Integrating BuddyPress, WordPress MU and bbPress
BuddyPress Tutorials, Wordpress MU Tutorials, bbPress Tutorials July 17th, 2009
Goal: Integrate WPMU 2.8.1 - BuddyPress 1.0.3 - bbPress 1.0.1
Assumptions: You have WPMU and BuddyPress working correctly. You know your way around an admin dashboard. You can configure php files.
Note: If something is “In Quotes” it generally means that there’s a button with that text that you should click.
1. Download bbPress 1.0.1
2. Unzip it and upload the entire bbpress folder to your root directory.
3. Change the name of the directory from bbpress to forums and chmod it to 777 if it isn’t already.
4. Go to yoursite.com/forums. “Go to step 1″
5. Enter the same database information that you used while installing WPMU. If you don’t remember what this is, you can find it in wp-config.php
6. “Show advanced settings”
7. Enter the database host information (same as WPMU install) into the Database host section. You can leave the character collation blank and leave the table name prefix set to bb_
8. “Save database configuration file” >> “Go to step 2″
9. “Add integration settings” >> “Add cookie integration settings”
10. Enter your site’s URL into the first 2 boxes.
i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/
11. Type any word(s) of your choice into all of the key and salt boxes. We’re going to overwrite this later so it doesn’t matter what you put there, as long as you put SOMETHING there. I like to type “THIS STUFF” so that it’s easier to find later.
12. “Add user database integration settings” Make sure the box there matches the prefix you used during WPMU install. If you made no changes while installing WPMU, this should say wp_
13. Enter the primary blog ID - If this is a normal fresh install, that number is 1. If you want to check just to be sure, you can find that number in your wp-config.php file.
14. “Save WP integration settings” >> “Go to step 3″
15. Enter your forum name and URL
i.e. My Site Forums and http://mysite.com/forums/
16. Click the drop down menu for Username. You should see admin. Choose that. If by some horrid twist of fate you don’t have a dropdown, you’ll need to create an entirely new username and use a NEW email address.
17. Name your first forum. i.e. My First Forum or Test Forum or Please Please Work
18. “Save site settings” >> “Complete the installation”
19. At this point you should see “Your installation completed successfully.” If you get any major errors, try a new install. Do this by first deleting the forum’s bb-config.php file. Only that one file, not the entire directory. Then, open your database and drop all tables that start with bb_
20. If all has gone well, go to your forums.
i.e. http://mysite.com/forums/
21. Log in as admin. Click Admin.
22. On the left side, click Settings >> Writing. Tick the box marked “Enable the bbPress XML-RPC publishing protocol” -Save
23. On the left side, click Discussion under Settings. Tick the box marked “Allow link notifications from other sites” -Save.
24. On the left side, click Wordpress Integration. Give your users roles. The WPMU admin needs to be a keymaster. You can set all other roles to member. -Save.
25. Download the bbPress Integration plugin. (Currently version 1.0)
26. Upload the bbpress-integration.php file to your wordpress plugins folder. You don’t need the entire bbpress integration folder. Only the single file.
27. Log into the admin dashboard of WPMU and activate the plugin.
28. Left side, click Settings >> bbPress Integration.
29. Enter the full URL of your forums. Don’t forget the trailing slash.
i.e. http://localhost.localdomain/forums/
i.e. on WAMP - http://localhost.localdomain/example/forums/
30. Mark the radio button beside WordPress MU. -Save.
31. Scroll to the bottom of that page and you will see a few lines of code in a grey box. The number of lines depends on your setup. Copy those codes and paste them to the 2nd line of your wp-config.php file. Save and upload the file.
32. Deactivate and delete the bbpress integration plugin. It’s not needed to make things run but is SUPER handy for getting the extra lines we needed. Remember that extra plugins (even the deactivated ones) can make your pages load more slowly.
33. In your wp-config.php, find “Authentication Unique Keys” Below that, you’ll see 7 (hopefully 7) different define codes. Copy these codes (full code, not just strings. Copy the full paragraph starting with the first ‘define’) Copy all of them!!
34. Open forums >> bb-config.php Scroll down and find the word(s) that you typed during the forums install in step 11. (i.e. THIS STUFF)
35. Highlight the 4 define codes that contain your word. Then, right click and paste. This will replace the codes with the ones you just copied in step 33.
36. Fix each of the seven codes by putting BB_ at the beginning of each one.
i.e. BB_AUTH_KEY, BB_SECURE_AUTH_KEY, BB_LOGGED_IN_SALT
37. Save and upload bb-config.php
38. Back in the WPMU Admin dashboard, click BuddyPress >> Component Setup. Enable bbPress forums (required) and Comment Wire (optional) -Save
39. On the left menu, click Forums Setup. If you don’t see the link under the BuddyPress menu, refresh the page a couple of times and it should appear.
