Support » Fixing WordPress » Using native wp functions to build pseudo social network

  • thebigjay

    (@ingeniuscreative)


    [Moderator note: Topic title de-capped. Please do not shout at us.]

    I’m trying to use the native WordPress functions with as few plugins as possible to create a “pseudo” social network style environment. I say pseudo because I’m not necessarily looking for a serious interconnectivity (yet). My thought is to use the current post formats along with gravityforms (that part is unimportant) to allow users to add (for example) “images” and the form would create a post using the “image” format native to WordPress.

    Again these are just background…I believe I can pull this off.

    Where I’m getting into some trouble is, I’m trying to find the most efficient method of creating a page template that will call up the specific posts by format (and here’s the kicker) by the current logged in user.

    EXAMPLE OF USAGE

    joeblow is logged in and he sees the “my images” tab (everyone sees this tab who is a logged in user) when joeblow goes there it will show him ONLY his image posts. This would be the same for things like a gallery page etc.

    Any ideas how I might make this happen.

    I’m a novice at coding but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty so any help would be greatly appreciated.

    BEFORE IT COMES UP:

    Why am I not using buddypress or wp-symposium or any other plugin solution?

    Short answer: overhead.

    I feel like the ability exists within wordpress to pull these things off without stacking up a ton of plugins. I’ve already looked into it and to build the kind of site I want would require buddypress plus about 20 other plugins and then I realized the functionality is already here, it’s just a matter of calling it up so I get the stuff I want and nothing more.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Have you reviewed a page of posts? In theory, you should be able to use this approach to load a custom query based on the post format and the current user. Mind you, you may need a fallback if the current visitor isn’t logged in. Perhaps show all relevant Posts?. Or show none but display a “You need to be logged in” message instead?

    Thread Starter thebigjay

    (@ingeniuscreative)

    This looks like a great place to start. I admit I have not even begun to cull through the site and all the tidbits here so thank you for being patient with me as I get my feet dirty (can’t really say wet because I know enough to break stuff LOL) but I’ll begin here and see if anything comes of it. If it’s okay I’d like to keep this thread open a bit longer so I can touch base again if necessary as I fumble through. 🙂

    No problem. If you tag any further posts with my username, I should get a mail notification and I’ll try to drop in & help.

    Another Codex page that you might want to bookmark is http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/WP_Query I use it as a reference a lot when constructing custom queries.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘Using native wp functions to build pseudo social network’ is closed to new replies.