Plain FAQ

Classification: plain_faq
Version: 4.0
Language: en
Description: Plain FAQ
Keywords: faq, frequently asked questions
Copyright: 2019
Author: Torben Hansen
Email: torben@derhansen.com
License: This document is published under the Open Content License available from http://www.opencontent.org/opl.shtml
Rendered: Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:39:56 +0000

The content of this document is related to TYPO3, a GNU/GPL CMS/Framework available from www.typo3.org.

Table of Contents

Introduction

What does it do?

This extension for TYPO3 CMS is a solution to manage frequently asked questions. The focus of the extension is to keep things simple and to have a modern and clean code basis.

Summary of features

Easy usage for editors
Uses TYPO3 system categories to structure FAQs by category
Field for media and files
Possibility to add related FAQs
Configurable template layouts for the views
Automatic cache clearing when FAQ has been changed in backend
Symfony Console commands to migrate from ext:irfaq
Signal slots to extend the extension with own functionality

Background

Based on Extbase and Fluid
Covered with many unit and functional tests
Actively maintained

Screenshots

FAQ backend form

Updates and support

The source code of this extension is hosted on GitHub. Please report bugs and changerequests directly at https://github.com/derhansen/plain_faq

Updates will be published directly on TER and Packagist.

Paid Services and Support

I also offer the following paid services:

Personal support by e-mail, phone, remote session or on site
Installation and configuration for the extension
Integrating new feature to the main extension (sponsors can be named - see Say thanks)
Priority Bug fixes
Developing extensions, that extend plain_faq with unique features/requirements

Please contact me by e-mail and ask for prices.

Say thanks

If you like this extension and want to say thanks, feel free to drop me an e-mail or sponsor the development of the extension. Please also consider to support the TYPO3 community by sponsoring events, code sprints or by becoming a TYPO3 association member.

Thanks from me to:

The initial development of this extension was sponsored by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de). Thanks a lot for supporting TYPO3 and open source software! 👍

Thanks to Georg Ringer for https://github.com/georgringer/numbered_pagination which has been integrated into this extension

For Editors

FAQs

FAQs are the main record of this extesion. A FAQ contains several fields, which are used to describe the frequently asked question.

General

The general tab is used to add general information about the FAQ like a question, answer and categories.

Field:	Description:
Question	The Question
URL Segment	URL slug field
Answer	The answer to the questions
Keywords	One or multiple keywords

Field:	Description:
Category	One or multiple categories for the FAQ

Media

If media items are required for a FAQ, you can add images or files.

Field:	Description:
Images	One or multiple images for the FAQ
Files	One or multiple files for the FAQ

Relations

The relations tab contains a fiels to select related FAQs.

Field:	Description:
Related FAQs	One or multiple related FAQ records

For Administrators

Installation

The installation and initial configuration of the extension is as following:

Install the extension with the extension manager or using composer
Include the static TypoScript configuration “Plain FAQ (plain_faq)” in your TypoScript template
Create a new sysfolder in your page tree, where you create FAQs and categories.
Depending on your needs, create a TYPO3 page for FAQ listing and FAQ details.
Add the plugin FAQs to the newly created pages and configure the plugin settings.
Configure extension TypoScript settings depending on your needs.

Configuration

Plugins

FAQs

Nearly all important settings can be made through the plugin, which override the settings made with TypoScript. All plugin settings can also be configured with TypoScript (use plugin.tx_plainfaq_pi1.settings. with the keys shown below).

Tab settings

Property:	View:	Description:	Key:
What to display	All	Which view should be shown on the given page. Available options: List view List view (without overloading detail view) Detail view
Sort by	List	Defines which field should be used for sorting FAQs in the frontend. The default sorting field is "none", which can be overridden by using this setting.	orderField
Sorting direction	List	Defines the sorting direction for orderField. The default sorting direction is "asc", which can be overridden by using this setting. Possible values: <empty value> asc desc	orderDirection
Max records displayed	List	Maximum amount of FAQ articles to return	queryLimit
Category mode	List	This setting defines, how categories are taken into account when selecting FAQs. The following options are available: Ignore category selection Show FAQs with selected categories (OR) Show FAQs with selected categories (AND) Do NOT show FAQs with selected categories (NOTOR) Do NOT show FAQs with selected categories (NOTAND)	categoryConjunction
Category	List	Restrict FAQs to be shown by one or more category	category
Include subcategory	List	Includes subcategories of the selected category	includeSubcategories
Record storage page	List	One or more sysfolders, where FAQs are stored	storagePage

