How To Get URL To Post Author's User BuddyPres

Question

The Question

How to get just the URL to a post author's avatar?

The Requirements

I want the url to the image that is hosted on my website.

Image will be called in the loop of a post.

The author of the post is the person whose avatar image I wish to display.

What I've Tried

A bunch of things, but mainly <?php echo get_avatar_url('user_email'); ?>

It returns a url to the default 'mystery man' image hosted by Gravatar despite their being an avatar uploaded to my site for this test user.

Clarification

I don't want a Gravatar hosted image.

To Reference

Wordpress code reference for get_avatar_url()

There is currently no completed Wordpress Codex entry for it

Concerns

I'm beginning to think with all the WP ambiguity between avatar and Gravatar that get_avatar_url is solely for Gravatar images which are of course only available to Gravatar registered users. Hopefully someone can tell me I am wrong.

Of Possible Interest

• Website uses Buddypress

• This websites Buddypress installation uses custom avatar sizes

• This website uses its own custom theme

• User has avatar uploaded to website

• User does not have a gravatar account (testing without as most users wont have gravatar accounts. I dont want most users to have mystery men in place of their avatars)

• The following code works fine to pull the website hosted avatar (but of course outputs the image tag and classes, not the pure url that i require)

  <?php echo get_avatar( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ), 180 ); ?>
  

Answer 1

There doesn't seem to be an documentation around this, so no wonder it has been challenging.

In order to retrieve the BuddyPress avatar URL, use the function like so:

// Assuming $user_id is the id for the desired user
echo bp_core_fetch_avatar ( 
    array(  'item_id' => $user_id, // id of user for desired avatar
            'type'    => 'full',
            'html'   => FALSE     // FALSE = return url, TRUE (default) = return img html
    ) 
);

Here is the documentation (formatted a bit by me) from the source php file:

Documentation

bp_core_fetch_avatar( $args );

Return: string Formatted HTML <img> element, or raw avatar URL based on $html arg.

Description:

Get an avatar for a BuddyPress object. Supports avatars for users, groups, and blogs by default, but can be extended to support custom components as well.

This function gives precedence to locally-uploaded avatars. When a local avatar is not found, Gravatar is queried.

Usage

<?php  bp_core_fetch_avatar( $args ); ?>

Default Usage:

<?php  $args = array(
    'item_id'       => false,
    'object'        => 'user',
    'type'          => 'thumb',
    'avatar_dir'    => false,
    'width'         => false,
    'height'        => false,
    'class'         => 'avatar',
    'css_id'        => false,
    'title'         => false,
    'alt'           => '',
    'email'         => false,
    'no_grav'       => false,
    'html'          => true,
    'extra_attr'    => '',
    'scheme'        => null,
    'rating'        => {setting for 'avatar rating' option},
    'force_default' => false
);

bp_core_fetch_avatar( $args ); ?>

Parameters:

All arguments are technically optional; some will, if not provided, be auto-detected by bp_core_fetch_avatar(). This auto-detection is described more below, when discussing specific arguments.

item_id
(int|bool) The numeric ID of the item for which you're requesting an avatar (eg, a user ID). If no 'item_id' is present, the function attempts to infer an ID from the 'object' + the current context: if 'object' is 'user' and the current page is a user page, 'item_id' will default to the displayed user ID; if 'group' and on a group page, to the current group ID; if 'blog', to the current blog's ID. If no 'item_id' can be determined in this way, the function returns false. Default: false.

$object
(string) The kind of object for which you're getting an avatar. BuddyPress natively supports three options: 'user', 'group', 'blog'; a plugin may register more. Default: 'user'.

$type
(string) When a new avatar is uploaded to BP, 'thumb' and 'full' versions are saved. This parameter specifies whether you'd like the 'full' or smaller 'thumb' avatar. Default: 'thumb'.

$avatar_dir
(string|bool) (auto-detected) The name of the subdirectory where the requested avatar should be found. If no value is passed, 'avatar_dir' is inferred from 'object': 'user' becomes 'avatars', 'group' becomes 'group-avatars', 'blog' becomes 'blog-avatars'.

