DataHandler basics
Introduction
When you are using DataHandler from your backend applications you need to
prepare two arrays of information which contain the instructions to
DataHandler (\TYPO3\
)
of what actions to perform. They fall into two categories:
data and commands.
"Data" is when you want to write information to a database table or create a new record.
"Commands" is when you want to move, copy or delete a record in the system.
The data and commands are created as multidimensional arrays, and to understand the API of DataHandler you need to understand the hierarchy of these two arrays.
Caution
The DataHandler needs a properly configured TCA. If
your field is not configured in the TCA the DataHandler will not be able to
interact with it. This also is the case if you configured
"type"="none"
(which is in fact a valid type) or if an invalid
type is specified. In that case, the DataHandler is not
able to determine the correct value of the field.
Basic usage
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace MyVendor\MyExtension\DataHandling;
use TYPO3\CMS\Core\DataHandling\DataHandler;
use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility;
final class MyClass
{
public function basicUsage(): void
{
/** @var DataHandler $dataHandler */
// Do not inject or reuse the DataHander as it holds state!
// Do not use `new` as GeneralUtility::makeInstance handles dependencies
$dataHandler = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(DataHandler::class);
$cmd = [];
$data = [];
$dataHandler->start($data, $cmd);
// ... do something more ...
}
}
After this initialization you usually want to perform the actual operations by calling one (or both) of these two methods:
$this->dataHandler->process_datamap();
$this->dataHandler->process_cmdmap();
Note
Any error that might have occurred during your DataHandler operations can be
accessed via its public property $this->data
.
See Error handling.
Commands array
Syntax:
$cmd[ tablename ][ uid ][ command ] = value
Description of keywords in syntax:
tablename
-
- Data type
- string
Name of the database table. It must be configured in the
$GLOBALS
array, otherwise it cannot be processed.['TCA']
uid
-
- Data type
- integer
The UID of the record that is manipulated. This is always an integer.
command
-
- Data type
- string (command keyword)
The command type you want to execute.
Note
Only one command can be executed at a time for each record! The first command in the array will be taken.
value
-
- Data type
- mixed
The value for the command.
Command keywords and values
copy
-
- Data type
- integer or array
The significance of the value depends on whether it is positive or negative:
- Positive value
- The value points to a page UID. A copy of the record (and possibly child elements/tree below) will be inserted inside that page as the first element.
- Negative value
- The (absolute) value points to another record from the same table as the record being copied. The new record will be inserted on the same page as that record and if $GLOBALS['TCA'][$table]['ctrl']['sortby'] is set, then it will be positioned after.
- Zero value
- Record is inserted on tree root level.
- array
-
The array has to contain the integer value as in examples above and may contain field => value pairs for updates. The array is structured like:
[ 'action' => 'paste', // 'paste' is used for both move and copy commands 'target' => $pUid, // Defines the page to insert the record, or record uid to copy after 'update' => $update, // Array with field => value to be updated. ]
Copied!
move
-
- DataType
- integer
Works like copy but moves the record instead of making a copy.
delete
-
- Data Type
- integer (1)
Value should always be "1".
This action will delete the record (or mark the record "deleted", if configured in $GLOBALS['TCA'][$table]['ctrl']['delete']).
undelete
-
- Data Type
- integer (1)
Value should always be "1".
This action will set the "deleted" flag back to 0.
localize
-
- Data type
- integer
The value is the
language
(defined in the site configuration) to localize the record into. Basically a localization of a record is making a copy of the record (possibly excluding certain fields defined with l10n_mode) but changing relevant fields to point to the right language ID.Id Requirements for a successful localization is this:
[ctrl]
options languageField and transOrigPointerField must be defined for the table- A
language
must be configured in the site configuration.Id - The record to be localized by currently be set to default language
and not have any value set for the TCA
trans
either.Orig Pointer Field - There cannot exist another localization to the given language for the record (looking in the original record PID).
Apart from this, ordinary permissions apply as if the user wants to make a copy of the record on the same page.
The
localize
DataHandler command should be used when translating records in "connected mode" (strict translation of records from the default language). This command is used when selecting the "Translate" strategy in the content elements translation wizard.
copyToLanguage
-
- Data type
- integer
It behaves like localize command (both record and child records are copied to given language), but does not set transOrigPointerField fields (for example,
l10n_
).parent The
copy
command should be used when localizing records in the "free mode". This command is used when localizing content elements using translation wizard's "Copy" strategy.To Language
inlineLocalizeSynchronize
-
- Data type
- array
Performs localization or synchronization of child records. The command structure is like:
$cmd['tt_content'][13]['inlineLocalizeSynchronize'] = [ // 13 is a parent record uid 'field' => 'tx_myfieldname', // field we want to synchronize 'language' => 2, // uid of the target language // either the key 'action' or 'ids' must be set 'action' => 'localize' // or 'synchronize' 'ids' => [1, 2, 3] // array of child IDs to be localized ]
Copied!
version
-
- Data type
- array
Versioning action.
