GIFBUILDER

GIFBUILDER is an object type, which is used in many situations for creating image files (e.g. gif, png or jpg). Anywhere the ->GIFBUILDER object type is mentioned, these are the properties that apply.

Using TypoScript you can define a "numerical array" of "GIFBUILDER OBJECTS" (like "TEXT", "IMAGE", etc.) and they will be rendered onto an image one by one.

The name "GIFBUILDER" comes from the time where GIF was the only file format supported. PNG and JPG can just as well be created today (configured with $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['GFX']).

Note on (+calc)

Whenever the "+calc"-function is added to a value in the data type of the properties underneath, you can use the dimensions of TEXT and IMAGE objects from the Gifbuilder Object array. This is done by inserting a tag like this: "[10.w]" or "[10.h]", where "10" is the Gifbuilder Object number in the array and "w"/"h" signifies either width or height of the object.

The special property "lineHeight" (e.g. "[10.lineHeight]") uses the height a single line of text would take.

On using the special function max(), the maximum of multiple values can be determined. Example:

EXT:site_package/Configuration/TypoScript/setup.typoscript
XY = [10.w]+[20.w], max([10.h], [20.h])

Here's a full example (taken from "styles.content (default)"):

EXT:site_package/Configuration/TypoScript/setup.typoscript
styles.header.gfx1 = IMAGE
styles.header.gfx1 {
  wrap = {$styles.header.gfx1.wrap}
  file = GIFBUILDER
  file {
    XY = [10.w]+10 ,{$styles.header.gfx1.itemH}
    backColor = {$styles.header.gfx1.bgCol}
    reduceColors = {$styles.header.gfx1.reduceColors}
    10 = TEXT
    10 {
      text.current = 1
      text.crop = {$styles.header.gfx1.maxChars}
      fontSize = {$styles.header.gfx1.fontSize}
      fontFile = {$styles.header.gfx1.file.fontFile}
      fontColor = {$styles.header.gfx1.fontColor}
      offset = {$styles.header.gfx1.fontOffset}
    }
  }
}

As you see, the image has a width defined as the width of the text printed onto it + 10 pixels. The height is fixed by the value of the constant {$styles.header.gfx1.itemH}