Remember that this string denotes a subdirectory of BP's main avatar directory (usually based on {@link wp_upload_dir()}); it's a string like 'group-avatars' rather than the full directory path. Generally, it'll only be necessary to override the default value if storing avatars in a non-default location. Default: false.

$width
(int|bool) (auto-detected) Requested avatar width. The unit is px. This value is used to build the 'width' attribute for the <img> element. If no value is passed, BP uses the global avatar width for this avatar type. Default: false.

$height
(int|bool) (auto-detected) Requested avatar height. The unit is px. This value is used to build the 'height' attribute for the <img> element. If no value is passed, BP uses the global avatar height for this avatar type. Default: false.

$class (string) The CSS class for the <img> element. Note that BP uses the 'avatar' class fairly extensively in its default styling, so if you plan to pass a custom value, consider appending it to 'avatar' (eg 'avatar foo') rather than replacing it altogether. Default: 'avatar'.

$css_id (string|bool) The CSS id for the <img> element. Default: false.

$title (string) The title attribute for the <img> element. Default: false.

$alt (string) The alt attribute for the <img> element. In BP, this value is generally passed by the wrapper functions, where the data necessary for concatenating the string is at hand; see {@link bp_get_activity_avatar()} for an example. Default: ''.

$email
(string|bool) An email to use in Gravatar queries. Unless otherwise configured, BP uses Gravatar as a fallback for avatars that are not provided locally. Gravatar's API requires using a hash of the user's email address; this argument provides it. If not provided, the function will infer it: for users, by getting the user's email from the database, for groups/blogs, by concatenating "{$item_id}-{$object}@{bp_get_root_domain()}". The user query adds overhead, so it's recommended that wrapper functions provide a value for 'email' when querying user IDs. Default: false.

$no_grav (bool) Whether to disable the default Gravatar fallback. By default, BP will fall back on Gravatar when it cannot find a local avatar. In some cases, this may be undesirable, in which case 'no_grav' should be set to true. To disable Gravatar fallbacks globally, see the 'bp_core_fetch_avatar_no_grav' filter. Default: false.

$html
(bool) Whether to return an <img> HTML element, vs a raw URL to an avatar. If false, <img>-specific arguments (like 'css_id') will be ignored. Default: true.

$extra_attr (string) HTML attributes to insert in the IMG element. Not sanitized. Default: ''.

$scheme
(string) URL scheme to use. See set_url_scheme() for accepted values. Default null.

$rating (string) What rating to display Gravatars for. Accepts 'G', 'PG', 'R', 'X'. Default is the value of the 'avatar_rating' option.

$force_default (bool) Used when creating the Gravatar URL. Whether to force the default image regardless if the Gravatar exists. Default: false.

Notes:

To disable Gravatar query fallbacks locally, add this filter:

add_filter( 'bp_core_fetch_avatar_no_grav', '__return_true' );

Answer 2

I'm not sure this answer was incorporated into Cale's answer so I've undeleted it in case it's of use to anyone else.

in the loop (in say single.php)

<img class="" src="<?php 
$authorUserID = get_the_author_meta('ID');  // get the user id of the post author
echo bp_core_fetch_avatar ( 
    array(  'item_id'   => $authorUserID,       // output user id of post author
            'type'      => 'full',
            'html'      => FALSE               // FALSE = return url, TRUE (default) = return url wrapped with html and css classes
    ) 
); 
?>">

or call from functions.php file in theme folder

the call (from your loop in say single.php)

<?php custom_get_author_avatar_url(); ?>

the function (place in functions.php)

function custom_get_author_avatar_url() {
    $authorUserID = get_the_author_meta('ID');  // get the user id of the post author
    echo bp_core_fetch_avatar ( 
    array(  'item_id'   => $authorUserID,       // output user id of post author
            'type'      => 'full',
            'html'      => FALSE            // FALSE = return url, TRUE (default) = return url wrapped with html and css classes
    ) 
    ); 
}