A few days ago, I got a comment on my other plugin “Limit blogs per user” that it would be great to have something to limit the number of groups a user can create. So, here is the plugin to allow you limit the maximum number of groups a user can create on the BuddyPress based social network. Thanks to mika for the suggestion.
What It does:-
This plugin allows site admins to restrict the maximum number of groups a user can create. Once the User has created allowed number of groups, he will no more be able to create new groups.
How it works:-
It checks for the allowed number of groups and the no. of groups a user is admin. Once the User reaches the limit, this plugin will remove the BuddyPress action which handles group creation and show an error message.
How to Use it
- Download Limit Groups Per User
- Unzip it and upload limit-groups-per-user to wp-content/plugins
- Login to WordPress backend.
- Go to Dashboard->Plugins and activate Limit Groups per user(activate sitewide if BuddyPress is activated sitewide with Multiblogs enabled)
- Go to Dashboard->BuddyPress ->general settings and enter the number of Groups you want to limit.
- Have fun! no, wait, you will need to add following to your theme/groups/index.php since buddypress default theme does not include this action on directory pages.
<?php do_action( 'template_notices' ) ?>
It is used to show the error message to the user.
Screenshots
The admin option to limit the number of groups. You can access it via Dashboard->BuddyPress->General Settings
And here is the error message shown to the user if he exceeds the number of groups allowed
Hope It will be useful for a few of you 
Looking forward to your feedback
Related posts:
- Limit Blogs per User plugin for wpmu Updated
- Introducing BuddyPress Message Privacy Plugin
- Blog Categories for Groups Plugin
- YouTube feed Plugin for Buddypress
- Buddypress Sitewide Activity Widget for Buddypress 1.2 and above
Will this plugin interfere with http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-restrict-group-creation ?
hi Mel,
Thanks for the comment. I have not tested it with that plugin, but I think both should work together without any issue.
If you find any trouble, please do let me know, i will post an update if required.
Thanks
Brajesh
Hi there Brajesh!
Thank you for taking the time for not only creating this plug in but also sharing it.
I just wanted to say Thank You for the plug-in.
Have a great weekend
Rebecca
hi Rebecca
Thanks for the comment. Glad it helped you
Have a great weekend to you too
Thanks
Brajesh
Hi Brajesh,
Thanks for this awesome plugin. Any chance we can make exceptions? Maybe you would want to allow certain users to create more groups?
Think of it like user groups and settings in advanced level, or simply just add an exception for a user (so it becomes unlimited) at a simpler level.
What do you think?
Cheers.
hi Mazen
Thanks for the comment. yes, It can be done. Do you want to do it by role or just for a particular user.
If for a particular user, add a line above line 28 with something like this
if($user_id=="the id of that user")
return false;
Please let me know if you need more details.
Thanks
Brajesh
Man you are the dude
That’s exactly what I needed.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers.
Hi brajesh,
the code works to make an exeption and the user with identified ID can create more groups again. However, the user is having problems creating forum topics, what happens is after the topic is posted they get a message that there was an error posting the forum topic. Yet the topic shows on the forum as title, but with no content, and it cannot be deleted from the front end obviosly (will have to delete it via phpmyadmin).
Any ideas?
Cheers.
I am using this plugin on WP 2.9.2 and BP 1.2.4.1.
When I try to create a group (limit not yet exceeded) it never takes me to the second step of group creation i.e settings ….however the group is created.
And when I exceed my limit the error does not show up.
Any idea what is happening ?
Thanks
hi gwu123
This should not be caused by Limit Group plugin.Please try deactivating this plugin and creating group, is that working ?
Hi Brajesh,
Thanks for your quick reply. I tired by following what you suggested, no luck though. Creation does not take me to step 2. Any idea?
Still the same. Any idea is some other plugin or something is messing it up?
my bad forgot to add -
I came across this feature looking for a plugin that would allow me to limit the number of groups people can actually join. Do you know if there is there anything like that out there?
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the comment. I am not aware of any such plugin, but that should not be a difficult thing.
If you don’t mind the delay, I can put a plugin after 8th of this month.
Thanks
Brajesh
Brajesh, did you manage to put this feature in? “limit the number of groups people can actually join” Would be awesome if you have.
Hi Dan, sorry, the group join feature was not in update. I am checking and hoping to put it after Christmas Breaks.
