Common Members plugin problems

PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object

Generally, this error will look something like:

PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in .../wp-content/plugins/members/inc/template.php on line 95

Basically, this happens when another plugin or your theme calls the_content(), the_excerpt(), or a similar function outside of The Loop context. This is incorrect behavior.

You’ll need to find the culprit and notify the plugin/theme author of the issue. Or, pass the info along to me, and I’ll get in touch with them.

Also, this often happens when plugins do something like:

apply_filters( 'the_content', $something_that_is_not_post_content );

See why that’s bad: https://themehybrid.com/weblog/how-to-apply-content-filters

Conflict with Gravity Forms

There is not conflict between Members and Gravity Forms. Really. Trust me on this one.

GF has some special code in the plugin that doesn’t set certain capabilities if it detects that Members is activate. This is so that you have more control. I’m not intimately familiar with how all that works (not a GF plugin developer). However, the GF team can help you set that up and probably has existing documentation on that.

Content Permissions not working

First, let me be clear that the Content Permissions feature only deals with the output of your content on the front end of your site. It doesn’t change who can edit the post.

Additionally, Content Permissions only blocks the post content, post excerpt, and post comments. It doesn’t block anything else, such as the title or custom fields. So, if the custom post type of [insert plugin name] doesn’t have all its content hidden, there’s nothing Members can do about that because it doesn’t know about these custom fields from the other plugin. You or someone will need to build an integration layer between the two.

If the content is not being blocked on the front end of your site for some reason, there’s a 99% chance that the following is one of the reasons:

1. The user does in fact have permission to view the post (re-check).
2. Your theme is not correctly using the_content(), the_excerpt(), and/or other post-related functions.
3. You have another plugin doing something that it shouldn’t be doing.

Everyone gets redirected to the login screen

If everyone who visits your site is getting redirected to the login screen, it means you have the Private Site feature enabled (it’s disabled by default).

Simply go to Settings > Members in your WordPress admin and uncheck the box for the Private Site feature.

I need to give [insert plugin name] access to another user

That all depends on the specific plugin. Most plugins put their permissions under the standard manage_options capability if it’s just a basic settings screen. Some plugins have custom capabilities for one or more tasks.

Members is not an “admin access” plugin. It simply allows you to assign or remove capabilities from roles. It’s up to third-party plugin developers to define custom capabilities so that you can control access with a role management plugin like Members.

You’ll need to talk to the plugin developer about this. Ask them what the capability is that you need. Just keep in mind that if that cap is manage_options, it’ll give users access to core WP setting screens and other plugins.