Since the very first version of BuddyPress, the local avatar management feature was depending on the xProfile component. During the 2.1 development cycle we’ve renamed this feature “Profile Photo”. The cover image feature was introduced in BuddyPress 2.4 and, just like the Profile Photo feature one, it needed the xProfile component to be active to be able to enjoy it. In BuddyPress 6.0.0, we are introducing a major change about these 2 features: they will belong to the Members component.
This decision is the result of a Slack Discussion the team had about the subject just after we brought the first version of the BuddyPress REST API into BuddyPress Core. We’ve been working on it from this Trac ticket and yesterday the changes landed in Trunk.
What does it change for end users ?
When the xProfile component is active not much! They will only see that the settings to disable profile photo and cover image uploads are now available from a new Members settings section.
When the xProfile component is not active, BuddyPress used to fill the blank with a single member screen to show some information about the user’s WordPress profile (display name, website, biographical info and potentially some contact methods). As you can see below this lonely screen will have 2 new neighbours in BuddyPress 6.0.0*.
* If profile photo and cover image uploads are allowed by the site owner.
Logged in users will be able to edit/delete their profile photo and cover image from their self profile area, even if the xProfile component is not active.
Within the WordPress extended profile administration screen, Administrators will be able to edit the Profile Photo of the displayed user, even if the xProfile component is not active.
What does it change for BuddyPress plugin and theme developers?
If their WP_DEBUG constant is set to false, we believe nothing more than what we’ve described so far. Otherwise there are good chances their screens will be full of deprecation notices!! As a result we’re asking plugin and theme developers to start testing BuddyPress very early to make sure their master pieces will be ready before 6.0.0 release (scheduled for end of April). You can do it by cloning one of our Git mirrors or by checking out our SVN development repository:
# SVN
svn co https://buddypress.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/
# GIT
git clone git://buddypress.git.wordpress.org/
# OR
git clone https://github.com/buddypress/buddypress.git
To help you, here are the deprecated functions and hooks in 6.0.0 about the profile photo and cover image features.
| Deprecated in 6.0.0 | Replacement in 6.0.0 | Type |
|---|---|---|
xprofile_avatar_upload_dir() | bp_members_avatar_upload_dir() | Function |
xprofile_action_delete_avatar() | bp_members_action_delete_avatar() | Function |
bp_before_xprofile_cover_image_settings_parse_args | bp_before_members_cover_image_settings_parse_args | Filter |
bp_after_xprofile_cover_image_settings_parse_args | bp_after_members_cover_image_settings_parse_args | Filter |
xprofile_cover_image_uploaded | members_cover_image_deleted | Action |
xprofile_cover_image_deleted | members_cover_image_deleted | Action |
xprofile_avatar_uploaded | bp_members_avatar_uploaded | Action |
xprofile_template_change_avatar | bp_members_template_change_avatar | Filter |
xprofile_screen_change_avatar() | bp_members_screen_change_avatar() | Function |
xprofile_screen_change_cover_image | bp_members_screen_change_cover_image | Action |
xprofile_screen_change_cover_image() | bp_members_screen_change_cover_image() | Function |
Let’s use the time we have left before the 6.0.0 release to make sure we haven’t forgot anything: please test your plugins and themes against Trunk, update them as needed and let us know asap if you need more help / BP Core code changes to take these evolutions in account.
BuddyPress Contributors, let’s update the Codex!
We still need to update our documentation about these changes. Here are the first Codex pages needing updates I’ve identified:
Thanks in advance for your help in making this change as smooth as possible for our end users 😍.
BP Dev Updates 