Dynamic Processing - Auto-Update Friendships on Role or Type Changes
Dynamic processing extends auto-friendship creation beyond new user registrations. When enabled, the plugin automatically creates or removes friendships whenever an existing user’s WordPress role or BuddyPress member type changes.
What dynamic processing does
Section titled “What dynamic processing does”When an admin assigns a user to a role or member type that qualifies under the current welcome-group rules, the plugin schedules a friendship creation job for that user. The job runs in the background via WordPress cron and runs the same welcome-group logic used at registration: the user is friended with every existing member who holds any of the configured welcome-group roles or member types, plus all Global Friends.
Dynamic processing also supports cleanup: when a user loses a role or member type they previously held, the plugin can optionally remove the auto-created friendships that were originally produced for that user.
How it is enabled
Section titled “How it is enabled”Dynamic processing is always active - the plugin listens to role and member-type change events at all times. There is no on/off toggle for this behavior.
The plugin hooks into:
set_user_role- role completely replacedadd_user_role- a role is added to a user’s existing rolesremove_user_role- a role is removedbp_set_member_type- member type set (or replaced)bp_remove_member_type- member type removed
When any of these events fires for a user who now qualifies (or previously qualified) under the welcome-group rules, the plugin schedules bautof_create_friendships_event for that user. If an event for that user is already queued, no duplicate is scheduled.
Cleanup on role removal
Section titled “Cleanup on role removal”Configure this on the Auto-Friendship tab under “When a Member Changes.”
When a user is removed from a qualifying role and no longer has any other qualifying role, the plugin can remove the friendships it auto-created for that user.
To enable: check Unfriend when a member loses one of the eligible roles on the Auto-Friendship tab and save.
Cleanup only touches friendships tracked in _bautof_auto_created_friends user meta. Friendships your members built manually, and friendships with Global Friends, are always preserved.
Cleanup on member type removal
Section titled “Cleanup on member type removal”Same logic as role removal, but triggered by BuddyPress member type changes.
To enable: check Unfriend when a member loses one of the eligible member types on the Auto-Friendship tab and save.
When bp_set_member_type() is called with a replacement (non-append) operation, the plugin checks whether the user lost all qualifying member types and removes affected auto-friendships if so.
Background scheduling
Section titled “Background scheduling”Dynamic processing never blocks the current admin request. The plugin schedules a single cron event per user change:
bautof_create_friendships_eventIf a cron event for that user is already queued, no duplicate is scheduled.
Recommended configuration
Section titled “Recommended configuration”| Site type | Cleanup setting |
|---|---|
| Open community (roles rarely change) | Off - friendships accumulate naturally |
| Structured community (roles define access tiers) | On - friendships reflect current access level |
| Large site (10,000+ users) | Review impact before enabling; test on staging first |
On large sites, enabling cleanup can trigger many friendship deletions when roles are bulk-changed.