How to use enablecolumns in the ctrl section of TCA

Migration

Migration: Remove enable column definitions (hidden, starttime, endtime, fe_groups) from TCA On dropping TYPO3 v12.4 support extensions authors can drop the column definitions of the enable fields. They need to keep the Grouping fields (palettes) and Fields to be displayed (types) definitions, however:

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/TCA/tx_myextension_domain_model_something.php 
 return [
     'ctrl' => [
         'enablecolumns' => [
             'disabled' => 'hidden',
             'starttime' => 'starttime',
             'endtime' => 'endtime',
         ],
         // ...
     ],
-    'columns' => [
-        'hidden' => [
-            'exclude' => true,
-            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.enabled',
-            'config' => [
-                'type' => 'check',
-                'renderType' => 'checkboxToggle',
-                'items' => [
-                    [
-                        'label' => '',
-                        'invertStateDisplay' => true,
-                    ],
-                ],
-            ],
-        ],
-        'starttime' => [
-            'exclude' => true,
-            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.starttime',
-            'config' => [
-                'type' => 'datetime',
-                'default' => 0,
-            ],
-            'l10n_mode' => 'exclude',
-            'l10n_display' => 'defaultAsReadonly',
-        ],
-        'endtime' => [
-            'exclude' => true,
-            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.endtime',
-            'config' => [
-                'type' => 'datetime',
-                'default' => 0,
-                'range' => [
-                    'upper' => mktime(0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2038),
-                ],
-            ],
-            'l10n_mode' => 'exclude',
-            'l10n_display' => 'defaultAsReadonly',
-        ],
-        'fe_group' => [
-            'exclude' => true,
-            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.fe_group',
-            'config' => [
-                'type' => 'select',
-                'renderType' => 'selectMultipleSideBySide',
-                'size' => 5,
-                'maxitems' => 20,
-                'items' => [
-                    [
-                        'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.hide_at_login',
-                        'value' => -1,
-                    ],
-                    [
-                        'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.any_login',
-                        'value' => -2,
-                    ],
-                    [
-                        'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.usergroups',
-                        'value' => '--div--',
-                    ],
-                ],
-                'exclusiveKeys' => '-1,-2',
-                'foreign_table' => 'fe_groups',
-            ],
-        ],
-        // ...
-    ],
     'palettes' => [
         'paletteHidden' => [
             'showitem' => '
                 hidden
             ',
         ],
         'paletteAccess' => [
             'label' => 'LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:palette.access',
             'showitem' => '
                 starttime;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:starttime_formlabel,
                 endtime;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:endtime_formlabel,
                 --linebreak--,
                 fe_group;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:fe_group_formlabel,
             ',
         ],
     ],
     'types' => [
         0 => [
             'showitem' => '
                 --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:general,
                     [...],
                 --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:access,
                     --palette--;;paletteHidden,
                     --palette--;;paletteAccess,
             ',
         ],
     ],
 ];
Copied!

Examples of column enable configurations

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/TCA/tx_myextension_domain_model_something.php 
<?php

return [
    'ctrl' => [
        'enablecolumns' => [
            'disabled' => 'hidden',
            'starttime' => 'starttime',
            'endtime' => 'endtime',
        ],
        // ...
    ],
    'palettes' => [
        'paletteHidden' => [
            'showitem' => '
                hidden
            ',
        ],
        'paletteAccess' => [
            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:palette.access',
            'showitem' => '
                starttime;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:starttime_formlabel,
                endtime;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:endtime_formlabel,
                --linebreak--,
                fe_group;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xlf:fe_group_formlabel,
            ',
        ],
    ],
    'types' => [
        0 => [
            'showitem' => '
                --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:general,
                    [...],
                --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:access,
                    --palette--;;paletteHidden,
                    --palette--;;paletteAccess,
            ',
        ],
    ],
];
Copied!

Define all enablecolumn fields

Make table hideable

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/TCA/tx_myextension_domain_model_something.php 
<?php

return [
    'ctrl' => [
        'enablecolumns' => [
            'disabled' => 'hidden',
        ],
        // ...
    ],
    'columns' => [
        'hidden' => [
            'exclude' => true,
            'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.enabled',
            'config' => [
                'type' => 'check',
                'renderType' => 'checkboxToggle',
                'items' => [
                    [
                        'label' => '',
                        'invertStateDisplay' => true,
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
        // ...
    ],
    'palettes' => [
        'visibility' => [
            'showitem' => 'hidden',
        ],
    ],
    'types' => [
        0 => [
            'showitem' => '
                --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:general,
                    [...],
                --div--;LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/Form/locallang_tabs.xlf:access,
                    --palette--;;visibility,
            ',
        ],
    ],
];
Copied!

Common enable fields

Record information shown editing an example record
EXT:styleguide/Configuration/TCA/tx_styleguide_ctrl_common.php 
[
    'ctrl' => [
        'title' => 'Form engine - Common table control',
        'label' => 'title',
        'descriptionColumn' => 'description',
        'tstamp' => 'tstamp',
        'crdate' => 'crdate',
        'delete' => 'deleted',
        'sortby' => 'sorting',
        'default_sortby' => 'title',
        'versioningWS' => true,
        'rootLevel' => -1,
        'iconfile' => 'EXT:styleguide/Resources/Public/Icons/tx_styleguide.svg',
        'origUid' => 't3_origuid',
        'languageField' => 'sys_language_uid',
        'transOrigPointerField' => 'l10n_parent',
        'transOrigDiffSourceField' => 'l10n_diffsource',
        'translationSource' => 'l10n_source',
        'searchFields' => 'title,description',
        'enablecolumns' => [
            'disabled' => 'hidden',
            'starttime' => 'starttime',
            'endtime' => 'endtime',
        ],
        'security' => [
            'ignorePageTypeRestriction' => true,
        ],
    ],
]
Copied!

Enablecolumns / enablefields usage

Most ways of retrieving records in the frontend automatically respect the ctrl->enablecolumns settings:

Enablecolumns in TypoScript

Records retrieved in TypoScript via the objects RECORDS, CONTENT automatically respect the settings in section ctrl->enablecolumns.

Enablecolumns / enablefields in Extbase

In Extbase repositories the records are hidden in the frontend by default, however this behaviour can be disabled by setting $querySettings->setIgnoreEnableFields(true) in the repository.

Enablecolumns in queries

Using the QueryBuilder enable columns restrictions are automatically applied.

The same is true when select() is called on the connection.

See the Restriction builder for details.