Tab additional

Detail Page	List	Page, where plugin is configured to show FAQ details	detailPid
List Page	Details	Page, where the listview for FAQs is shown. Only available, when the plugin is configured to show FAQ details.	listPid
Disable Override demand	List	If set, the settings of the plugin can't be overridden by arguments in the URL.	disableOverrideDemand

Tab pagination

Enable pagination	List	If checked, pagination will be generated and pagination variables will be given to the view.	enablePagination
Items per page	List	Items per page for the pagination	itemsPerPage
Maximum number of pages	List	Maximum number of pages	maxNumPages

Tab template

Property:	View:	Description:	Key:
Template layout	List	With this setting the plugin can be configured to show different template layouts. Template layouts can be configured with Page TSConfig. Template layout can be used/set by TypoScript (settings.templateLayout)	templateLayout

Property:

View:

Description:

Key:

Template layout

List

With this setting the plugin can be configured to show different template layouts.

Template layouts can be configured with Page TSConfig.
Template layout can be used/set by TypoScript (settings.templateLayout)

templateLayout

TypoScript reference

More TypoScript settings are available on the FAQs page. Also make sure to check the included setup.txt file for available/default TypoScript settings.

plugin.tx_plainfaq

Property:	Data type:	Description:	Default:
view.templateRootPath	String	Path to the templates. The default setting is EXT:plain_faq/Resources/Private/Templates/	Extbase default
view.partialRootPath	String	Path to the partials. The default setting is EXT:plain_faq/Resources/Private/Partials/	Extbase default
view.layoutRootPath	String	Path to the layouts. The default setting is EXT:plain_faq/Resources/Private/Layouts/	Extbase default
settings.orderFieldAllowed	String	Comma separated list of fields that are allowed to be set as order fielfs	uid,question,sorting

Page TSConfig

The following Page TSConfig can be used with the extension.

Property:	Data type:	Description:
templateLayout	array	With this setting the plugin can be configured to show different template layouts. Template layouts can be configured like shown below.: `tx_plainfaq_pi1.templateLayouts { 1 = 2 column layout 2 = FAQ-Slider }` Copied! Template layout can be used/set by TypoScript (settings.templateLayout)

Property:

Data type:

Description:

templateLayout

array

With this setting the plugin can be configured to show different template layouts. Template layouts can be configured like shown below.:

tx_plainfaq_pi1.templateLayouts {
  1 = 2 column layout
  2 = FAQ-Slider
}

Template layout can be used/set by TypoScript (settings.templateLayout)

Templates

Changing paths of the template

Please do never change templates directly in the Ressources folder of the extensions, since your changes will get overwritten by extension updates.

Configure your TypoScript setup like shown below (note the plural of the path-name):

plugin.tx_plainfaq {
  view {
    templateRootPaths {
      0 = {$plugin.tx_plainfaq_pi1.view.templateRootPath}
      1 = fileadmin/templates/faq/Templates/
    }
    partialRootPaths {
      0 = {$plugin.tx_plainfaq_pi1.view.partialRootPath}
      1 = fileadmin/templates/faq/Partials/
    }
    layoutRootPaths {
      0 = {$plugin.tx_plainfaq_pi1.view.layoutRootPath}
      1 = fileadmin/templates/faq/Layouts/
    }
  }
}

Doing so, you can just override single files from the original templates.

Using template layouts for listview

Different template layouts can be configured in Page TSConfig.:

tx_plainfaq_pi1.templateLayouts {
  1 = 2 column layout
  2 = FAQ-Slider
}

This TypoScript above defines 2 new template layouts, which will appear in the template layout selectbox in the plugin settings like shown below.

The choosen template layout can be used in the fluid templates as shown below.:

<f:if condition="{settings.templateLayout} == 1">
  <f:render partial="List/Faq-Slider" arguments="{faqItem: faq, settings:settings}"/>
</f:if>

Template objects

The following objects are available in the different views.

Please have a look at the templates included with the extension, since they show many of the properties of the given objects and how to use them.

