BuddyPress was conceived in 2008 while working to add social networking features to a WordPress MU powered site. The first official stable release was in May 2009. The platform has grown and morphed considerably since then, into the dynamic, easily extensible package you see today.

Just like its parent project WordPress, BuddyPress is a completely open source endeavor. Everything from the core code, to the documentation, themes and plugin extensions are all built by the BuddyPress community. This means anyone can help the project by contributing their time and knowledge.

BuddyPress is built to bring people together. It works well to enable people with similar interests to connect and communicate. Some of the fantastic uses might be:

• A campus wide social network for your university, school or college.
• An internal communication tool for your company.
• A niche social network for your interest topic.
• A focused social network for your new product.

If you’re using BuddyPress in a unique or interesting way, be sure to let people know on the forums. We’re always interested.

BuddyPress is not “all or nothing”

BuddyPress provides a range of features that work right out of the box. However, you might decide that you only want to make use of a couple of features to start with. This is really simple using BuddyPress as you can turn off the features you don’t want with a click of a button. When you disable features, your site’s theme will auto adjust, showing only the menu items, pages and buttons for the features you have enabled.
BuddyPress.org

This site is built on WordPress and BuddyPress (we believe in the software we build!). Please consider registering and becoming part of the BuddyPress community. By doing this you’ll be able to contribute to the documentation, ask questions in the forum as well as build your BuddyPress profile so other BuddyPress developers and contributors can keep in touch with you.

The post About BuddyPress appeared first on Varun Dubey - WordPress, WPMU, Buddypress & WP Performance Optimization Expert - Programmer / Developer.

Using a custom excerpt for new blog posts entries

R-A-Y from BuddyPress.org has created a simple snippet which gives you back control over how the excerpt will be displayed in new Blog Post entries. Here’s the code:

function my_bp_post_excerpt($activity_content, $post, $permalink) {
if($post->post_excerpt)
return $post->post_excerpt;
else
return $activity_content;
}
add_filter( 'bp_blogs_activity_new_post_content', 'my_bp_post_excerpt', 1, 3 );

Done!

Tip 2: Zebra Styling of Activity Stream items Marshall

If you want to make your activity streams a bit easier to read, you might want to add Zebra styling to the entries. Marco72 tell us how on BuddyPress.org

/*> Activity Stream Listing
--------------------------------------------------------------*/
UL.activity-list LI
{
padding: 20px 0 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
UL.activity-list>LI:first-child
{
padding-top: 5px;
}

right after that add:

UL.activity-list>li:nth-child(even)
{
background-color: #EFEFEF;
border-bottom: 1px solid #D5D5D5;
border-top: 1px solid #f4f4f4;
}

Tip 3:Remove Profile Auto-Links Paul

remove_filter( ‘bp_get_the_profile_field_value’, ‘xprofile_filter_link_profile_data’, 50 );

in your theme’s bp-custom.php file. If your theme doesn’t have one yet, then create it.

Tip 4:Show a Geo-widget like on BP.org

Place the following code anywhere you like. This can be in your (child theme’s) Sidebar.php file or in the Member-Header.php file (found in Members/Single/ in the theme directory)

<?php if ( $location = bp_get_profile_field_data( 'field=Location&user_id=' . bp_displayed_user_id() ) ) : ?>
 <div>
 <h3>Location <?php if ( bp_is_my_profile() ) : ?>· <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() .'profile/edit/' ?>">Edit</a><?php endif; ?></h3>
 <script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2.x&key=[YOUR API KEY]" type="text/javascript"></script>
 <script type="text/javascript">

 var map = null;
 var geocoder = null;

 function initialize() {
 if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
 map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas"));
 map.setCenter(new GLatLng(0, 0), 35);
 geocoder = new GClientGeocoder();
 }
 }

 function showAddress(address) {
 if (geocoder) {
 geocoder.getLatLng(
 address,
 function(point) {
 if (point) {
 map.setCenter(point, 11);
 var marker = new GMarker(point);
 map.addOverlay(marker);
 map.addControl(new GSmallMapControl());
 }
 }
 );
 }
 }
 jQuery(document).ready( function() { initialize(); showAddress('<?php echo $location ?>'); } );

 </script>

 <div id="map_canvas" style="width: 100%; height: 150px; border: 1px solid #eee; overflow: hidden"></div>
 </div>
 <?php endif; ?>

You now have the same widget as on the profile pages on BP.org!

Tip 5: Close down your site for logged-in members only James

This code snippet will make most Buddypress pages viewable to members only. The exceptions being the registration and activation pages. And also blog pages are viewable to unregistered users. Unregistered users trying to access members only pages will be redirected to the front page.

Place the function below into functions.php in your theme folder:

function sh_walled_garden()
{
global $bp;

if ( bp_is_register_page() || bp_is_activation_page() )
return;

if( ! bp_is_blog_page() && ! is_user_logged_in() )
bp_core_redirect( $bp->root_domain .\'/\'. BP_REGISTER_SLUG );
}
add_action( \'walled_garden\', \'sh_walled_garden\' );and this right on top of header.php (before the

Script courtesy of Traveljunkie

Add your Quick Tips!

Adding your own quick tips is really easy. Why don’t you sent in one now?. It can be any code snippet you like, as long as you tell us your source and a short description of what it does  .

The post Great BuddyPress Quick Tips from our Community appeared first on Varun Dubey - WordPress, WPMU, Buddypress & WP Performance Optimization Expert - Programmer / Developer.