Dev Chat Summary for September 30, 2015

BuddyPress 2.3.4

• Tickets slated for this minor release are available on this page.
• Release date: TBA.

BuddyPress 2.4.0

• BP 2.4.0 Beta: October 7, 2015
• BP 2.4.0 Release: October 28, 2015
• Fifty tickets have been closed to date. The list of tickets completed so far is available on this page.
• There are 91 tickets left in queue.

Add UI for adding Profile Header Images for Users and Groups (#6570) Feature is in trunk. https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/buddypress-2-4-0-will-introduce-cover-images-for-members-groups/
Per @im4th: Testing and feedback welcome!

Groups single item home : improve the way we deal with custom front and activity component (#6388) Feature is in trunk. https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/get-ready-2-4-0-will-introduce-important-changes-in-groups-homes/ Per @im4th: Testing and feedback welcome!

Twenty Sixteen BP Companion Stylesheet. Per @hnla, this stylesheet for the upcoming default theme along with the BP companion stylesheet for Twenty Thirteen (#6533) will be released for 2.4.0. As always, testing and reporting areas which need improvements are welcome.

Template Versioning (#6642) @hnla is working with @im4th on this new feature to provide users with a list of changes to BP template files during a dev cycle @ https://github.com/imath/bp-template-checker. Discussion held in chat touched on specific processes and expectations, including: the possibility of including this for BP 2.5.0; not showing message to admins/regular users, i.e., feature is enabled when developer adds define('WP_DEBUG', true); in wp-config.php; and “show this information in a developer-y way – maybe via_doing_it_wrong() – but to be able to suppress specific notices”, among others.

Email API and customisation features (#6592) @djpaulgibbs said that he’s not sure whether this feature would make it for 2.4.0 where it would also allow time for testing and feedback. He thanked @timersys and @shanebp for feedback on his latest updates. Calling those who volunteered to get involved on Slack 🙂

Use wp_editor for “multi line text area” xprofile field in frontend (#5625) @boonebgorges is working on this ticket and will “try to carry it across the finish line for 2.4.0.”

@since standard not parseable with phpDocumentor 2 (#6576) @tw2113 has completed the standardization of @since tags for all components to pave the way for the upcoming developer.buddypress.org. In addition, he left a friendly reminder that “WP docs standards do say to have inline comments treated as proper sentences, so capitalize the first letter and provide punctuation please.”

Slack log: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/buddypress/p1443639711001089

#5625, #6388, #6533, #6570, #6576, #6592, #6642, #dev-chat

Get Ready! 2.4.0 will introduce important changes in Groups homes

Important changes to how BuddyPress is loading the Groups component single items home pages have been committed to trunk and will be included in our next major release: 2.4.0.

Here are the most important things you absolutely need to know, of course, you can read the full story on this ticket: #6388.

To better understand the moves we are doing, let’s do a “Before & After” about Groups homes.

So far (soon “before” by the time 2.4.0 is released)

When the Group’s home page loads, BuddyPress is first looking if a front.php template (Themes can use it to customize all the Groups home pages) exists in the active_theme/buddypress/groups/single folder (1). If it doesn’t find it, BuddyPress is checking if the Activity component is active before loading the buddypress/groups/single/activity.php template (2). If the activity component is not active, then BuddyPress will load the buddypress/groups/single/members.php template (3).

(2) is the most common case and everything works fine! the activity template is the home page of the Group and Group members can share activities into the Group.

Now let’s see (3) in action:

The Activity component is inactive. Group’s home displays the members of the Group.

In this case, all Groups will display the members of the Group twice: into the Group’s home and under the Members sub navigation.

(1) is a bit more problematic.

Where is the activity sub navigation?

If your theme is including a front.php template, then all Groups homes are displaying this custom template, but they all loose the activity feature 😦

Soon (once 2.4.0 is released)

During the 2.4.0 dev cycle, we’ve been working on cases (1) and (3) and we are very happy to announce that 2.4.0 will not only fix them but also open new customization possibilities for the Group’s home page.

Here’s the Group’s home when the Activity component is not active (3 – fixed).

We do not display the Members sub navigation if the Activity component is not active.

 

Here’s the Group’s home when the active theme includes a custom front.php template (1 – fixed).

Group members can enjoy a custom front page and the Activity feature 🙂

There’s more!

We’ve also added a new Template Hierarchy for the front.php template.

Now, you can have a different home page according to some of the Group properties. For example, you can “restrict” a specific front page according to the Group’s ID, or its slug using the following namings for your front template: front-id-{ID}.php or front-slug-{slug}.php.

You can also choose to “restrict” a front page according to the Group’s status (public/private/hidden) using this kind of naming: front-status-{status}.php

Have a look at the delicious Group’s home @mercime & i have built on our test drive 🙂

Example of use for the front-id-{ID}.php template

Important changes in some Group’s conditional tags

Plugin developers and theme designers, please note the following changes :

1. Like before, bp_is_group_home() is true when on the home page of the group (eg: site.url/groups/single-group/).
2. From now on: bp_is_group_activity() is true when the activity page of the Group is displayed. It can be the home page of the group or its activity page (eg: site.url/groups/single-group/activity).
3. From now on: bp_is_group_members() is true when the members page of the group is displayed. It can be the home page of the group or its members page (eg: site.url/groups/single-group/members).

