[davidbaldwin]

I LOVE bbpress…..

I LOVE wordpress…..

but…

I am really disappointed that bbpress integration with wordpress was broken at wordpress version 2.6 and has yet to be put back into bbpress.

In fact, bbpress intigration with wordpress wont be back until bbpress version 1.0 which is not due for some time.

http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/wordpress-and-bbpress-integration-101

on one of my websites:

http://lifelightcam.com/bbpress/

i currently run the 1.0-alpha, because i need wordpress 2.7.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am extremely disappointed that wordpress and bbpress are from the same company (Automattic), but they are not joined at the hip like I thought, they are more like completely independent and might as well not be made from the same company.

bbpress is an excellent product on its own, but the integration with wordpress is simply embarrassing.

So, this what I think should be done:

Create 2 versions of bbpress.

1) a standalone version already in existance

2) a wordpress plugin (installed from within wordpress) that has the same functionality as bbpress. The bbpress admin would reside within wordpress itself. This would make bbpress instantly integrated with wordpress.

Having 2 versions would increase the number of users of bbpress and make it a lot easier and simpler for non-technical users to integrate bbpress with wordpress.

Please consider this. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

peace

[johnhiler]

Hello David!

A fully integrated version of bbPress 1.0 is being tested here:

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/bbpress-10-alpha-4-released

If you can help out with the testing, that would be great!

John

[John James Jacoby]

@David:

I’ve thought about this, and tossed it around in my mind for the past few weeks. I think that for us right now, it would make sense to do things this way, since we’re only really familiar with WordPress, and then bbPress. There are a few other products that Automattic has, such as WordPress MU, BuddyPress, and BackPress, that also will need to have a way to integrate around each other and any random installation combination of them.

With that being said, from a bbPress users perspective, it might almost make more sense to have WordPress MU be a plug-in for bbPress, giving each individual user their own WordPress type blog. This would use bbPress as the core installation, and include another application inside itself.

You can see that with so many products and possibilities, the fact that Sam has enlightened us with a working bbPress/WordPress dedicated integration solution using bbp1.0alpha4 is pretty awesome.

I’m going to do my best to make a plug-in like you’ve mentioned, to add a bbPress menu in the WordPress admin panel, and allow editing of the bbPress settings. I think that again, right now, a majority of the bbPress audience is going to lean towards that as a next logical step. Eventually however, BuddyPress and BackPress will probably be the future for all of us.

Your points are valid, and I think many of us here feel the same, just rest assured that the devs are listening and busting their butts to make things work together the best way they can.

[Sam Bauers]

I’d rather not fork bbPress to create a plugin version but I would be interested in seeing a plugin created for WordPress that basically loaded bbPress into WordPress for you. johnjames is right about having to keep our integration options open beyond a simple plugin.

Also, perhaps you missed the announcements about full integration returning in the recent alpha versions?

[lolos]

davidbaldwin,

How did you change the font size and color of the bbpress in your wordpress theme? are you using two separate css style sheets or only one?

Can you give me some instructions on how did you make bbpress work within wordpress theme? i.e. when you click on forum it opens bbpress forum in the same page under word press header??

Please some one help me.. I spent over 4 days trying to understand how do just that!!

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

It may not be integrated. Duplicating a theme between bbPress and WordPress is pretty simple, since it uses similar templating styles.

[lolos]

but then wont they be two separate identical themes that is not connected in anyway? I want to be able to use my wordpress theme as the parent theme, in the same time I can access the bbpress forum within wordpress parent frame.

If I duplicate the theme, how will I make wordpress links work in bbpress lookalike theme?

[davidbaldwin]

lolos,

first of all, if you are doing this with WordPress 2.6 or newer, you have to run 1.0-alpha. If you are running an older version of wordpress you can use the stable version. I attempted to roll back to an older version of wordpress, but i was unsuccessful, so this method is for 1.0-alpha users.