Note
This section is currently outdated.
Keys:
- [action]
-
Keyword determining the versioning action. Options are:
- "new"
-
Indicates that a new version of the record should be created. Additional keys, specific for "new" action:
- [treeLevels]
-
(Only pages) Integer, -1 to 4, indicating the number of levels of the page tree to version together with a page. This is also referred to as the versioning type:
- -1 ("element") means only the page record gets versioned (default)
- 0 ("page") means the page + content tables (defined by ctrl
flag
versioning_
)follow Pages - >0 ("branch") means the the whole branch is versioned
(full copy of all tables), down to the level indicated by
the value (1 = 1 level down, 2 = 2 levels down, etc.). The
treeLevel is recorded in the field
t3ver_
and will be observed when the record is swapped during publishing.swapmode
- [label]
- Indicates the version label to apply. If not given, a standard label including version number and date is added.
- "swap"
-
Indicates that the current online version should be swapped with another. Additional keys, specific for "swap" action:
- [swapWith]
- Indicates the uid of the record to swap current version with!
- [swapIntoWS]
- Boolean, indicates that when a version is published it should be swapped into the workspace of the offline record.
- "clearWSID"
- Indicates that the workspace of the record should be set to zero (0). This removes versions out of workspaces without publishing them.
- "flush"
- Completely deletes a version without publishing it.
- "setStage"
-
Sets the stage of an element. Special feature: The id key in the array can be a comma-separated list of ids in order to perform the stageChange over a number of records. Also, the internal variable ->generalComment (also available through `/record/commit` route as `&generalComment`) can be used to set a default comment for all stage changes of an instance of the data handler. Additional keys for this action are:
- [stageId]
-
Values are:
- -1 (rejected)
- 0 (editing, default)
- 1 (review),
- 10 (publish)
- [comment]
- Comment string that goes into the log.
Examples of commands
$cmd['tt_content'][54]['delete'] = 1; // Deletes tt_content record with uid=54
$cmd['tt_content'][1203]['copy'] = -303; // Copies tt_content uid=1203 to the position after tt_content uid=303 (new record will have the same pid as tt_content uid=1203)
$cmd['tt_content'][1203]['copy'] = 400; // Copies tt_content uid=1203 to first position in page uid=400
$cmd['tt_content'][1203]['move'] = 400; // Moves tt_content uid=1203 to the first position in page uid=400
Accessing the uid of copied records
The Data
keeps track of records created by copy
operations in its $copy
property. This
property is public but marked as @internal
. So it is subject to change
in future TYPO3 versions without notice.
The $copy
property can be used to determine the UID
of a record copy based on the UID of the copied record.
Caution
The $copy
property should not be mixed up with
the $copy
property which contains only information
about the last copy operation and is cleared between each operation.
The structure of the $copy
property looks like this:
$copyMappingArray_merged = [
<table> => [
<original-record-uid> => <record-copy-uid>,
],
];
The property contains the names of the manipulated tables as keys and a map of original record UIDs and UIDs of record copies as values.
$cmd['tt_content'][1203]['copy'] = 400; // Copies tt_content uid=1203 to first position in page uid=400
$this->dataHandler->start([], $cmd);
$this->dataHandler->process_cmdmap();
$uid = $this->dataHandler->copyMappingArray_merged['tt_content'][1203];
Data array
Syntax: $data
Description of keywords in syntax:
tablename
-
- Data type
- string
Name of the database table. There must be a configuration for the table in
$GLOBALS
array, otherwise it cannot be processed.['TCA']
uid
-
- Data type
- string|int
The UID of the record that is modified. If the record already exists, this is an integer.
If you are creating new records, use a random string prefixed with
NEW
, for example,NEW7342abc5e6d
. You can use static strings (NEW1
,NEW2
, ...) or generate them using\TYPO3\
.CMS\ Core\ Utility\ String Utility:: get Unique Id ('NEW')
fieldname
-
- Data type
- string
Name of the database field you want to set a value for. The columns of the table must be configured in $GLOBALS['TCA'][$table]['columns'].
value
-
- Data type
- string
Value for "fieldname".
For fields of type inline this is a comma-separated list of UIDs of referenced records.
Note
For FlexForms the data array of the FlexForm field is deeper than three levels. The number of possible levels for FlexForms is infinite and defined by the data structure of the FlexForm. But FlexForm fields always end with a "regular value" of course.
Caution
Changed in version 13.0.1/12.4.11/11.5.35
Modifying the sys_
table using DataHandler is blocked since TYPO3
version 11.5.35, 12.4.11, and 13.0.1. The table
should not be extended and additional fields should be added to
sys_
. See security advisory TYPO3-CORE-SA-2024-006
for more information.
