Customization Examples

There are many customization examples in the documentation, but this section provides the most complete examples.

Example 1: Extending the fe_users table

The "examples" extension adds two fields to the "fe_users" table. Here is the complete code, taken from file Configuration/TCA/Overrides/fe_users.php:

<?php
defined('TYPO3') or die();

// Add some fields to fe_users table to show TCA fields definitions
\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addTCAcolumns('fe_users',
   [
      'tx_examples_options' => [
         'exclude' => 0,
         'label' => 'LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_options',
         'config' => [
            'type' => 'select',
            'renderType' => 'selectSingle',
            'items' => [
               ['',0,],
               ['LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_options.I.0',1,],
               ['LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_options.I.1',2,],
               ['LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_options.I.2','--div--',],
               ['LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_options.I.3',3,],
            ],
            'size' => 1,
            'maxitems' => 1,
         ],
      ],
      'tx_examples_special' => [
         'exclude' => 0,
         'label' => 'LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:fe_users.tx_examples_special',
         'config' => [
            'type' => 'user',
            // renderType needs to be registered in ext_localconf.php
            'renderType' => 'specialField',
            'parameters' => [
               'size' => '30',
               'color' => '#F49700',
            ],
         ],
      ],
   ]
);
\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addToAllTCAtypes(
   'fe_users',
   'tx_examples_options, tx_examples_special'
);

Read why the check for the TYPO3 constant is necessary.

Note

The second example, tx_examples_special, only works when renderType has been registered, implemented, and registered in ext_localconf.php. Please refer to Custom inputs (user).

The first method call adds fields using ExtensionManagementUtility::addTCAcolumns(). This registers the fields in $GLOBALS['TCA']. The parameters are:

Name of the table to which the fields should be added.
An array of the fields to be added. Each field is in TCA syntax for columns.

At this point the fields have been registered but not used anywhere, so they need to be added to the "types" definition of the fe_users table by calling ExtensionManagementUtility::addToAllTCAtypes(). The parameters are:

Name of the table to which the fields should be added.
Comma-separated string of fields, the same syntax used in the showitem property of types in TCA.
Optional: record types of the table where the fields should be added, see types in TCA for details.
Optional: position ('before' or 'after') in relation to an existing field (after:myfield) or palette (after:palette:mypalette).

Example code:

EXT:some_extension/Configuration/TCA/Overrides/fe_users.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addToAllTCAtypes(
    'fe_users',
    'tx_myextension_options, tx_myextension_special',
    '',
    'after:password',
);

If the fourth parameter is omitted or the field is not found, new fields are added to the bottom of the form. If the table uses tabs, new fields are added to the bottom of the Extended tab. This tab is created automatically if it does not exist.

These method calls do not create fields in the database. To do this, the new fields must be defined in the ext_tables.sql file of the extension:

EXT:some_extension/ext_tables.sql

CREATE TABLE fe_users (
	tx_examples_options int(11) DEFAULT '0' NOT NULL,
	tx_examples_special varchar(255) DEFAULT '' NOT NULL
);

Note

The above example uses the SQL CREATE TABLE statement. This is the way TYPO3 expects it to be. The Extension Manager will automatically transform this into an ALTER TABLE statement when it detects that the table already exists.

The following screenshot shows the position of the two new fields when editing a "fe_users" record:

The new fields added at the bottom of the "Extended" tab

The next example shows how to position a field more precisely.

Example 2: Extending the tt_content Table

In this second example, we will add a "No print" field to all content element types. First of all, we add its SQL definition in ext_tables.sql:

EXT:some_extension/ext_tables.sql

CREATE TABLE tt_content (
	tx_examples_noprint tinyint(4) DEFAULT '0' NOT NULL
);

Then we add it to the $GLOBALS['TCA'] in Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php:

EXT:some_extension/Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php

  \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addTCAcolumns(
     'tt_content',
     [
        'tx_examples_noprint' => [
           'exclude' => 0,
           'label' => 'LLL:EXT:examples/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_db.xlf:tt_content.tx_examples_noprint',
           'config' => [
              'type' => 'check',
              'renderType' => 'checkboxToggle',
              'items' => [
                 [
                    0 => '',
                    1 => ''
                 ]
              ],
           ],
        ],
     ]
  );
\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addFieldsToPalette(
     'tt_content',
     'access',
     'tx_examples_noprint',
     'before:editlock'
  );

The code is similar to the first example, but the last method call is different. The tables pages and tt_content use palettes extensively. Therefore, we call ExtensionManagementUtility::addFieldsToPalette() instead of ExtensionManagementUtility::addToAllTCAtypes(). We need to specify the palette key as the second argument (access). The new field is positioned by the fourth parameter (before:editlock). This will position the "no print" field before the Restrict editing by non-Admins field, instead of putting it in the Extended tab.

The result is the following:

The new field added next to an existing one

Note

Obviously this new field doesn't do anything yet. For it to do its job of excluding a content element from being printed, it must modify the TypoScript used to render the tt_content table. Although this is outside the scope of this manual, here is an example of what you could do, for the sake of showing the complete process.

Assuming you are using "fluid_styled_content" (which is installed by default), you could add the following TypoScript to your template:

tt_content.stdWrap.outerWrap = <div class="noprint">|</div>
tt_content.stdWrap.outerWrap.if.isTrue.field = tx_examples_noprint

This will wrap a "div" tag with a "noprint" class around any content element that has its "No print" checkbox checked. The final step would be to declare the appropriate selector in the print-media CSS file so that "noprint" elements don't get displayed.

This is just an example of how the "No print" checkbox can be implemented. It is meant to show that just adding the field to the $GLOBALS['TCA'] is not enough.