Finishers

The form framework ships a bunch of finishers, which will be briefly described here. For more details, please head to the API reference and check out the section regarding Finisher Options.

Note

Finishers are executed in the order defined in your form definition. This is especially important when you are using the Redirect finisher. Make sure this finisher is the very last one to be executed. The Redirect finisher stops the execution of all subsequent finishers in order to perform the redirect. I.e. finishers defined after the Redirect finisher will not be executed in any case.

Closure finisher

The ‘Closure finisher’ can only be used within forms that are created programmatically. It allows you to execute your own finisher code without implementing/ declaring a finisher.

Confirmation finisher

The ‘Confirmation finisher’ is a simple finisher that outputs a given text after the form has been submitted.

DeleteUploads finisher

The ‘DeleteUploads finisher’ removes submitted files. Use this finisher, for example, after the email finisher if you do not want to keep the files within your TYPO3 installation.

Note

Finishers are only executed on successfully submitted forms. If a user uploads a file but does not finish the form successfully, the uploaded files will not be deleted.

Email finisher

The ‘Email finisher’ sends an email to one recipient. EXT:form uses two EmailFinisher declarations with the identifiers EmailToReceiver and EmailToSender.

Use FluidEmail

FluidEmail allows to send mails in a standardized way. To use FluidEmail a new option useFluidEmail is added to both the EmailToReceiver and EmailToSender finisher. It defaults to FALSE so extension authors are able to smoothly test and upgrade their forms. Furthermore a new option title is available which can be used to add an email title to the default FluidEmail template. This option is capable of rendering form element variables using the known bracket syntax and can be overwritten in the FlexForm configuration of the form plugin.

To customize the templates being used following options can be set:

  • templateName: The template name (for both HTML and plaintext) without the extension
  • templateRootPaths: The paths to the templates
  • partialRootPaths: The paths to the partials
  • layoutRootPaths: The paths to the layouts

For FluidEmail, the field templatePathAndFilename is not evaluated anymore.

A finisher configuration could look like this:

identifier: contact
type: Form
prototypeName: standard
finishers:
-
  identifier: EmailToSender
  options:
    subject: 'Your Message: {message}'
    title: 'Hello {name}, your confirmation'
    templateName: ContactForm
    templateRootPaths:
      100: 'EXT:my_site_package/Resources/Private/Templates/Email/'
    partialRootPaths:
      100: 'EXT:my_site_package/Resources/Private/Partials/Email/'
    addHtmlPart: true
    useFluidEmail: true

Please note the old template name syntax {@format}.html does not work for FluidEmail as each format needs a different template with the corresponing file extension. In the example above the following files must exist in the specified template path:

  • ContactForm.html
  • ContactForm.txt

FlashMessage finisher

The ‘FlashMessage finisher’ is a simple finisher that adds a message to the FlashMessageContainer.

Redirect finisher

The ‘Redirect finisher’ is a simple finisher that redirects to another page. Additional link parameters can be added to the URL.

Note

This finisher stops the execution of all subsequent finishers in order to perform the redirect. Therefore, this finisher should always be the last finisher to be executed.

SaveToDatabase finisher

The ‘SaveToDatabase finisher’ saves the data of a submitted form into a database table.

Here is an example for adding uploads to ext:news (fal_related_files and fal_media).

-
  identifier: SaveToDatabase
  options:
    -
      table: tx_news_domain_model_news
      mode: insert
      elements:
        my-field:
          mapOnDatabaseColumn: bodytext
        imageupload-1:
          mapOnDatabaseColumn: fal_media
        fileupload-1:
          mapOnDatabaseColumn: fal_related_files
      databaseColumnMappings:
        pid:
          value: 3
        tstamp:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        datetime:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        crdate:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        hidden:
          value: 1
    -
      table: sys_file_reference
      mode: insert
      elements:
        imageupload-1:
          mapOnDatabaseColumn: uid_local
          skipIfValueIsEmpty: true
      databaseColumnMappings:
        table_local:
          value: sys_file
        tablenames:
          value: tx_news_domain_model_news
        fieldname:
          value: fal_media
        tstamp:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        crdate:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        showinpreview:
          value: 1
        uid_foreign:
          value: '{SaveToDatabase.insertedUids.0}'
    -
      table: sys_file_reference
      mode: insert
      elements:
        fileupload-1:
          mapOnDatabaseColumn: uid_local
          skipIfValueIsEmpty: true
      databaseColumnMappings:
        table_local:
          value: sys_file
        tablenames:
          value: tx_news_domain_model_news
        fieldname:
          value: fal_related_files
        tstamp:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        crdate:
          value: '{__currentTimestamp}'
        uid_foreign:
          value: '{SaveToDatabase.insertedUids.0}'
    -
      table: sys_file_reference
      mode: update
      whereClause:
        uid_foreign: '{SaveToDatabase.insertedUids.0}'
        uid_local: 0
      databaseColumnMappings:
         pid:
           value: 0
         uid_foreign:
           value: 0