40. On the forums settings page, enter your forums URL
i.e. http://yoursite.com/forums/
41. Enter your admin name and password -Save (If you had to create a new user during forums install, use that name & password)
42. Clear your cookies and cache.
Your user integration and groups discussion should all be working now. You should be able to log into BuddyPress & be automatically logged into the forums & vice versa. Same with logouts.
Don’t forget to change your permissions (chmod) back to their original settings.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Gee, that was fast ! THANX !
July 17th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
LOL - Well I took a couple of days off, came back and there were new versions all over the place. Yippee for easier integration. Not easy, but as I’m sure you noticed, there were fewer steps with this integration. Yay!
July 18th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Cliff, get ahold of me via email. My address is admin at this domain.
July 20th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Thanks for another great tutorial. What if we are upgrading from an existing version? What steps would we take then? In my case I am currently running WPMU 2.7.1, BP 1.0.2 & BBPress 1.0-alpha-6. I will be upgrading to WPMU 2.8.1 and BP 1.0.3 soon will upgrade to BBpress 1.0.3 then as well. What steps would I have to take? Is upgrading to BBpress even necessary after installing WPMU 2.8.1 or can I continue to use my current bbpress version which is working quite well?
July 21st, 2009 at 5:40 am
And then just to keep things interesting … WPMu 2.8.2 was released on July 19. 3 of my 5 Mu sites updated beautifully with the upgrade button. 2 were tempermental and had to be done the old-fashioned way (these were the two that were already on 2.8.1 go figure) … Then I tried to update to BP 1.0.3 with the update link. No joy. Guess that will need to be done the old fashioned way too… Sigh….
July 21st, 2009 at 6:31 am
Now … a couple hours later when I go to the Manage Plugins Dshboard … it tells me that BP 1.0.3 ~is~ installed … This after the installer told me it failed. hehehe
July 21st, 2009 at 9:14 am
Cheryl — yuck!!!!! I don’t know why these things are so… well, temperamental was the perfect word actually.
Kunal — Upgrades scare me. That’s why I don’t post tutorials on them. I’m afraid that someone will blame me for whatever goes wrong. I’m not sure if the alpha version of bbPress will work with the other 2 new scripts.
When I’ve done upgrades of bbPress in the past, here’s what I did. I renamed the bb-config file (so that I could have a record of all of the extra codes it needed) then overwrote the old forums files with the new ones. Then navigate to the /forums and it’ll ask for your database info. After that page, it’ll say you already have a database and probably want to upgrade. I went through that and then put my special codes into the newly created bb-config file.
My best advice is BACK EVERYTHING UP!!!!! Back it up and back it up again!!!!!!!
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
You’re saying that it’s BBPress version 1.0.3 but I only see 1.0.1?
After trying to delete the config file, drop the tables and start over, going to the forums/ directory in my browser automatically kicks me back to the root of the WPMU installation. Not sure what that’s about.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Crap - It is 1.0.1 I have no idea why I wrote 3. I’ll fix that in a minute. Thank you for pointing it out.
Did you rename the folder to forums? If not, it’ll redirect back to wpmu sort’ve as a default 404. Also, you may need to clear your cache & cookies if you’re having to start over. And, may need to remove the extras codes that you put into the wp-config until you’ve got bbpress installed.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Thanks, I got it to work. I’m not sure if this is bad, but I can’t change the permissions to 777 otherwise it re-directs me back to the root. If they’re 755 (on the forums folder), it’s letting me go through it fine. Weird.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
That is sorta weird & I have no clue if it’s bad either. Glad you got it working. =D
July 26th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Hello,
From what I understand, your tutorial integrates the bbpress tables in the WPMU database. If I use the advance database settings in the bbpress installer and create a second database, just for bbpress, will the rest of the tutorial work? Is it better to have just one database for both scripts ? Will upgrading be easier if I use just one database like you do?
Thank you.
Nicholas
July 26th, 2009 at 9:39 am
A 2nd database is something I’ve never tried. It’s also something that, in the past, I’ve been told to avoid because it can cause things to go stupid.
My best answer to this is “give it a shot and let us know how it goes.” =D
July 29th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thanks for that.
You’re a God man. I’ve been trying for 4 weeks to get it so that the integration works. I don’t know why noboddy at Buddypress could come up with this good a step by step guide. I can’t recall seeing the “Enable the bbPress XML-RPC publishing protocol” and “Allow link notifications from other sites” steps anywhere. And it’s a cool trick to force the cookie integration by just adding the “BB_”. Everything works now
I Love you.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Just wondering chris, I’ve just tried to install bbpress, and at step 3 when i go to yoursite.com/forums its taking me to a does not exist page, think its the permalink structure kicking in, any way to solve this?
