

id=”footer”>

<p>Nyquist Forums is proudly powered by <a

href=”http://bbpress.org”>bbPress.</p

>

</div>

There are more topics but they are private.