Translation of finisher options

To learn more about this topic, please continue here.

Write a custom finisher

If you want to make the finisher configurable in the backend UI read here.

Finishers are defined as part of a prototype within a finishersDefinition. The property implementationClassName is to be utilized to load the finisher implementation.

TYPO3:
  CMS:
    Form:
      prototypes:
        standard:
          finishersDefinition:
            CustomFinisher:
              implementationClassName: 'VENDOR\MySitePackage\Domain\Finishers\CustomFinisher'

If the finisher requires options, you can define those within the options property. The options will be used as default values and can be overridden using the form definition.

Define the default value:

TYPO3:
  CMS:
    Form:
      prototypes:
        standard:
          finishersDefinition:
            CustomFinisher:
              implementationClassName: 'VENDOR\MySitePackage\Domain\Finishers\CustomFinisher'
              options:
                yourCustomOption: 'Ralf'

Override the option using the form definition:

identifier: sample-form
label: 'Simple Contact Form'
prototype: standard
type: Form

finishers:
  -
    identifier: CustomFinisher
    options:
      yourCustomOption: 'Björn'

renderables:
  ...

Each finisher has to be programmed to the interface TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\FinisherInterface and should extend the class TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\AbstractFinisher. In doing so, the logic of the finisher should start with the method executeInternal().

Accessing finisher options

If your finisher extends TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\AbstractFinisher, you can access your finisher options with the help of the parseOption() method:

$yourCustomOption = $this->parseOption('yourCustomOption');

parseOption() is looking for ‘yourCustomOption’ in your form definition. If it cannot be found, the method checks

  1. the prototype configuration for a default value,

  2. the finisher class itself by searching for a default value within the $defaultOptions property:

    declare(strict_types = 1);
namespace VENDOR\MySitePackage\Domain\Finishers;

class CustomFinisher extends \TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\AbstractFinisher
{

    protected $defaultOptions = [
        'yourCustomOption' => 'Olli',
    ];

    // ...
}

If the option cannot be found by processing this fallback chain, null is returned.

If the option is found, the process checks whether the option value will access FormRuntime values. If the FormRuntime returns a positive result, it is checked whether the option value can access values of preceding finishers. At the very end, it tries to translate the finisher options.

Accessing form runtime values

By utilizing a specific notation, finisher options can be populated with submitted form values (assuming you are using the parseOption() method). You can access values of the FormRuntime and thus values of each single form element by encapsulating the option values with {}. If there is a form element with the identifier ‘subject’, you can access its value within the finisher configuration. Check out the following example to get the whole idea.

identifier: simple-contact-form
label: 'Simple Contact Form'
prototype: standard
type: Form

finishers:
  -
    identifier: Custom
    options:
      yourCustomOption: '{subject}'

renderables:
  -
    identifier: subject
    label: 'Subject'
    type: Text

// $yourCustomOption contains the value of the form element with the
// identifier 'subject'
$yourCustomOption = $this->parseOption('yourCustomOption');

In addition, you can use {__currentTimestamp} as a special option value. It will return the current UNIX timestamp.

