Columns configuration¶

You also need an “external” syntax for each column to define which external data goes into that column and any handling that might apply. This is also an indexed array. Obviously indices used for each column must relate to the indices used in the “ctrl” section. In its simplest form this is just a reference to the external data’s name:

'code' => array(
        'exclude' => 0,
        'label' => 'LLL:EXT:externalimport_tut/locallang_db.xml:tx_externalimporttut_departments.code',
        'config' => array(
                'type' => 'input',
                'size' => '10',
                'max' => '4',
                'eval' => 'required,trim',
        ),
        'external' => array(
                0 => array(
                        'field' => 'code'
                )
        )
),

The properties for the columns configuration are described below.

Properties¶

Property	Data type	Step/Scope
attribute	string	Handle data (XML)
attributeNS	string	Handle data (XML)
disabledOperations	string	Store data
field	string	Handle data
fieldNS	string	Handle data (XML)
MM	MM configuration	Store data
transformations	Transformations configuration	Transform data
xmlValue	boolean	Handle data (XML)
xpath	string	Handle data (XML)

field¶

Type

string

Description

Name or index of the field (or node, in the case of XML data) that contains the data in the external source.

For array-type data, this information is mandatory. For XML-type data, it can be left out. In such a case, the value of the current node itself will be used, or an attribute of said node, if the attribute property is also defined.

Scope

Handle data

attribute¶

Type

string

Description

If the data is of type XML, use this property to retrieve the value from an attribute of the node rather than the value of the node itself.

This applies to the node selected with the field property or to the current node if field is not defined.

Scope

Handle data (XML)

xpath¶

Type

string

Description

This property can be used to execute a XPath query relative to the node selected with the field property or (since version 2.3.0) directly on the current node if field is not defined.

The value will be taken from the first node returned by the query. If the attribute property is also defined, it will be applied to the node returned by the XPath query.

Please see the namespaces property for declaring namespaces to use in a XPath query.

Scope

Handle data (XML)

fieldNS¶

Type

string

Description

Namespace for the given field. Use the full URI for the namespace, not a prefix.

Example

Given the following data to import:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Invoice xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2" xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2">
        <InvoiceLine>
                <cbc:ID>A1</cbc:ID>
                <cbc:LineExtensionAmount currencyID="USD">100.00</cbc:LineExtensionAmount>
                <cac:OrderReference>
                        <cbc:ID>000001</cbc:ID>
                </cac:OrderReference>
        </InvoiceLine>
        ...
</Invoice>

getting the value in the <cbc:LineExtensionAmount> tag would require the following configuration:

'external' => array(
        0 => array(
                'fieldNS' => 'urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2',
                'field' => 'LineExtensionAmount'
        )
)

Scope

Handle data (XML)

attributeNS¶

Type: string
Description: Namespace for the given attribute. Use the full URI for the namespace, not a prefix. See fieldNS for example usage.
Scope: Handle data (XML)

MM¶

Type: MM configuration
Description: Definition of MM-relations, see specific reference for more details.
Scope: Transform data

transformations¶

Type

array (see Transformations configuration)

Description

Array of transformation properties. The transformations will be executed as ordered by their array keys.

Example:

$GLOBALS['TCA']['fe_users']['columns']['starttime']['external'] = array(
                0 => array(
                                'field' => 'start_date',
                                'transformations => array(
                                                20 => array(
                                                                'trim' => true
                                                ),
                                                10 => array(
                                                                'userFunc' => array(
                                                                                'class' => \Cobweb\ExternalImport\Task\DateTimeTransformation::class,
                                                                                'method' => 'parseDate'
                                                                )
                                                )
                                )
                )
);

The “userFunc” will be executed first (10) and the “trim” next (20).

Scope

Transform data

xmlValue¶

Type: boolean
Description: When taking the value of a node inside a XML structure, the default behaviour is to retrieve this value as a string. If the node contained a XML sub-structure, its tags will be stripped. When setting this value to true, the XML structure of the child nodes is preserved.
Scope: Handle data (XML)

disabledOperations¶

Type

array

Description

Comma-separated list of database operations from which the column should be excluded. Possible values are “insert” and “update”.

See also the general property disabledOperations.

Scope

Store data