This is really very very important: if you need to add some features inside the Activity page of the Group you will use bp_is_group_activity(). I strongly recommend that you check your plugins and themes to see if you were using bp_is_group_home() to know if the Group Activities were displayed. In this case, as soon as 2.4.0 is released, i strongly advise you to use bp_is_group_activity() instead.

Changes in 2 templates

If you are a theme designer or if you’ve overridden one or both of the following templates, please note you’ll need to update them once 2.4.0 is released (even if we made sure these improvements are back compatible with your “old” templates).

• buddypress/groups/single/home.php (view the diff)
• buddypress/activity/post-form.php (view the diff)

Finally, don’t forget to test that everything works fine for you during the 2.4.0 beta period 🙂

#6388

Dev Chat Summary for September 23, 2015

BuddyPress 2.3.4

• Five tickets out of the six slated for 2.3.4 have been resolved as fixed to date by @rayisme, @im4th, and @boonebgorges
• Release date: TBA.

BuddyPress 2.4.0

• Forty-four tickets have been closed to date. There are 98 tickets left. The list of tickets completed so far is available on this page.
• @boonebgorges noted, “Those who wield the terrifying power of Commit should go through (tickets with patches) and exercise it.”

Email API and customisation features (#6592) @djpaulgibbs: “If people want to help with any particular aspect of BP emails, (you are) more than welcome to participate.” Details are available in ticket. In addition to @espellcaste and @timersys who volunteered to help out in ticket, @marmaduka and @tw2113 have also indicated their interest to do the same during dev chat.

Add UI for adding Profile Header Images for Users and Groups (#6570) @im4th has uploaded new patches based on the decisions made during dev chat and recommendation in ticket: modals are put on hold, add filter to change the default Attachments uploads directory, and some string changes. He has posted more information about how to add the new cover images in ticket for stand-alone themes with custom BP templates and still using theme compatibility as well as for those still using the bp-default theme.
Update: Post about this new feature is imminent.

Groups single item home : improve the way we deal with custom front and activity component (#6388) @im4th sought consensus on patch for 2.4.0 release. @boonebgorges gave thumbs up on the approach. @djpaulgibbs had looked at it before and had positive feedback.

BuddyPress Codex

@slaffik inquired about editing codex pages and about the avatars of article contributors which show up at the bottom of the page. He was assured that anyone who was logged in can add new articles and edit current articles. @hnla reported the avatar / author function has been broken for a while. @djpaulgibbs mentioned that the avatars code is available in meta trac but at this time, he’s concentrating on BP Emails. Just to note that all are welcome to create a ticket and provide a patch to address the issue.

Slack log: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/buddypress/p1443034876000428

#6388, #6570, #6592

Dev Chat Summary for April 22, 2015

BuddyPress 2.2.3.1

• @johnjamesjacoby packaged and released BP 2.2.3.1 last Tuesday, April 21st. This is a maintenance update.

BuddyPress 2.3.0 Schedule Update

• BP 2.3.0 Beta 1 is scheduled for this coming week.
• BP 2.3.0 RC 1 is scheduled two weeks before release.
• Target release date for 2.3.0 is May 26th, three days before BuddyCamp in Miami, Florida.

Avatars, an extensible UI

• (#6290) @im4th has tested the new Avatar UI on the BP Default theme and @hnla has done the same for WP Twenty-* themes. Both are working on improving the current UI. @johnjamesjacoby recommended testing as well on popular BP-compatible premium themes and can get copies of such themes to help the authors make the necessary adjustments.
• @rayisme suggested adding back informative text on the screen: “In trunk, there is a “Delete” button in the nav (Upload, Camera, Delete), but it isn’t as clear that a user has a current avatar. “ @rayisme will work on a patch for this.

And if the Blogs component had Single items?

• (#6026) This ticket contains major enhancements to the blogs component. @im4th indicated that he was ready to work on the “site logos” (Avatars for sites) and sought advice on the best placement to add this new feature. @johnjamesjacoby noted, “The code should live in the Blogs component, with whatever graceful degradation is necessary. And the avatars themselves, probably in the same structure as members and groups avatars.”
• With the placement of the new features resolved, @im4th stated, “I can work on #6026 + (blog) creation steps and see where we arrive in the next 2 weeks.”
• Update: @im4th added a patch for review and tagged this ticket for BP 2.3.0 in case we can quickly decide whether to include it or not.

Option to disable Group avatars

• (#4677) @boonebgorges has been adding and updating patches for this feature request. The latest patch has revisions for 8 core files (activity, core, groups), three bp-legacy group templates, and the buddypress.css file.
• @im4th is waiting for this feature to be committed to core to tie in the Avatar UI with uploading avatars for user profile, single groups (if not disabled), and for user blogs on multisite installations.

Groups single item home: improve the way we deal with custom front and activity component

• (#6388) @im4th has also been working on improving this feature: custom home pages for single groups and had uploaded a patch for review. This ticket is tagged for future release but if group templates are going to be changed in ticket #4677 above for 2.3.0, it’s best to work on this group enhancement at the same time.
• Feedback welcome.

BP Companion Stylesheet for Twenty Fourteen Theme

• (#9784) @hnla has committed his first pass on the companion CSS and SASS files for the theme to trunk. Styling for the BP groups component in both the Twenty Fifteen and Twenty Fourteen themes will be added sometime soon. Testing and feedback welcome.

Slack log: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/buddypress/p1429729300002739
(You need a Slack account to view the logs.)

#4677, #6026, #6290, #6388, #9784, #dev-chat