Auto-created columns from 'ctrl'

New in version 13.3

Default definitions of Field definitions (columns) required by Table properties (ctrl) settings are now automatically added to TCA if not manually configured. Extension developers can now remove and avoid a significant amount of boilerplate field definitions in Field definitions (columns) and rely on TYPO3 core to create them automatically when dropping TYPO3 v12.4 support.

Certain ctrl settings, such as the enablecolumns and languageField settings require TCA columns definitions.

Warning

Columns created automatically by being defined in the ctrl section of the TCA still need to be added manually to the palettes and types definition.

Due to the TCA loading order these columns are only created if the according ctrl property was added in the original definition in Configuration/TCA/<tablename>.php, not if they were defined in the overrides like Configuration/TCA/Overrides/something.php.

Load order when building TCA

To understand if and when TCA column auto-creation from ctrl definitions kicks in, it is important to have an overview of the order of the single loading steps:

Load single files from extension Configuration/TCA files
NEW - Enrich columns from ctrl settings
Load single files from extension Configuration/TCA/Overrides files
Apply TCA migrations
Apply TCA preparations

As a result of this strategy, columns fields are not auto-created, when a ctrl capability is added in a Configuration/TCA/Overrides file, and not in a Configuration/TCA "base" file. In general, such capabilities should be set in base files only: Adding them at a later point - for example in a different extension - is brittle and there is a risk the main extension can not deal with such an added capability properly.

Overriding definitions from auto-created TCA columns

In most cases, developers do not need to change definitions of columns auto-created by the Core. In general, it is advisable to not actively do this. Developers who still want to change detail properties of such columns should generally stick to "display" related details only.

There are two options to have own definitions: When a column is already defined in a "base" TCA file (Configuration/TCA), the Core will not override it. Alternatively, a developer can decide to let the Core auto-create a column, to then override single properties in Configuration/TCA/Overrides files.

As example, "base" pages file defines this (step 1 above):

EXT:core/Configuration/TCA/pages.php (Excerpt)

<?php

return [
    'ctrl' => [
        'enablecolumns' => [
            'disabled' => 'disabled',
        ],
    ],
    // ...
];

The Core thus creates this columns definition (step 2 above):

Column entries created by the Core

<?php

$GLOBALS['TCA']['pages']['columns']['disabled'] = [
    'label' => 'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_general.xlf:LGL.enabled',
    'exclude' => true,
    'config' => [
        'type' => 'check',
        'renderType' => 'checkboxToggle',
        'default' => 0,
        'items' => [
            [
                'label' => '',
                'invertStateDisplay' => true,
            ],
        ],
    ],
];

When an editor creates a new page, it should be "disabled" by default to avoid having a new page online in the website before it is set up completely. A Configuration/TCA/Overrides/pages.php file does this:

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/TCA/Overrides/pages.php

<?php

// New pages are disabled by default
$GLOBALS['TCA']['pages']['columns']['disabled']['config']['default'] = 1;