BuddyDev

Brajesh Singh in BuddyPress Tricks 16 Comments

Since the release of WordPress 3.1 and BuddyPress 1.2.8, I have seen a lot of complaints that the plugin menu is not appearing or the plugin is not saving data or so and so. So, I decided to write this post which could help plugin developers and if the developer is not updating the plugin, as a user, you can do it yourself.

I will categorize the plugins having troubles in 2 categories:-

• Plugins which uses WordPress settings API to save data/options
• Plugin which does not uses WordPress settings API

All the issues I am discussing is related to the plugins which add a menu/sub menu in WordPress multisite network admin panel.  For example, since BuddyPress menu is available in WordPress 3.1 network admin panel, any plugin which adds a sub menu in BuddyPress menu falls in this category.

Now, let us discuss the problems and the solutions  step by step.

Issue 1:- The plugin menu is not appearing in the BuddyPress/Network Admin panel.

There is an easy fix for this. It applies to both types of plugin.

Find all the instances which says

[sourcecode language="php"]

add_action("admin_menu","some_plugin_hook","may_be_some_priority_here");//last argument is optional and may not be present in some plugins

[/sourcecode]

Change that to

[sourcecode language="php"]

add_action( is_multisite()?"network_admin_menu":"admin_menu","some_plugin_hook","may_be_some_priority_here" );//look at first argument

[/sourcecode]

Here simply we are testing if this is a multisite install, hook that to network_admin_menu otherwise hook it to admin_menu(for single wp).

Once you are done, you should really check by going to the network admin. The menu item will be present.

All sounds good. Well, may be you are done or may not be. Try saving the data from your plugin option. If it is working, you re good to stop reading here. If it does not work, please keep reading.

Issue 2: Well, the menu is appearing but I am getting redirected to http://mysite.com/wp-admin/?c=1 or it is giving page not found error ?

Not that bad. After all, we have completed step one, so just a few more seconds and we are going to fix it too.

This section discusses the issue for plugins which does not use WorPress settings API(look for a function register_setting, If it is present, or the form you see in plugin options page has an action set to "options.php" you should better skip to next section).

Trouble shooting tips:-

• look for the form action, is it empty?  If yes, then it is good, let us move(btw, leaving form action empty is not a good thing).
• If the action is not empty, check if it is set to  "options.php", if yes, you should really skip this section and go to next section.
• If  the form action is not set to "options.php" which all the major BuddyPress component have(mostly), then  we will need to change the url as discussed below.

The action URL may be anything like this

[sourcecode language="html"]
<form action="wp-admin/some-hardcoded-file.php?page=someaction" ..some attributes here ….>

[/sourcecode]
or
[sourcecode language="php"]
<form action="<?php echo admin_url('some-plugin-file.php?page=someaction');?>" ..some attributes here ….>
[/sourcecode]

In both of the cases, you should change it.  We will change
[sourcecode language="html"]
<form action="wp-admin/some-hardcoded-file.php?page=someaction" ..some attributes here ….>

[/sourcecode]

to

[sourcecode language="php"]
<form action="<?php echo network_admin_url('some-hardcoded-file.php?page=someaction');?>" ..some attributes here ….>

[/sourcecode]

and if the action is set using admin_url(), change admin_url to network_admin_url().

That will fix the plugin options page form. And you will be able to submit the data(or click Save etc) , It should not give any error/redirect.

Also, a basic advice, look for the urls which should be available in network admin panel for your plugin. If they are not using network_admin_url, change them to network_admin_url.

Issue 3:- It was good to read, My form is visible, I can submit the data but the data/option is not saved?

Most probably your plugin is using WordPress settings api.

Look for the form action, if it is set to something like  this

[sourcecode language="php"]
<form action="options.php" ..some attributes here ….>

[/sourcecode]

change that to
[sourcecode language="php"]
<form action="<?php echo admin_url('options.php');?>" ..some attributes here ….>

[/sourcecode]

Yes, you are reading it correctly. We are changing it to admin_url("options.php") , so it points to yoursite.com/wp-admin/options.php

Try saving data, is it working ? yes, it is.  Ok enjoy. If it is not, then we will have to wait a couple more minutes:-

Now, we will look for the section where the function register_setting is called. Check if the wrapper function is hooked to admin_menu or network_admin_menu. If it is hooked  to network _admin_menu, change that to admin_menu.

Case study: BP Profile Privacy:-

There is a catch though. For example, I was updating the bp profile privacy plugin by Jeff Farthing to test it with the BP Mag Framework(as reported by Dr. Joseph Pisano, the layout was breaking for my theme), I found this plugin non functional for WP Multisite 3.1. I updated as I have discussed above and the admin menu came back, but I got the error that the option page can not be found. If you see this error, it simply means, your setting was not registered.

So, I changed the hook to admin_menu, and then, as not expected, the submenu vanished. A close look revealed the profile privacy plugin was hooking the submenu and registering the settings from the same function. I refracted it into 2 functions. then I hooked the register_setting to admin_menu while left the submenu registering code hooked as mentioned in the step1. Well, That made it work. So, please beware of such catches.

I am putting the updated version for Bp Profile privacy here for anyone who needs it updated. If you have any contact with Jeff, Please download the plugin and send him a copy, so he can update it on wp.org repo. I saw his profile on buddypress.org, but there was no mean to contact or send file. So, I will leave it to  you all who are using this plugin to contact him and ask him for committing the update. Or if you know his email, please drop me a line using the contact form on this site and I will be glad to send the file myself.

Download Bp profile Privacy: https://buddydev.com/http//buddydev.com/public-download/bp-profile-privacy.zip

hope it helps a few of you. Please do let me know if you know other ways to fix it, or anything you want 🙂