Merry Christmas
I was hoping that if the setting was 0 then the user couldn’t create any groups at all. Is there a way of making this possible?
Hi Rich,
Do you want to keep the group creation rights to site admin only ?
Hi, Brajesh: I have the same need as Rich (see full description filed earlier) but I also want to limit group creation rights AND FORUM CREATION RIGHTS to site admin only. Thanks for your help.
yes basically, The administrators must be the only ones who can create a group. This keeps it safe
thanks for coming back to me
I am updating it in couple of minutes to make it work like that
updated. Please download v 1.1
Great Work!
I was just wondering whether it is possible to restrict the number of pages a user can create, preferrably by making certain groups for users.
Sorry, I am pretty new in WordPress, and would really appreciate your comments.
Ash
Hi Ash,
this plugin does not work in that way. It won’t work for restricting pages. It is mean for the buddypress groups. Sorry for the confusion.
I’m testing Cosmic Buddy with the limit number of groups a user can create plugin.
I have the same need as Rich – I only want the Admins to be able to create groups and forums.
I set to zero the General Settings > Limit Groups Per User > How many Groups a user can create?
But, every user can still set as many groups and forums they want to. We haven’t published the site yet because we can’t risk letting just anyone establish groups.
Please let me know if you have a solution for this, because I think it will make the plugin very hot.
Hi,
I have just updated the plugin.
Please download version 1.1 from here. It does exactly the same
http://buddydev.com/plugins/limit-groups-per-user/
Hi Brajesh:
Thanks for update so FAST.
I uploaded it, unpacked it, activated it.
When an already registered user/subscriber tries to login now, they get the error: “Cheatin’ uh?” and cannot log in.
When a newly registered user/subscriber tries to login now, they get the error: “invalid username, lost your password?”
So far, only me, the Admin can log in to our test site for this after loading and activating the new update to
limit-groups-per-user-v-1.1.zip
ANY SUGGESTIONS? Thanks for your attention, Carson : )
Brajesh:
OK, I logged all users out including Admin. Closed out all browsers. Tried again with limited success.
Additional testing shows the following:
–
1. Nobody is able to register as a new user after installing the update. WordPress promises an activation link that is never received in their email acct. This process did work before the update. One old user is unable to login now.
2. The only old user (besides Admin) who was able to log in is NOT able to create groups (as should be); but, CAN create forums.
I was hoping to RESTRICT forum creation to Admins only.
Summary of problems encountered after loading/activating update to limit number of groups users can create and logging out, etc.:
1. One old user/tester acct out of 2 is NOT able to login but Admin can see his old stuff in his account and it shows up in Groups and Forums, etc., he just can’t login. – Juarez
2. One old user/tester acct out of 2 who CAN log in is also able to create FORUMS. – Myleah
3. No new user/tester accounts can be set up because they never get the registration activation link to the WP account.
ANY IDEAS ? – Carson %(
Hi Carson,
I am surprised to know this plugin is causing such issue. Please disable this and try again. Is everything working fine? I guess, it is not limit blogs per user but some other plugin causing the issue. Please check and let me know.
Thanks
Breajesh
Brajesh:
Thanks for prompt replies; please don’t worry until i test further. I am retesting with mixed results.
For example, I deactivated the plugin (limit # grps user can create) and then Juarez was able to login again.
Seems to be related to that plugin. But no new users can register.
Tomorrow i will deactivate other plugins and see what happens. I have only 4 other minor ones installed on this test site.
I will leave results tomorrow night but don’t expect you to work on it until after the holiday.
Note: My religion does NOT observe Xmas but I realize most people do; and respect everyone’s choice.
-Regards, Carson
Brajesh:
Mon. Dec. 27, 2010
Hi again, thanks for creating this plugin. I deactivated all plugins except BuddyPress and Limit # grps user can create.
Tested today and it DOES allow only admin to create groups. – IT WORKS ! : )
It DOES allow NON-admins to create forum topics on existing groups.
Is there anyway to block non-admins from creating FORUM topics also?
THANKS FOR your great software engineering.
when I set the max Number to ZERO, users can create unlimited number of groups. I’m not sure if any other issues cause the problem.
I guess, something else is wrong. It will only allow super admins to create the groups in that case.
If you want to allow administrators and super admins to create groups, you should update your function inside your plugin.