Tip: You can use <f:debug>{object}</f:debug> in your template to see available properties of each object.

Plugin: FAQs

List view

Object:	Description:
{faqs}	An object holding all FAQs that matched the configured demand in the plugin settings
{faqDemand}	The faqDemand object
{overwriteDemand}	The overwriteDemand object
{contentObjectData}	The current content object of the plugin
{pageData}	The current page data

Detail view

Object:	Description:
{faq}	An object holding the given FAQ
{contentObjectData}	The current content object of the plugin
{pageData}	The current page data

Migration from "irfaq"

If you use the TYPO3 extension "irfaq", then you migrate to "Plain FAQ" using 3 Symfony Console commands. Note, that the migration has some limits and does not support all fields "irfaq" has.

Migration is done in 4 steps:

Step 1 - Migrate categories

Command:

./typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 plain_faq:migrate_categories

This command migrates all categories of "irfaq" to TYPO3 sys_categories. Note, that the fields shortcut and fe_group are not supported.

The migrator creates a new category on root level called "FAQ". All pages, where "irfaq" categories are found will be created as child categories of the root "FAQ" category and all "irfaq" categories will be created as child categories per page

Example:

FAQ
- Page 1
  
  Category 1 on Page 1
  
  Category 2 on Page 2
- Page 2
  
  Category 1 on Page 2
  
  Category 2 on Page 2
  
  ...

Step 2 - Migrate FAQs

Command:

./typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 plain_faq:migrate_faqs

This command simply migrates all "irfaq" to "Plain FAQ" records. The following fields are not supported (mostly due to features not available in "Plain FAQ")

q_from
expert
related
related_links
faq_files
enable_ratings
disable_comments
comments_closetime

Step 3 - Migrate Plugins

Command:

./typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 plain_faq:migrate_plugins

Options:

-d, --defaultOrderField[=DEFAULTORDERFIELD] The default order field when no sort order is defined in the ext:irfaq plugin
-p, --pids[=PIDS]

This command migrates all Plugins from "irfaq" to "Plain FAQ" plugins. Note, that existing "irfaq" plugins will simply be replaced (fields list_type and pi_flexform will be replaced).

The migration migrates the following settings:

storagePage
Recursive
orderField (if set - if not set, you can specify a defaultOrderField)
categoryConjunction
categories

Step 4 - Update module icon for pages

In order to update the folder icon on the pagetree, you must execute the following SQL query.

SQL:

UPDATE pages SET module="faqs" WHERE module="irfaq"

Note, that this step is only necessary when you have used the folder icon from ext:irfaq

After all migration steps (1 to 3) are processed, you should check, if the migration worked as expected. Feel free to modify the migrator to suite your own needs.

For Developers

PSR-14 Events

The extensions contains many PSR-14 Events which make it possible to extend the extension with own functionality.

Please note, that there is no documentation for each PSR-14 event in detail, so you have to check each event individually for supported properties. Generally I tried to make the events as self explaining as possible.

If you are new to PSR-14 Events, please reffer to the official TYPO3 documentation about PSR-14 Events and Event Listeners.

https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/reference-coreapi/master/en-us/ApiOverview/Hooks/EventDispatcher/Index.html

The following PSR-14 Events are available:

Faq Controller

ModifyListViewVariablesEvent
ModifyDetailViewVariablesEvent

Faq Repository

ModifyFaqQueryConstraintsEvent

Changelog

A list of changes can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/derhansen/plain_faq/releases

Plain FAQ

Introduction

What does it do?

Screenshots

Updates and support

Paid Services and Support

Say thanks

Thanks from me to:

For Editors

FAQs

General

Categories

Media

Relations

Categories

For Administrators

Installation

Configuration

Plugins

FAQs

Tab settings

Tab additional

Tab pagination

Tab template

TypoScript reference

plugin.tx_plainfaq

Page TSConfig

Templates

Changing paths of the template

Using template layouts for listview

Template objects

Plugin: FAQs

List view

Detail view

Migration from "irfaq"

Step 1 - Migrate categories

Step 2 - Migrate FAQs

Step 3 - Migrate Plugins

Step 4 - Update module icon for pages

For Developers

PSR-14 Events

Faq Controller

Faq Repository

Changelog