BuddyPress is always in active development, so new features, fixes, and enhancements are continually being released. Let’s go over some updates you might have missed! This is a real quick and dirty rundown with links to more information on each bit, but let us know if you have any other questions!
Attachments
BuddyPress 2.3 added BP_Attachments an API for uploading content. A BuddyPress attachment is a file you “attach” to a BuddyPress object. Attachments can be files attached to groups, members, activity, or custom content. You can extend the BP_Attachments class to create a custom attachment. Check out this developer doc to learn how: https://codex.buddypress.org/plugindev/bp_attachment
WordPress Companion Stye Sheets
BuddyPress 2.3 introduced companion style sheets for WordPress default themes. Twenty Fifteen and Twenty Fourteen themes as well as future themes will have extra styles to enhance the look of BuddyPress templates. Here’s more info on this enhancement and how to deactivate the extra styes: https://codex.buddypress.org/themes/buddypress-companion-stylesheets
Member Types
BuddyPress 2.2 introduced Member Types. This is not the same as roles in WordPress. Member Types in BuddyPress is added as user meta. You register a member type then add that type to a user. Usage for this new feature is to enable more user categorization. You could filter members lists by type or have member type only groups. More details here: https://codex.buddypress.org/developer/member-types
Post Types Activities
If Site Tracking is activated in settings, BuddyPress adds an Activity item when new blog posts are published. Previously, there was a way to add Custom Post Types (CPT) to the activity but this has been greatly enhanced in BuddyPress 2.2. All that is required is to add support for a CPT. The following code snippet would add all pages published to the activity feed.
add_post_type_support( 'page', 'buddypress-activity' );
Pretty nifty if you have plugins that add Custom Post Types and want to get newly created items in front of your users eyes. To read more about this feature and how to customize the content of the activity feed item, go forth: https://codex.buddypress.org/plugindev/post-types-activities
bp_parse_args()
BuddyPress loop filtering couldn’t be easier now thanks to bp_parse_args(). In fact, I’ve even blogged about this feature here. It’s a powerful thing to display custom content easily without hacking up templates. Read through my tutorial or check out the developer doc: https://codex.buddypress.org/developer/using-bp_parse_args-to-filter-buddypress-template-loops
Notifications
Notifications are a pinnacle feature of any Social Network, how else do you know what other members are up to? BuddyPress 1.9 added a full Notification API. Custom notifications are added with bp_notifications_add_notification(). Plugins can add their own notifications or you can tap into notifications to alert users about site activity. To learn how to add a notification check the example here: https://codex.buddypress.org/developer/function-examples/bp_notifications_add_notification
That about wraps up this round of features and enhancements! Look for a future post about some awesome enhancements coming to BuddyPress 2.4 tentatively to be released in a few months.
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