How to show XenForo forum threads as WordPress blog comments
Table of Contents
- 2) Sync nodes to create new threads
- 3) Setup Thread comments
- 3a) Comments display
- 3b) Comments style
- 3c) Create Thread settings
- 4) How to run thread actions from the post editor
- Bonus: Sync log info
Masterfully connect forum threads and blog posts together with XFtoWP’s Thread comments tools. Create & connect threads, make post replies, and use thread replies as blog comments.
This guide will show you how to setup and use the powerful thread management tools that come in XFtoWP.
1) API key and permissions
To use the full range of features you must create a User key or Super key with thread:write, thread:read, and node:read permission scopes.
If you don’t need to create new threads from WordPress you can omit the thread:read and node:read permissions.
Read more:
2) Sync nodes to create new threads
To create a thread you must have a destination forum. You can add a list of node IDs you wish to post to in WP admin > XF > Site setup > Forums.
This step is optional if you do not have the thread:write permission.
3) Setup Thread comments
Now that setup is complete you can quickly configure the Thread comments settings to best fit your workflow. Let’s breakdown each section below.
3a) Comments display
You can insert thread comments into posts with various display settings. Choose between:
- Show after WP comments
- Replace WP comments
- Show thread + blog comments (tabs)
XFtoWP will load the forum comments into the post layout according to your selection.
Tip: if you show thread + blog comments, the one with the most replies will show first.
3b) Comments style
The comments style option allows you to toggle between the familiar Thread view or the minimal Comments view template. Both templates will blend well into your theme and suit different styles well.
Hide pinned post after thread gets reply
When a new thread has no replies yet you can choose to show the first “Pinned” post. Once the first post is made, remove the original post.
Refresh interval (minutes)
NOTE: The refresh interval setting has moved to the Site Setup panel.
Set the amount of time before each post should refresh the thread replies. All comment refreshes happen behind the scenes and are only performed once every X minutes you set here.
Replies per page
How many replies to show before showing the “load more comments” button. This is the amount of replies that will be reloaded per load. Note: as of version 1.0 only the first page of posts can be shown in thread comments.
Comment length
To shorten long replies you can set the character limit before showing the “click to expand” toggle button.
Filter messages
This is a handy option you can use to filter the content that displays in comments. For example, you can replace images and code snippets with a placeholder and even remove avatars to save extra HTTP requests.
3c) Create Thread settings
(Optional) You can configure settings that have to do with creating new threads. Configure a pre-set thread title with parsed variables, enable auto thread creation, and other default settings.
Auto create thread on post publish
If you want to post a new thread every time you publish a post you can enable that here. Once enabled, you always have the ability to disable this later on a post per post basis.
Post to default forum
Set a default forum a thread will post to every time you create a new thread. You can always change this post by post in the editor.
Default thread title & message
Combine bbCode and parsed variables to write automated titles and messages. By configuring these settings to your most likely workflow on each post, you can save lots of time cross-posting to your forum in the edit process.
Once you have adjusted the settings to your liking, click the “Save settings” button at the top of the XFtoWP admin panel. You can change these settings at any time by returning to this screen.
Now you can finally begin to create and connect threads from the WordPress post editor screen.
4) How to run thread actions from the post editor
From the Edit Post screen in the WordPress editor, look for the Post to forum meta box on the right sidebar. This meta box is supported in the Classic and Blocks editor.
As of XFtoWP 1.4.2 you can now create, connect, and reply to threads once you publish a post. Leave the Thread action meta box unselected or to “Do nothing” (if auto-thread is enabled) to not run any action on publish.
You can still manually run thread actions at any later time.
You can run the following thread actions:
- Create new thread
- Connect existing thread
- Reply to thread
If you have auto-create threads enabled, you will see the “Auto create thread” and “Do nothing” options from this list.
Create new thread
A new thread must have a title and a message attached to it, at minimum. You can enter custom thread text here or simply fallback to your thread defaults. Change the destination forum, adds tags, even stick and lock new threads.
Connect existing thread
To connect to an existing thread, simply copy the Thread ID from the thread link and paste it here.
Reply to thread
At any time you can make a post reply to any thread from this meta box. Simply enter the Thread ID of the destination thread, and of course reply text to make your post!
Finally, if a thread is connected to a post, the comments section will appear based on how you configured the settings in WP admin > XF > Thread comments. You can also turn off comments from the Discussion meta box.
Bonus: Sync log info
See which posts are connected to threads from WP admin > XF > Sync info.
