Getting Started with BuddyPress Member Type

BuddyPress Member Type lets you categorize your BuddyPress members into distinct types (for example Students, Teachers, Vendors, or Members) and act on those types across your community. On top of the member types that BuddyPress can already store, this plugin adds the pieces that make types useful to a site owner:

• A WordPress role that is applied automatically when a member is given a type.
• Two profile field types so members can pick their own type on registration and on the edit-profile screen.
• Control over where each type appears: registration form, edit-profile settings, and the members directory.
• A members directory tab for each type, plus the option to hide a type from the directory.
• Bulk assignment of a type to many users at once from the WordPress Users table.

What this plugin builds on

This plugin does not invent its own storage for member types. It extends the member type system that ships with BuddyPress. Member types in BuddyPress are a taxonomy (bp_member_type), and you create and manage them from Users > Member Types in the WordPress admin. This plugin adds extra fields and behavior to those screens.

Because of that, the plugin is only useful with BuddyPress active.

Requirements

• WordPress 3.0.1 or later (tested up to 6.7.1).
• BuddyPress, installed and active. If BuddyPress is not active, this plugin deactivates itself and shows an admin notice explaining why.
• The BuddyPress Extended Profiles (xProfile) component, enabled from Settings > BuddyPress > Components. The plugin’s two profile field types only register when xProfile is active.

Installation

1. Upload the buddypress-member-type folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install the plugin ZIP from Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
3. Confirm BuddyPress is active. If it is not, activate BuddyPress first, then re-activate this plugin.

Your first member type in five minutes

1. Go to Users > Member Types.
2. In the Add New Member Type form, enter a name (for example Student) and a singular and plural label.
3. In the Associated Roles dropdown added by this plugin, choose the WordPress role that members of this type should receive (for example Subscriber). Leave it on Select Role if you do not want a role change.
4. Tick the display options you want, added by this plugin:
   • Display in Registration Form so new users can pick this type when they sign up.
   • Pre-select on registration? to have this type checked by default on the registration form.
   • Display inside Edit Profile Settings so existing members can choose this type from their profile.
   • Exclude from Members Directory to keep this type out of the members directory listing.
5. Save the member type.
6. To let members choose a type themselves, add a profile field of type Member Types (multiple selection) or Member Type (single selection) under Users > Profile Fields. See Usage for the full walkthrough.

Once a type has an associated role, assigning that type to a user (from the profile, registration, or the Users bulk action) also switches the user to the mapped role.