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ericslangley
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Hello All,
I have a fairly ambitious WP/WP development initiative that will involve quite a few data points (hundreds) that are associated with a specific member. This data will be displayed on the users profile pages, searched for site users and manipulated for various HTML reports.
It appears that I have two storage options within WP/BP, store the data in BP xprofile or in a WP custom post (referencing the username). The later is where CustomPress would come in.
I would like get some feedback from the community on the advantages and disadvantages of each storage method.
It seems that CustomPress (and other plugins that provide similar functionality such as Types and Views) provide an easy to use front end (for admins) for manipulating custom field data types and viewing data.
Whereas BuddyPress xprofiles would require building a front end (again for admins) to accomplish all of the different types of fields and views that I would need.
For my purposes I do not think it matters where the users custom profile data is stored as long as it is accessible and can scale.
The question is can a robust server handle thousands/tens of thousands of Custom Posts (one for each member) with hundreds of Custom Fields that need to be searched and displayed?
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Hi,
I hope you guys don't mind I'm jumping in but I am at the beginning of a new project and been trying to figure out the same thing for couple of days already. Using WP with custom fields seems to be much better of a choice for the main thing I really need from BP is the connection between users. To be able to add and message each other. I know I can use friends plugin but I really am trying to keep my project as a front end use project. Any suggestion of how I could give the option for users to add each other when viewing profiles in from end.
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Hello Eric,
The question is can a robust server handle thousands/tens of thousands of Custom Posts (one for each member) with hundreds of Custom Fields that need to be searched and displayed?
Depending on your server, this would vary. Again depends on the number of users handling it at the same time.
1000 users would be a breeze on any quality hosting, but when it comes to 10,000 you would need to go for some level of optimization, maybe a CDN and a VPS for smooth operations.
I have been very happy with Host Gator and I would totally recommend it. They do have VPS and Dedicated servers, so when you need you need to move, they can do the switch for you.
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Inactive (joined February 2012) Likes (0)
Hello Eric,
If the Custom Field data-types CustomPress provides is good for your needs, I would suggest that you go with CustomPress.
BuddyPress is good, it can have great integration and everything, but when it comes to handling that data, it have its own limitation.
Using CustomPress you can list out stuff the way you want, and use this plugin, Taxonomy Picker to create detailed search options: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/taxonomy-picker/
I think that would be ideal in terms of flexibility and scale.
My 2 cents. Let me know what you think :)
Member (joined April 2012) Likes (0)
Thank you Arun for your comments.
It seems that CustomPress (and other plugins that provide similar functionality such as Types and Views) provide an easy to use front end (for admins) for manipulating custom field data types and viewing data.
Whereas BuddyPress xprofiles would require building a front end (again for admins) to accomplish all of the different types of fields and views that I would need.
I read of one WP coder, Alex, that significantly modified the functions.php just to get an image field. http://alextheafrican.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/how-to-add-an-image-field-to-buddypress-extended-profile-fields/
For my purposes I do not think it matters where the users custom profile data is stored as long as it is accessible and can scale.
The question is can a robust server handle thousands/tens of thousands of Custom Posts (one for each member) with hundreds of Custom Fields that need to be searched and displayed?
@ericslangley
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
Hi,
I hope you guys don't mind I'm jumping in but I am at the beginning of a new project and been trying to figure out the same thing for couple of days already. Using WP with custom fields seems to be much better of a choice for the main thing I really need from BP is the connection between users. To be able to add and message each other. I know I can use friends plugin but I really am trying to keep my project as a front end use project. Any suggestion of how I could give the option for users to add each other when viewing profiles in from end.
Member (joined April 2012) Likes (0)
@fitoussi
No problem here, the more the merrier.
I also found this really interesting recent discussion on the BP Dev blog about Custom Post Types and the future of BuddyPress.
http://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/custom-post-types-yesno/
My research to this point has identified that there is no "one" plugin that will do everything that needs to be done with Custom Posts and Fields.
There are several plugins, each of which do their thing a little bit differently...
BuddyPress Groups Extras http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-groups-extras/
WP Types and Views http://wp-types.com/
Advanced Custom Fields http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/
Fields http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/fields/
Taxonomy Picker http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/taxonomy-picker/
and of course CustomPress http://premium.wpmudev.org/project/custompress/
@ericslangley
Inactive (joined February 2012) Likes (0)
Hello Eric,
The question is can a robust server handle thousands/tens of thousands of Custom Posts (one for each member) with hundreds of Custom Fields that need to be searched and displayed?
Depending on your server, this would vary. Again depends on the number of users handling it at the same time.
1000 users would be a breeze on any quality hosting, but when it comes to 10,000 you would need to go for some level of optimization, maybe a CDN and a VPS for smooth operations.
I have been very happy with Host Gator and I would totally recommend it. They do have VPS and Dedicated servers, so when you need you need to move, they can do the switch for you.
Start with Shared, and then move to VPS :)
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