Examples of data submission
This creates a new page titled "The page title" as the first page inside page id 45:
$data['pages']['NEW9823be87'] = [
'title' => 'The page title',
'subtitle' => 'Other title stuff',
'pid' => '45'
];
This creates a new page titled "The page title" right after page id 45 in the tree:
$data['pages']['NEW9823be87'] = [
'title' => 'The page title',
'subtitle' => 'Other title stuff',
'pid' => '-45'
];
This creates two new pages right after each other, located right after the page id 45:
$data['pages']['NEW9823be87'] = [
'title' => 'Page 1',
'pid' => '-45'
];
$data['pages']['NEWbe68s587'] = [
'title' => 'Page 2',
'pid' => '-NEW9823be87'
];
Notice how the second "pid" value points to the "NEW..." id placeholder of the first record. This works because the new id of the first record can be accessed by the second record. However it works only when the order in the array is as above since the processing happens in that order!
This creates a new content record with references to existing and one new system category:
$data['sys_category']['NEW9823be87'] = [
'title' => 'New category',
'pid' => 1,
];
$data['tt_content']['NEWbe68s587'] = [
'header' => 'Look ma, categories!',
'pid' => 45,
'categories' => [
1,
2,
'NEW9823be87', // You can also use placeholders here
],
];
Note
To get real uid of the record you have just created use DataHandler's
subst
property like:
$uid = $this->data
This updates the page with uid=9834 to a new title, "New title for this page", and no_cache checked:
$data['pages'][9834] = [
'title' => 'New title for this page',
'no_cache' => '1'
];
Clear cache
DataHandler also has an API for clearing the cache tables of TYPO3:
$this->dataHandler->clear_cacheCmd($cacheCmd);
Values for the $cache
argument:
[integer]
-
Clear the cache for the page ID given.
"all"
-
Clears all cache tables (
cache_
,pages cache_
,pagesection cache_
).hash Only available for admin-users unless explicitly allowed by User TSconfig "options.clearCache.all".
"pages"
-
Clears all pages from
cache_
.pages Only available for admin-users unless explicitly allowed by User TSconfig "options.clearCache.pages".
Clear cache using cache tags
Every processing of data or commands is finalized with flushing a few caches in
the pages
group. Cache tags are used to specifically flush the
relevant cache entries instead of the cache as whole.
By default the following cache tags are flushed:
- The table name of the updated record, for example,
pages
when updating a page ortx_
when updating a record of this table.myextension_ mytable - A combination of table name and record UID, for example,
pages_
when updating the page with UID 10 or10 tx_
when updating the record with UID 20 of this table.myextension_ mytable_ 20 - A page UID prefixed with
page
(ID_ page
), for example,Id_<page- uid> page
when updating a page with UID 10 (additionally all related pages, see clearcache-pagegrandparent and clearcache-pagesiblingchildren) andId_ 10 page
when updating a record if a record of any table placed on the page with UID 10 (Id_ 10 <table>.
) is updated.pid = 10
Notice that you can also use the \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Cache\CacheDataCollector::addCacheTags
method to register additional tags for the cache entry of the current page while
it is rendered. This way you can implement an elaborate caching behavior which
ensures that every record update in the TYPO3 backend (which is processed by the
Data
) automatically flushes the cache of all pages where that
record is displayed.
Following the rules mentioned above you could register cache tags from within your Extbase plugin (for example, controller or a custom ViewHelper):
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace MyVendor\MyExtension\Controller;
use MyVendor\MyExtension\Domain\Model\ExampleModel;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Mvc\Controller\ActionController;
use TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\Controller\TypoScriptFrontendController;
final class SomeController extends ActionController
{
public function showAction(ExampleModel $example): ResponseInterface
{
// ...
/** @var TypoScriptFrontendController $frontendController */
$frontendController = $this->request->getAttribute('frontend.controller');
$frontendController->addCacheTags([
sprintf('tx_myextension_example_%d', $example->getUid()),
]);
// ...
}
}
Hook for cache post-processing
You can configure cache post-processing with a user defined PHP
function. Configuration of the hook can be done from
ext_
. An example might look like:
Flags in DataHandler
There are a few internal variables you can set prior to executing commands or data submission. These are the most significant:
->copyTree
-
- Data type
- integer
- Default
- 0
Sets the number of branches on a page tree to copy.
- 0
- Branch is not copied
- 1
- Pages on the first level are copied.
- 2
- Pages on the second level are copied.
And so on.
->reverseOrder
-
- Data type
- boolean
- Default
- false
If set, the data array is reversed in the order, which is a nice thing if you are creating a whole bunch of new records.
->copyWhichTables
-
- Data type
- list of strings (tables)
- Default
- "*"
This list of tables decides which tables will be copied. If empty then none will. If "*" then all will (that the user has permission to, of course).