---
title: "Feature: #95808 - Enable item groups from foreign tables"
manual: "TYPO3 Core Changelog"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/changelog:feature-95808-1702313827"
source: "Changelog/13.0/Feature-95808-EnableItemGroupsFromForeignTables.rst"
typo3-version: "13.0"
typo3-major: 13
type: "feature"
issue: 95808
forge: "https://forge.typo3.org/issues/95808"
tags: ["Backend", "TCA", "ext:backend"]
rendered: "2026-09-20T18:31:11+00:00"
---

# Feature: #95808 - Enable item groups from foreign tables {#feature-95808-1702313827}

See [forge#95808](https://forge.typo3.org/issues/95808)

## Description {#description}

A new TCA option `foreign_table_item_group` has been introduced for the TCA
types `select` and `category`. It allows extension authors to define a
specific field in the foreign table, holding an item group identifier.
As described in the [TCA reference](https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/reference-tca/main/en-us/ColumnsConfig/Type/Select/Single/Index.html#columns-select-properties-items),
this needs to be a `string`.

Therefore, it's now possible to also use the item groups feature, introduced
with [forge#91008](https://forge.typo3.org/issues/91008), for TCA columns with a foreign table lookup.

## Example {#example}

```php
'select_field' => [
    'label' => 'select_field',
    'config' => [
        'type' => 'select',
        'renderType' => 'selectSingle',
        'items' => [
            ['label' => 'static item 1', 'value' => 'static-1', 'group' => 'group1'],
        ],
        'itemGroups' => [
            'group1' => 'Group 1 with items',
            'group2' => 'Group 2 from foreign table',
        ],
        'foreign_table' => 'tx_extension_foreign_table',
        'foreign_table_item_group' => 'itemgroup'
    ],
],
```

In case the `foreign_table_item_group` field of a foreign record
contains an item group identifier, not set in the local `itemGroups`
configuration, the database value will be used as label in the select box,
as it's also the case for static items with a `group` set to a value,
which is not configured in `itemGroups`.

## Impact {#impact}

Using the new `foreign_table_item_group` TCA config option, it's now
possible to use the items group feature even for items from foreign tables.