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 general configuration. In its simplest form this is just a reference to the external data's name:

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

The properties for the columns configuration are described below.

Warning

Columns "crdate", "tstamp" and "cruser_id" cannot be mapped as they are overwritten by the DataHandler. If you need to manipulate these columns you should use the Datamap Postprocess event or the Cmdmap Postprocess event which are triggered after DataHandler operations.

Hint

You can set static values by using the transformation > value.

Properties¶

Property	Data type	Step/Scope
arrayPath	string	Handle data (array)
arrayPathSeparator	string	Handle data (array)
arrayPathFlatten	bool	Handle data (array)
attribute	string	Handle data (XML)
attributeNS	string	Handle data (XML)
children	Children records configuration	Store data
disabledOperations	string	Store data
field	string	Handle data
fieldNS	string	Handle data (XML)
multipleRows	boolean	Store data
multipleSorting	string	Store data
substructureFields	array	Handle 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

arrayPath¶

Type

string

Description

Replaces the field property for pointing to a field in a "deeper" position inside a multidimensional array. The value is a string comprised of the keys for pointing into the array, separated by some character.

For more details on usage and available options, see the dedicated page.

Works only for array-type data.

If both "field" and "arrayPath" are defined, the latter takes precedence.

Scope

Handle data (array)

arrayPathFlatten¶

Type: bool
Description: When the special * segment is used in an arrayPath, the resulting structure is always an array. If the arrayPath target is actually a single value, this may not be desirable. When arrayPathFlatten is set to true, the result is preserved as a simple type.

Note

If the arrayPath property uses the special * segment several times, arrayPathFlatten will apply only to the last occurrence. The reason is that the method which traverses the array structure is called recursively on each * segment. When the result of the final call is flattened, a simple type is returned back up the call chain, which means that arrayPathFlatten has no further effect.
Scope: Handle data (array)

arrayPathSeparator¶

Type: string
Description: Separator to use in the arrayPath property. Defaults to / if this property is not defined.
Scope: Handle data (array)

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' => [
        0 => [
                '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)

substructureFields¶

Type

array

Description

Makes it possible to read several values that are located inside nested data structures. Consider the following data source:

[
  {
        "order": "000001",
        "date": "2014-08-07",
        "customer": "Conan the Barbarian",
        "products": [
          {
                "product": "000001",
                "qty": 3
          },
          {
                "product": "000005",
                "qty": 1
          },
          {
                "product": "000101",
                "qty": 10
          },
          {
                "product": "000102",
                "qty": 2
          }
        ]
  },
  {
        "order": "000002",
        "date": "2014-08-08",
        "customer": "Sonja the Red",
        "products": [
          {
                "product": "000001",
                "qty": 1
          },
          {
                "product": "000005",
                "qty": 2
          },
          {
                "product": "000202",
                "qty": 1
          }
        ]
  }
]

The "products" field is actually a nested structure, from which we want to fetch the values from both product and qty. This can be achieved with the following configuration:

       'products' => [
'exclude' => 0,
'label' => 'Products',
'config' => [
   ...
],
'external' => [
   0 => [
      'field' => 'products',
      'substructureFields' => [
         'products' => [
            'field' => 'product'
         ],
         'quantity' => [
            'field' => 'qty'
         ]
      ],
      ...
   ]
]
       ]

The keys to the configuration array correspond to the names of the columns where the values will be stored. The configuration for each element can use all the existing properties for retrieving data:

field
fieldNS
arrayPath
arrayPathSeparator
attribute
attributeNS
xpath
xmlValue

The substructure fields are searched for inside the structure selected with the "main" data pointer. In the example above, the whole "products" structure is first fetched, then the product and qty are searched for inside that structure.

The above example will read the values in the product nested field and put it into "products" column. Same for qty and "quantity". The fact that there are several entries will multiply imported records, actually denormalising the data on the fly. The result would be something like:

order	date	customer	products	quantity
000001	2014-08-07	Conan the Barbarian	000001	3
000001	2014-08-07	Conan the Barbarian	000005	1
000001	2014-08-07	Conan the Barbarian	000101	10
000001	2014-08-07	Conan the Barbarian	000102	2
000002	2014-08-08	Sonja the Red	000001	1
000002	2014-08-08	Sonja the Red	000005	2
000002	2014-08-08	Sonja the Red	000202	1

Obviously if you have a single element in the nested structure, no denormalisation happens. Due to this denormalisation you probably want to use this property in conjunction with the multipleRows or children properties.

Note

In such scenarios you will generally want to have one of the nested fields "take the main role", i.e. have its value fill a column bearing the name of TYPO3 column which contains the substructure configuration. In the above example, the product field is matched to the "products" column name.

Scope

Handle data

multipleRows¶

Type

boolean

Description

Set to true if you have denormalized data. This will tell the import process that there may be more than one row per record to import and that all values for the given column must be gathered and collapsed into a comma-separated list of values. See the Mapping data chapter for explanations about the impact of this flag.

If these values need to be sorted, use the multipleSorting property.

Scope

Store data

multipleSorting¶

Type: string
Description: If the multipleRows need to be sorted, use this property to name the field which should be used for sorting. This can be any of the mapped fields, additional fields or substructure fields.

Note

The sorting is done using the PHP function strnatcasecmp(), so make sure that your data plays well with it.
Scope: Store data

children¶

Type: array (see Children records configuration)
Description: This property makes it possible to create nested structures and import them in one go. This may typically be "sys_file_reference" records for a field containing images. This should be used anytime you are using a MM table into which you need to write specific properties (like "sys_file_reference"). For simple MM tables (like "sys_category_record_mm"), you don't need to create this children sub-structure for the MM table. It is enough to gather a comma-separated list of "sys_category" primary keys.
Scope: Store 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'] = [
0 => [
   'field' => 'start_date',
   'transformations' => [
      20 => [
         'trim' => true
      ],
      10 => [
         'userFunction' => [
            'class' => \Cobweb\ExternalImport\Transformation\DateTimeTransformation::class,
            'method' => 'parseDate'
         ]
      ]
   ]
]
       ];

The "userFunction" 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