Feature: #94622 - New TCA type "category"¶

Description¶

A new TCA field type called category has been added to TYPO3 Core. Its main purpose is to simplify the TCA configuration when adding a category tree to a record. It therefore supersedes the \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Category\CategoryRegistry as well as the \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility->makeCategorizable(), which required creating a "TCA overrides" file.

Both, the CategoryRegistry as well as ExtensionManagementUtility->makeCategorizable() are going to be deprecated in the future.

While using the new type, TYPO3 takes care of generating the necessary TCA configuration and also adds the database column automatically. Developers only have to configure the TCA column and add it to the desired record types.

$GLOBALS['TCA'][$myTable]['columns']['categories'] = [
   'config' => [
      'type' => 'category'
   ]
];

\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addToAllTCAtypes($myTable, 'categories');

The above example does not contain the new option relationship since the the default is manyToMany. All possible values are:

• oneToOne: Stores the uid of the selected category. When using this relationship, maxitems=1 will automatically be added to the column configuration
• oneToMany: Stores the uids of selected categories in a comma-separated list
• manyToMany (default): Uses the intermediate table sys_category_record_mm and only stores the categories count on the local side. This is the use case, which was previously accomplished using ExtensionManagementUtility->makeCategorizable().

This means, the new type can not only be used with relationship=manyToMany as a replacement for makeCategorizable but can be used for other use cases too. In case a category tree is required, only allowing one category to be selected, the necessary configuration reduces to

$GLOBALS['TCA'][$myTable]['columns']['mainCategory'] = [
   'config' => [
      'type' => 'category',
      'relationship' => 'oneToOne'
   ]
];

All other relevant options, e.g. maxitems=1, are being set automatically.

Besides type and relationship, following type specific options are available:

• default
• exclusiveKeys: As known from renderType=selectTree
• treeConfig: As known from renderType=selectTree

It's possible to use TSconfig options, such as removeItems. However, adding static items with TSconfig is not implemented for this type. For such special cases, please continue using TCA type select.

The Override matrix - specifying the options which can be overridden in TSconfig - is extended for the new type. Following options can be overridden:

• size
• maxitems
• minitems
• readOnly
• treeConfig

<T3DataStructure>
    <ROOT>
        <TCEforms>
            <sheetTitle>aTitle</sheetTitle>
        </TCEforms>
        <type>array</type>
        <el>
            <categories>
                <TCEforms>
                    <config>
                        <type>category</type>
                    </config>
                </TCEforms>
            </categories>
        </el>
    </ROOT>
</T3DataStructure>

Impact¶

It's now possible to simplify the TCA configuration for category fields, using the new TCA type category.