//no restriction to site admin
if ( $bp->current_component != $bp->groups->slug || ‘create’ != $bp->current_action ||is_site_admin())
return false;
the is_site_admin() is a depreciated call. It has been replaced with is_super_admin automatically. Thus, the way you have this function written, it will only allow a super admin to create groups. If you want to allow a regular administrator as well as a super admin to create groups, consider replacing the is_site_admin() with
current_user_can( ‘manage_options’ ) so your function looks like this:
//no restriction to site admin or super admin
if ( $bp->current_component != $bp->groups->slug || ‘create’ != $bp->current_action ||current_user_can( ‘manage_options’ ))
return false;
Hope that helps you!
Hi Jeff,
you are right. the is_site_admin was deprecated in 3.0, but I might have left it in some of the plugins. I will update it with the next version. since the plugin does not allows setting limits for levels rather it works for 2 groups, site administrators/all other users, so I did not use current_user_can(cap check).
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. Will take care of this in future.
Hello Brajesh, Great plug-in…I’m in a beta setup right now on my site and your plug-in works great! I just have a question and it is probably a simple answer, but not being a developer/programmer etc. I am just grappling my way through the maze of BP codes.
Here is my question; I would like to change the wording on the popup to the user where it states they have created too many groups or do not have permission. I would like something like “Oops! You have already created your allowed number of groups or you do not have group creation rights. If you would like another group, please contact site admin.”
How can I change the popup to read something like above. Also, if the user deletes a group, will they then be able to create another group in its place?
Hi Dave,
sorry for my too delayed reply.
If you are using v 1.1, then you can easily do that.
here is some sample code you can put in the functions.php of your theme
http://pastebin.com/1ZpL83ZP
If a user deletes a group, yes, he will be able to create new group.
Pingback: let member know they cant make more groups « Windows.DonalDold.Com
If I select 0 will that make it so they can not create any groups?
Yes, that is right. If you enter 0, only super admins can create group. If it does not work, please let me know.
Hi!
Thanks for the plugin, it works great.
I just have one question. Is it possible to hide the Create a Group button? That would be great, so it doesn’t confuse the users.
Simon
Thanks Simon for the suggestions. Sure, I will put it. Please check back in the evening today for the update.
Hi Simon, checked it again. Currently, It is not possible with the current bp-themes without modifying groups/index.php.
No problem. Thanks for your effort.
Hi Brajesh,
Very cool thing you’ve done here at buddydev. I want to echo a request from last year, is there code I could add to not only limit the number of groups a user can create, but the number they can join?
Hi Brajesh,
I want to set permission to group member to change the avatar of group.
Can you please help me ??
Thanks,
Vishal
Hi Brajesh,
I want to set permission to group member to change the avatar of group.
Can you please help me ??
Thanks,
Vishal
Hi Brajesh,
I would like to echo the needs listed above – need to limit a user to one group. The user joins group A, if user then requests membership to group b a message that only can belong to one group.
This seems to be a popular request.
Thanks for your work!!
L
Hey Brajesh,
I love your plugin and just like Brian, I am also looking for a way to restrict the number of groups a user can join. Are you still planning on adding this functionality to the plugin?
Hi Brajesh, is it possible to limit the number of groups people can join to 1 group at a time? Thank you
Same problem… is it possible to limit number of groups user can join at a time?
The number they can join?
)
@all
Thank you so much for asking for the Limit Group join.
Here is the plugin for that
https://github.com/sbrajesh/bp-limit-group-membership-per-user
It will restrict a user to join only the no. of groups the admin has permitted. I will have a blog post for this plugin tomorrow.
Thanks
Brajesh
Thanks for putting this plugin together, it works well. If a user is a member of the set number of groups, the “join” option is no longer available to them. I just discovered one problem with this, they are still able to create a new group. Looking at the plugin code it would appear that this should not be possible. Perhaps a conflict with another plugin?
Thanks for all your work!
Thank you Brajesh, only a little bug. In the group list, if you’re not yet member of a group you can join all the groups. It seems to need something like a refresh after you join the group to make other buttons disappear.
Same problem for me…
That is right. I will be publishing this plugin tomorrow, will have some workaround for it.
Hi Brajesh, another little problem with Limit Group join. If a friend send you an invitation for a group, you can join that group and “collect” more than one group.
Thank you again for your great plugin!
Hi Flavio,
have you got the most recent copy from github. Currently, It will not allow friends to send invitation to a user if he has exhusted the limit.