[Susan Braiden]

I’ve been hitting quite a wall trying to solve a problem that perhaps someone else has already found a solution for. I have a moderate knowledge of WordPress and a basic working knowledge of BuddyPress/Commons In A Box. Let me share a bit about my installation, and what I’m trying to do:

 

ENVIRONMENT:  WordPress 3.9  with  BuddyPress 2.0  using the  cbox Infinity theme

 

GOAL:  To create a collaborative work space where members can contribute project ideas that anyone can view, copy and share.

 

HOW THIS SHOULD WORK:

Each member will have a workbook to which they can add pages. Each page is devoted to a project idea. Pages should be based on a template containing 5 fields:

1) Category (drop-down selection)
2) Project Name (text field)
3) Project Type (radio buttons)
4) Project Description (text area)
5) Field Notes (text area)

 

• When a user adds a new page, they are given this form/template to enter the data into.
• The page (data) is stored in their personal workbook.
• They have the option of making this page (data) visible to and searchable by other members.

 

QUESTION:

Is there already a BuddyPress-compatible plug-in available that does this?

 

If not, is it better to approach this by using:

 

1) BuddyPress Docs?

Already available, allowing each user can create and either make private or share. I don’t seem to be able to find a way of creating a template doc to make available by default in each user’s area.

 

2) Pages?

Should I be finding a way to create a template that perhaps leverages the “Advanced Custom Fields” plug-in and somehow making this available to users to copy in their own areas? I’ve installed ACF 4.3.7 and have set up a group of fields for a template, but am having a difficult time understanding how to apply it.
http://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/

 

Thanks so much for any suggestions that folks can offer to help steer me in the right direction here.

Susan.

 

[Scott Voth]

Hi @sbraiden – unfortunately BP Docs does not currently have templating functionality, but it would be a great feature to have.  (You are the second person to have asked about this in a couple weeks.)  I also don’t know of any BP plugins that do this kind of thing, but maybe someone else on this forum might.

Your idea of leveraging WP custom fields functionality seems like a good one – I don’t know if you are running multisite, but if so, perhaps each of your projects could be set up as a group and have a group blog, and that blog could contain your templated pages.

Good luck on your project!

[Susan Braiden]

Scott, thank you so much for your reply, and for letting me know that a Docs template function does not currently exist.

I’m not running multisite and don’t currently have need of it.

I had originally implemented the BuddyPress Courseware, which would have been a wonderful fit for what I was trying to cultivate, but had to disable it because of the conflicts with the older forums and a number of other plug-ins as WordPress was upgraded.  It’s a shame the project was abandoned, because it was wonderful.

Coming from a Joomla background I’m still rather disoriented, and am extremely grateful for how much more simple and robust the collaborative WordPress environment is with BuddyPress and Commons In A Box.   I think I need to spend more time understanding what’s under the hood better than I do so that powerful plug-ins like “Advanced Custom Fields” don’t seem quite so overwhelming.

Thanks so much for your personal investment in the platform, Scott.  I am deeply grateful.

Keeping a warm thought,

Susan.

 

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