Attention

TYPO3 v6 has reached its end-of-life April 18th, 2017 and is not maintained by the community anymore. Looking for a stable version? Use the version switch on the top left.

There is no further ELTS support. It is strongly recommended updating your project.

Using TCEmain in scripts

It's really easy to use the class \TYPO3\CMS\Core\DataHandling\DataHandler in your own scripts. All you need to do is include the class, build a $data/$cmd array you want to pass to the class and call a few methods.

Important

Mind that these scripts have to be run in the backend scope! There must be a global $BE_USER object.

In your script you simply insert this line to include the class:

What follows are a few code listings with comments which will provide you with enough knowledge to get started. It is assumed that you have populated the $data and $cmd arrays correctly prior to these chunks of code. The syntax for these two arrays is explained in the previous chapter.

TCEmain examples

Submitting data

This is the most basic example of how to submit data into the database. It is four lines. Line 1 instantiates the class, line 2 defines that values will be provided without escaped characters (recommended!), line 3 registers the $data array inside the class and initializes the class internally! Finally line 4 will execute the data submission.

1$tce = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance('TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\DataHandling\\DataHandler');
2$tce->stripslashes_values = 0;
3$tce->start($data, array());
4$tce->process_datamap();

Executing commands

The most basic way of executing commands. Line 1 creates the object, line 2 defines that values will be provided without escaped characters (recommended), line 3 registers the $cmd array inside the class and initializes the class internally! Finally line 4 will execute the commands.

1$tce = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance('TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\DataHandling\\DataHandler');
2$tce->stripslashes_values = 0;
3$tce->start(array(), $cmd);
4$tce->process_cmdmap();

Clearing cache

In this example the cache clearing API is used. No data is submitted, no commands executed. Still you will have to initialize the class by calling the start() method (which will initialize internal variables).

Note

Clearing a given cache is possible only for users that are "admin" or have specific permissions to do so.

1$tce = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance('TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\DataHandling\\DataHandler');
2$tce->start(array(), array());
3$tce->clear_cacheCmd('all');

Since TYPO3 CMS 6.2, caches are organized in groups. Clearing "all" caches will actually clear caches from the "all" group and not really all caches. Check the caching framework architecture section for more details about available caches and groups.

Complex data submission

Imagine the $data array something like this:

 1$data = array(
 2    'pages' => array(
 3        'NEW_1' => array(
 4            'pid' => 456,
 5            'title' => 'Title for page 1',
 6        ),
 7        'NEW_2' => array(
 8            'pid' => 456,
 9            'title' => 'Title for page 2',
10        ),
11    )
12);

This aims to create two new pages in the page with uid "456". In the follow code this is submitted to the database. Notice how line 3 reverses the order of the array. This is done because otherwise "page 1" is created first, then "page 2" in the same PID meaning that "page 2" will end up above "page 1" in the order. Reversing the array will create "page 2" first and then "page 1" so the "expected order" is preserved.

Apart from this line 6 will send a "signal" that the page tree should be updated at the earliest occasion possible. Finally, the cache for all pages is cleared in line 7.

1$tce = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance('TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\DataHandling\\DataHandler');
2$tce->stripslashes_values = 0;
3$tce->reverseOrder = 1;
4$tce->start($data, array());
5$tce->process_datamap();
6\TYPO3\CMS\Backend\Utility\BackendUtility::setUpdateSignal('updatePageTree');
7$tce->clear_cacheCmd('pages');

Both data and commands executed with alternative user object

In this case it is shown how you can use the same object instance to submit both data and execute commands if you like. The order will depend on the order of line 4 and 5.

In line 3 the start() method is called, but this time with the third possible argument which is an alternative $BE_USER object. This allows you to force another backend user account to create stuff in the database. This may be useful in certain special cases. Normally you should not set this argument since you want TCE to use the global $BE\_USER.

1$tce = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance('TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\DataHandling\\DataHandler');
2$tce->stripslashes_values = 0;
3$tce->start($data, $cmd, $alternative_BE_USER);
4$tce->process_datamap();
5$tce->process_cmdmap();