BuddyPress 2.7 Released, Features Groups Query Overhaul and Improvements for Site Administrators

BuddyPress 2.7 “Migliaccio” was released yesterday, named after the family who runs Sam’s Restaurant in Brooklyn. The sign in front of the establishment features steaks and chops, but the restaurant’s pizza is “one of the great under-appreciated pies in all of NYC,” according to BuddyPress core developers.

This release is heavy on features for developers, in line with the project’s recent change of course. The BuddyPress core team is now focusing on the experience of developers and site builders, as opposed to providing something that is 100% turnkey.

Version 2.7 delivers significant performance improvements to sites that are using the Groups component. Group queries have been completely re-written to be less memory-intensive by following WordPress’ move to use the “split” model for object queries.

“The changes we’ve made for BP 2.7 should lead to a huge performance improvement on sites using persistent caching,” BuddyPress lead developer Boone Gorges said. “When querying groups, not only are group objects now fetched from the cache when available, but the ID queries themselves are cached as well.”

Version 2.7 is rather lean on user-facing features but one helpful addition is a new email token that makes it possible for users to unsubscribe from BuddyPress-generated emails. The unsubscribe links have been added to the emails that are listed on the email settings page.

This release also introduces many improvements for site administrators, which will make BuddyPress easier to manage and customize:

• Use WP Page Names for Headings of BP Directory Pages
  Whatever you choose as the title of your Activity, Sites, Members, or Groups directory pages on the back end, is what you’ll get as the heading on the front end.
• Use the Site Icon as Your Site’s Profile Photo
  BuddyPress sets the site admin’s profile photo as the default site profile photo on the Sites Directory page. You can now use the Site Icon introduced in WordPress 4.3 instead.
• Member Type and Group Type Filters in Users and Groups Admin Screens
  Easily filter your members and groups by type and set types in bulk on the users and groups list tables in the dashboard.
• Improved Profile Date Field
  New Date Field settings, “Date format” and “Range”, make it easier for site administrators to decide how date-based data will be collected and displayed.

This is the first release since the project’s new developer-oriented direction was announced. The improvements shipped in 2.7 reflect the core development team’s commitment to better serve those who are developing and managing BuddyPress sites. For a list of all the changes and links to documentation, check out the full 2.7 changelog.