PHP API: accessing site configuration

The PHP API for sites comes in two parts:

Accessing the current, resolved site object
Finding a site object / configuration via a page or identifier

The first case is relevant when we want to access the site configuration in the current request, for example, if we want to know which language is currently rendered.

The second case is about accessing site configuration options independent of the current request but based on a page ID or a site identifier.

Let us look at both cases in detail.

Accessing the current site object

When rendering the frontend or backend, TYPO3 builds an HTTP request object through a PSR-15 middleware stack and enriches it with information. Part of that information are the objects \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\Site and \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\SiteLanguage . Both objects are available as attributes in the current request object.

Depending on the context, there are two main ways to access them:

via the PSR-7 HTTP request object directly - for example in a PSR-15 middleware, an Extbase controller or a user function.
via $GLOBALS['TYPO3_REQUEST'] - everywhere you do not have a request object.

Hint

The first method is preferred if possible as $GLOBALS['TYPO3_REQUEST'] was deprecated in TYPO3 v9.2 and will be removed in a future version.

Methods:

EXT:my_extension/Classes/MyClass.php

// current site
$site = $request->getAttribute('site');

// current site language
$siteLanguage = $request->getAttribute('language');

Changed in version 11.3

The Extbase request class implements the PSR-7 \Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface . Therefore you can retrieve all needed attributes from the request object.

Finding a site object

When you need to access the site configuration for a specific page ID or by a site identifier, you can use the class \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\SiteFinder .

The methods for finding a specific site throw a \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Exception\SiteNotFoundException if no site was found.

API

class SiteFinder

Fully qualified name: \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\SiteFinder

Is used in backend and frontend for all places where to read / identify sites and site languages.

getAllSites ( bool $useCache = true)

Return a list of all configured sites

param bool $useCache: the useCache, default: true
returntype: array

getSiteByIdentifier ( string $identifier)

Find a site by given identifier

param string $identifier: the identifier
returntype: TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\Site

getSiteByPageId ( int $pageId, array $rootLine = NULL, string $mountPointParameter = NULL)

Traverses the rootline of a page up until a Site was found.

param int $pageId: the pageId
param array $rootLine: the rootLine, default: NULL
param string $mountPointParameter: the mountPointParameter, default: NULL
returntype: TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\Site

The site object

A \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\Site object gives access to the site configuration options via

getConfiguration(): returns the complete configuration
getAttribute(): returns a specific configuration attribute (root level configuration only)

Additionally, the site object provides methods for accessing related objects (languages / errorHandling):

getErrorHandler(): returns a PageErrorHandler according to the site configuration
getAvailableLanguages(): returns languages available to a user (including access checks)
getLanguageById(): returns a site language object for a language ID
...

Take a look at the class to find out more: EXT:core/Classes/Site/Entity/Site.php (GitHub).

The site language object

The SiteLanguage object is basically a simple model that represents the configuration options of the site regarding language as an object and provides getters for those properties.

See EXT:core/Classes/Site/Entity/SiteLanguage.php (GitHub).