July 31st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Chris just wanted to say your a life saver for this tutorial. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to give me a shout, emails on this comment at your end.
Thanks
Chris
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
You rock. This was really busting my chops till I found your site.
Thanks you so much.
August 10th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I got an error. I finished all you steps, and when I went to post a new topic in a group, it worked. But then a couple days later when we finnaly lauched the site, it now says
“There was an error posting that topic.”
Every time I try to post a new topic in any group. It just stopped working. The forum is still up if I go to it by itself, but I can’t post in the group forums on my buddypress site. Thanks for any help!
August 10th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Indeed I’m using WP MU, 2.8.2, BuddyPress 1.0.3 and bbPress 1.0.2. I never was able to publish a post and always get “There was an error posting that topic”. Checked all things.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
It all worked for me. When I log out of one, I’m logged out of the other.
HOWEVER…
When I create a group, I don’t get the option for a group forum. I get this:
Attention Site Admin: Group forums require the correct setup and configuration of a bbPress installation.
It all seems correct to me. What am I missing?
August 17th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
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August 23rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Do I have to do anything differently to integrate WPMU 2.8.4a, Buddypress 1.0.3, and bbpress 1.0.2? I tried these steps and it still doesn’t work? Please help!!!
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Hey Chris,
Sorry about my late response. Thanks for the info about upgrading from an old setup of bbpress. Ive been hesistant to upgrade from BP1.0.2 on WPMU2.7.1 to BP1.0.3 on WPMU 2.8+ just so that I don’t have to struggle with the forums integration again. Guess I have to do it sometime and your advice will def be helpful. What I’ll probaly do is keep my current alpha version of bbpress that I have had since BP 1.0 and then if everything works, Ill upgrade bbpress too.
Btw, I’ve heard that the upcoming BP 1.1 will make all these complications go away. Any idea about that or is a 1 click simple forum integration still a ways off?
Thanks.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Thank you Chris for sharing your integration. Threw my old notes away, the steps you listed were more logical, just perfect - not prone to occasional blank white screens I got during the trial and error integration I made before.
- WPMU 2.8.4a subdomain install + BuddyPress 1.0.3 + bbpress 1.0.2
Thanks again.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
[...] The Easy Button » Blog Archive » Integrating BuddyPress, WordPress MU and bbPress (tags: buddypress) [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I was just discussing this with my developer yesterday. Thank you for giving us a head start.
September 21st, 2009 at 7:31 am
Hi, I’m having a problem with the error:
‘Attention Site Admin: Group forums require the correct setup and configuration of a bbPress installation.’
I started with a new site on a subdomain, installed Wordpress MU 2.8.1, then installed Buddypress 1.0.3. This worked no problem.
I then installed bbPress 1.0.1 and followed the steps above. Everything seemed to have gone fine, and the integrated logins worked across all areas of the site.
The only problem I’m having is the error above. It appears when I’m logged into Buddypress and try to create a new group. Despite this error, the group is created, but no forum is created for the group.
I have 1 user in the system, using the login details admin/password. Admin is set as the Key Master. I have tried using the suggested versions of the 3 pieces of software, as well as later versions, all with the same problem. I’ve completely run out of ideas. Any help you can give is hugely appreciated.
Thanks
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
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September 24th, 2009 at 1:50 am
My problem was with our host blocking XML-RPC calls. We switched host, and have everything working now.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Thank you for your nice tutorial and finally i want to know that how to create link on my home page to go to forum.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:02 am
thanks… after days trying to do the integration… i found your post… simple and functional! you’re the best! thanks so much!
October 25th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Hi,
Is it working somehow with buddypress 1.1?
Because the 39-41 steps are not the same in 1.1 - I have only two options: install the buddypress version of the forum, or use install the existing forum into the buddypress…
October 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
[...] Integrating BuddyPress, WordPress MU, and bbPress – A great guide if you want to build a complete social networking site. [...]
October 30th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
How to Integrate WordPress and bbPress in 3 Simple Steps
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Thanks so much! This worked perfect!
November 4th, 2009 at 3:04 am
[...] Integrating BuddyPress, WordPress MU, and bbPress – A great guide if you want to build a complete social networking site. [...]
November 30th, 2009 at 9:22 am
[...] Integrating BuddyPress, WordPress MU, and bbPress – A great guide if you want to build a complete social networking site. [...]
December 21st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Hmmm…does not seem to work with Buddypress 1.1.3. Any Chance of an update?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Just installed using Wordpress 2.8.6, BuddyPress 1.1.3 and bbPress 1.0.2. Works great! Thanks!
If it doesn’t work, you may try installing WP first, then bbPress. Then integrate these according to the tutorial above, and leave BuddyPress uninstalled until step 38. Not sure if that is necessary, but worked like a sharm here!