Record Types

Record Types are generic Content Types in TYPO3. Basically everything, which is not a Content Element or Page Type. Adding custom records requires you to define a table name. A minimal example looks like this:

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/my-record-type/config.yaml

name: example/my-record-type
table: tx_vendor_my_record_type
labelField: title
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

This example will create a new table tx_vendor_my_record_type. Usually Record Types are added in folders, so you first have to create a new folder in the page tree. After that, you can switch to the List module and click "Create new record". There you will find your newly created Record Type.

Tip

If you prefix your table with tx_, TYPO3 will assume this record belongs to an extension and will group it separately by the extension title. This is either taken from ext_emconf.php (title) or composer.json (description). Otherwise, the record will be grouped under "System Records".

It is also possible to allow creation of Record Types in normal pages. For that you have to enable ignorePageTypeRestriction:

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/my-record-type/config.yaml

name: example/my-record-type
table: my_record_type
labelField: title
security:
  ignorePageTypeRestriction: true
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

Multi Type Record

In order to create multiple types for a single Record Type, it is required to define a typeField field and a typeName. The type field will be created automatically and added as the very first field in your editing interface as a select dropdown. The different types will be also added automatically to the list:

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/diver/config.yaml

name: example/diver
table: person
typeField: type
typeName: diver
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/instructor/config.yaml

name: example/instructor
table: person
typeField: type
typeName: instructor
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

Avoiding redundancy

Whenever you have multiple types for a table, you run into the problem on where to define the global capability options like languageAware, workspaceAware or labelField to name a few. Normally it's recommended to keep this configuration in sync between all Content Blocks. The reason behind this is, if you remove one type, the other Content Block still works independently. However, this can cause heavy redundancy. Especially if you are disabling a lot of options. The solution is to declare one of the types as the "default" type. This is done simply by giving it the highest priority. This ensures this Content Block is loaded first and sets the configuration for all other types.

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/default/config.yaml

name: example/default
table: my_record
priority: 999
typeField: type
typeName: default
languageAware: false
workspaceAware: false
labelField: title
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/special/config.yaml

name: example/special
table: my_record
typeName: special
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text

Use as child table in Collection

It is possible to create a new Record Type, which is used as a child table inside a Collection. This is simply done by defining foreign_table inside the Collection. This concept also works for type Select (foreign_table) and type Relation (allowed). The only difference is that you reference existing records instead of creating new ones.

name: example/slide
table: my_slide
labelField: title
fields:
  - identifier: title
    type: Text
  - identifier: image
    type: File

name: example/collection
fields:
  - identifier: slides
    type: Collection
    foreign_table: my_slide
    shareAcrossTables: true
    shareAcrossFields: true

Adding new types to existing tables

Content Blocks allows to extend existing table definitions with custom types. For this to work, the table in question needs to define type field. Create a new Record Type and define the table, which you want to extend. In addition, you can set a fixed typeName if you wish. In this example we extend the News records with a custom type:

EXT:your_extension/ContentBlocks/RecordTypes/my-news-record/config.yaml

name: example/my-news-record
table: tx_news_domain_model_news
typeName: my_news_record
fields:
  - identifier: title
    useExistingField: true

The News record is extended with a custom type.

Content Blocks will automatically create the necessary system field tabs and palettes based on the TCA definition. You just have to define your desired custom fields.

Keep in mind that you probably need to include various required fields like path_segment, datetime or bodytext for your News record to work properly within the extension. This is not a complete guide on how to make custom records work for third-party extbase extensions. Refer to the documentation of those extensions for additional steps. This replaces every step which includes TCA overrides.

With this method it is not possible to override the capabilities of the existing table. This includes options like languageAware, workspaceAware or labelField to name a few.

Hint

It's not possible to extend existing types with additional fields. This violates the concept of self-contained Content Blocks. If you need custom fields, create a custom type instead.