I found the intigration information at:

https://bbpress.org/documentation/integration-with-wordpress/

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/first-pass-at-a-fix-for-deep-integration-in-trunk#post-21572

you need to add the following to the bb-config.php file, after <?php

if ( !defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {

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

}



require_once('/Full/Path/To/wp-blog-header.php');

the full paths have to be absolute paths on the servers, not the domain paths.

this will load wordpress when bbpress is loaded.

and then you need to add this line to the very top of every page that has this line: <?php bb_get_header(); ?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

please note that the line above has to be line #1 in every page that already calls the bb header, if it does not call the bb header, do not add this, the final result should look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php bb_get_header(); ?>

this will load the wordpress header when the bbpress header is called. you can edit the bbpress header to remove all the unnecessary code. (like the title, etc.)

and then you need to add this line to the very bottom of every page that has this line: <?php bb_get_footer(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

please note that the line above has to be the last line in every page that already calls the bb footer, if it does not call the bb footer, do not add this, the final result should look like this:

<?php bb_get_footer(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

this will load the wordpress footer when the bbpress footer is called. you can edit the bbpress footer to remove all the unnecessary code. (like the title, etc.)

I hope this helps. if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

david

[Sam Bauers]

OK, so davidbaldwin opens a can of worms with his advice here.

I don’t recommend doing it this way, my advice is to create two separate themes for WordPress and bbPress that look alike and if you enable “deep” integration, then carefully pick the functions you want to use from WordPress and insert them into the bbPress template.

Throwing in the whole WordPress header is potentially problematic. It’s possible to do it cleanly with a lot of work, but most people won’t have the knowledge or the time to do that.

[lolos]

First of all, thank you so much, especially David and Sam. I really appreciate your help and input.

David, I followed your steps and I think your explanation is very straight forward and detailed. However, it gives me this error:

“Warning: main(/wp-load.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /…/…/…/…/…/www/root folder/forum/bb-config.php on line 4.

Warning: main(/wp-blog-header.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /…/…/…/…/…/www/root folder/forum/bb-config.php on line 7.”

It gave me the error above no matter how I write down the “full path:”

if ( !defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {

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

}



require_once('/Full/Path/To/wp-blog-header.php');

I translated the /Full/Path/To/wp-load.php –> /wp-load.php and /www/root folder/wp-load.php

[lolos]

Sam,

When I tried the “deep integration,” I kept getting several errors that I would rather keep them apart for now until the operation of integrating them together is more seamless and free of bugs.

As you can tell, I am a total newbie and there are ton of information to grasp! Can you point me to the right direction on how to make bbPress theme look like wordpress theme?

Here is the one I am using:

http://www.der-prinz.com/2008/01/25/wordpress-theme-im-magazin-stil-branfordmagazine-wordpress-magazine-style-theme-branfordmagazine/

Thanks again!

[John James Jacoby]

@lolos:

Firstly, while there’s two ways to skin a cat, david’s method kills the kitty in the process. My advice is not to do it that way. If you need to get the absolute path of a directory I made a quick file to do it…

Put this code in a php file, I named mine “abs.php”

<?php

$p = getcwd();

echo $p;

?>

Then upload that file to the directory you want to find the path to, and visit it in a web browser. It will echo the absolute path for you. Copy the output. Delete the file. Done!

Duplicating the themes is really the best way to do this, and I promise that once you’ve included WordPress into bbPress properly, it’s a really straightforward and rewarding process.

Firstly, download Notepad++. It’s free, and it rules.

Firstly.5, make copies of your WordPress header.php/footer.php files, and save them someplace safe. We will be modifying these files and don’t want to ruin the actual working WordPress ones.

Secondly, open the header.php/footer.php files for both the stock bbPress theme, and the copied ones I just mentioned. In Notepad++ you should now have 4 files open.

We’re basically working from the outside in.

Thirdly, take all of the relevant bbPress PHP code from it’s header.php/footer.php files, and start copy and pasting them to the equivalent places in the WP copy header.php/footer.php files. Like in mine, I actually have:

<?php

bb_feed_head();

wp_get_archives('type=monthly&format=link');

wp_head();

bb_head();

?>

Which loads all of the WP and BBP head related functions inside my BBP forums. Because I want links to my feeds and what-not…

Fourthly, once you’re done with this, then you start poking around the other BBP theme files, and modify all of those files to work within the same construct as your WP theme does, with the same DIV classes and names and what-not.

Because we’ve included the WordPress functions inside bbPress, and because we’re using the same original WP theme header.php file, all of the same style-sheets and JS from that theme are already coded and loaded, even though you’re looking at bbPress. The rest is just tweaking all of the files to look how you want them to.

This is the process I used at http://www.delsolownersclub.com, and I think it’s worked really super well.