bbPress & BuddyPress custom Roles

# **I need BBPress & BuddyPress integration with WordPress custom Roles** We have a single installation of WordPress (i.e., not WordPress Multi-User aka WPMU) with the Wishlist Member plugin. This plugin protects access to Pages or Posts based on Roles. The Custom Role plugin defines additional Roles (Free, Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc.) beyond the standard WordPress roles (Admin, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber). This is all working fine. We now wish to integrate a "community slice" which includes a forum (we think BBPress) with sections protected by the custom Roles, and other community areas (Groups, Walls, etc.) where members can interact using BuddyPress. Currently BBPress can be integrated with BuddyPress during installation and a somewhat protected forum can be be created through BuddyPress's "groups" functionality. However this results in a less structured forum which is not desired. This leads us to believe a freestanding version of BBPress would be more suitable. ## Deliverables ## OVERVIEW OF THE TASK We now wish to add to our WordPress membership site a free standing BBpress integration on the same domain so that an overview displays on a single page within the WordPress installation. Additionally, we want to protect specific sections/threads/buckets of BBPress forum to specific non-standard custom roles of Free, Bronze, Silver, Gold. We also wish to integrate the same "protection by role" into the way BuddyPress displays activity streams. ## 1st Milestone: BBPress installation and customization to work with Roles To install BBPress and configure to work in a specific page of the site. To add customization through plugin or custom coding, protection to forum sections based on Role. In our implementation, Roles work in an incremental way like "Keys" where a higher level role (key) gets simultaneous access to their level as well as lower levels. Protected Forum thread access would need to work the same and all be driven by Role (which we define within WordPress). For example, someone with the level of Silver would have access to Silver, Bronze, and Free level topics only. Someone with the (current) highest level of Gold would have access to all Gold level topic threads and lower levels of Silver, Bronze, and Free threads. ## EVENTUAL GOAL: BBpress integration with BuddyPress activity streams extending Roles protection to activity streams This will also integrate with BuddyPress so that a member's activity in BBPress forums will also show in their profile activity stream. Ideally however, activity that can be viewed by a member would be limited by the role assigned to their profile. So for example, when a Silver member views a Gold member's profile activity stream, only comments made in the Bronze and Silver thread forums would be visible.... For comments made by a Gold member in a Gold Forum to display in their activity stream, a user would need to have a profile Role level of at least Gold. More examples of how we want BuddyPress activity streams to display: Free member viewing Bronze, Silver, or Gold members activity stream would see comments made in BBpress areas viewable by Free Role. Bronze member viewing Bronze members activity stream would see comments made in BBpress areas viewable by Bronze role or Free Role. Bronze member viewing Silver members activity stream would only see comments made in BBpress areas viewable by Bronze role or Free Role. Silver member viewing Silver member activity stream would see comments made in BBpress areas Silver, Bronze, and Free protected areas Bronze member viewing Gold member activity stream would only see comments made in BBPress areas Bronze and Free protected areas. Silver member viewing Gold member activity stream would only see comments made in BBpress areas Silver, Bronze, and Free protected areas. Gold member viewing Gold member activity stream would see comments made in BBpress areas Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Free protected areas. Diamond member viewing Gold member activity stream would see comments made in BBpress areas Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Free protected areas. ## USER STORIES I have some experience in agile software development -- more on the product management or scrum master side of things, so I've taken a stab at writing some user stories in the form of "As a who I want what So why" As a member of the membership program I want my [login to view URL] registration and login to grant me privileges to the membership forum and community so I don't have to create separate registrations and logins to interact with other members of the community. As a member of the membership program I want to participate in forums with other members so I can learn and share with other members. As a membership member I want to be able to create, edit, and allow others to see, my profile so I can interact with other membership members. As a member of the membership program I want to private message other members so I can interact with other members from within our site and community. As a Gold/Silver/Bronze/Free member of the membership program I want to be recognized in the forums and community as a Gold/Silver/Bronze/Free member so that I can exercise Gold/Silver/Bronze/Free member privileges. As a Gold member of the membership program I want to be able to start and participate in forums and other activity streams that are restricted to Gold members so Silver, Bronze, and Free members will not have access. As a higher status* member of the membership program I want to be able to start and participate in forums and other activity streams that are restricted to members of my status or higher members so lower status members will not have access. * In order of status: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Free