Finisher Context

The class TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\FinisherContext takes care of transferring a finisher context to each finisher. Given the finisher is derived from TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\AbstractFinisher the finisher context will be available via:

$this->finisherContext

The method cancel prevents the execution of successive finishers:

$this->finisherContext->cancel();

The method getFormValues returns all of the submitted form values.

getFormValues:

$this->finisherContext->getFormValues();

The method getFormRuntime returns the FormRuntime:

$this->finisherContext->getFormRuntime();

Share data between finishers

The method getFinisherVariableProvider returns an object (TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\FinisherVariableProvider) which allows you to store data and transfer it to other finishers. The data can be easily accessed programmatically or within your configuration:

$this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider();

The data is stored within the FinisherVariableProvider and is addressed by a user-defined ‘finisher identifier’ and a custom option value path. The name of the ‘finisher identifier’ should consist of the name of the finisher without the potential ‘Finisher’ appendix. If your finisher is derived from the class TYPO3\CMS\Form\Domain\Finishers\AbstractFinisher, the name of this construct is stored in the following variable:

$this->shortFinisherIdentifier

For example, if the name of your finisher class is ‘CustomFinisher’, the mentioned variable will contain the value ‘Custom’.

There are a bunch of methods to access and manage the finisher data:

  • Add data:

    $this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider()->add(
    $this->shortFinisherIdentifier,
    'unique.value.identifier',
    $value
);

  • Get data:

    $this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider()->get(
    $this->shortFinisherIdentifier,
    'unique.value.identifier',
    'default value'
);

  • Check the existence of data:

    $this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider()->exists(
    $this->shortFinisherIdentifier,
    'unique.value.identifier'
);

  • Delete data:

    $this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider()->remove(
    $this->shortFinisherIdentifier,
    'unique.value.identifier'
);

In this way, each finisher can access data programmatically. Moreover, it is possible to retrieve the data via configuration, provided that a finisher stores the values within the FinisherVariableProvider.

Assuming that a finisher called ‘Custom’ sets data as follows:

$this->finisherContext->getFinisherVariableProvider()->add(
    $this->shortFinisherIdentifier,
    'unique.value.identifier',
    'Wouter'
);

… you are now able to access the value ‘Wouter’ via {Custom.unique.value.identifier} in any other finisher.

identifier: sample-form
label: 'Simple Contact Form'
prototype: standard
type: Form

finishers:
  -
    identifier: Custom
    options:
      yourCustomOption: 'Frans'

  -
    identifier: SomeOtherStuff
    options:
      someOtherCustomOption: '{Custom.unique.value.identifier}'

Add finisher to backend UI

After adding a custom finisher you can also add the finisher to the form editor GUI to let your backend users configure it visually. Add the following to the backend yaml setup:

TYPO3:
   CMS:
    Form:
      prototypes:
        standard:
          formElementsDefinition:
            Form:
              formEditor:
                editors:
                  900:
                    # Extend finisher drop down
                    selectOptions:
                      35:
                        value: 'CustomFinisher'
                        label: 'Custom Finisher'
                propertyCollections:
                  finishers:
                     # add finisher fields
                     25:
                        identifier: 'CustomFinisher'
                        editors:
                           __inheritances:
                              10: 'TYPO3.CMS.Form.mixins.formElementMixins.BaseCollectionEditorsMixin'
                           100:
                             label: "Custom Finisher"
                           # custom field (input, required)
                           110:
                             identifier: 'customField'
                             templateName: 'Inspector-TextEditor'
                             label: 'Custom Field'
                             propertyPath: 'options.customField'
                             propertyValidators:
                               10: 'NotEmpty'
                           # email field
                           120:
                             identifier: 'email'
                             templateName: 'Inspector-TextEditor'
                             label: 'Subscribers email'
                             propertyPath: 'options.email'
                             enableFormelementSelectionButton: true
                             propertyValidators:
                               10: 'NotEmpty'
                               20: 'FormElementIdentifierWithinCurlyBracesInclusive'

             finishersDefinition:
               CustomFinisher:
                 formEditor:
                   iconIdentifier: 'form-finisher'
                   label: 'Custom Finisher'
                   predefinedDefaults:
                     options:
                       customField: ''
                       email: ''
                 # displayed when overriding finisher settings
                 FormEngine:
                   label: 'Custom Finisher'
                   elements:
                     customField:
                       label: 'Custom Field'
                       config:
                         type: 'text'
                     email:
                       label: 'Subscribers email'
                       config:
                         type: 'text'

Make sure the setup file is registered in the backend:

module.tx_form.settings.yamlConfigurations {
   123456789 = EXT:yourExtension/Configuration/Form/Backend.yaml
}