Mask version 7.2¶

The new Mask version 7.2 comes with incredibly lot of new features. The groundwork has been laid in the previous two versions. It is now almost a breeze to implement new features with VueJs and a real API for Mask definitions. Also new contributors added some features, thanks!

New field types¶

Let's start with the most exciting ones: new fields. Three new field types are added to the palette: Slug, Category and Media.

Slug¶

The slug field can be used to create a unique identifier based on another field. This identifier can be used to create speaking anchor links (fragments). With core functionality it is unfortunately not possible to link to those fragments.

Thanks to Can Karadağ for the contribution.

Category¶

TYPO3 v11 introduced the new TCA type category. This can be seen as a shortcut for the type select renderType selectTree with the foreign_table set to sys_category. It is possible to define the relation as manyToMany (default), oneToMany or oneToOne. Mask resolves the category records in the frontend automatically, so you can just start using them.

Media¶

The media type is, just like type file, a file reference field. The only difference is the default allowed list being the media file extension list from the core. In addition, you can decide which online media helpers should be available (youtube, vimeo). You can also disable the upload by media URL completely with the new option fileByUrlAllowed.

Module for managing item fields¶

To be honest, adding items to select, radio and checkboxes was always a pain. Making sure your csv is in correct order is mundane. Mask is your remedy! A dedicated module enables you to comfortably configure your items inside a table view. Adding, removing and moving items is as easy as adding new fields now.

Mask items module — The items module helps you add, move and remove items

CType selection as multiple side by side¶

Wasn't it annoying not being able to change the first cType item for a type Content field? For me it was. So I created a similar module like the good old SelectMultipleSideBySide from TYPO3. It is possible to drag the items between the two lists or by clicking on them. Inside the selected list sorting of items is enabled.

Mask CType select — Choose CType items by drag and drop or by clicking on them

`foreign_table` now selectable from defined TCA tables¶

Instead of typing in the table name inside the foreign_table field, you can now select your desired table from a drop-down list.

Thanks to Guido Schmechel (ayacoo) for the idea and implementation.

Mask foreign table select — The foreign_table field as a select

Available LinkHandler fetched from PageTS¶

Instead of a static list of link handlers, Mask now fetches the list of registered link handlers from the global PageTS config. This allows custom link handlers to appear in the blindLinkOptions section of the Link field.

Available link handlers — Custom link handlers are now displayed in the list

New TCA features implemented¶

Mask tries to keep up with implementing all TCA features, old and new ones. This is an ongoing task. As announced, it is getting easier to get things done and so here comes the list of new TCA features:

Item grouping for TCA select items¶

This feature is from TYPO3 v10. It introduced an API for grouping select items. For select fields, you can now define one or more groups, which then can be selected in the items field. Grouped fields are shown seperated from other groups and allow to structure your options more easily.

Mask item groups — Mask can manage now your item groups

Item sorting for TCA select items¶

In addition to grouping, you can now also define a sorting order for your items. Mask provides for this a nice module, where you can add and select a sorting definition.

Mask item sorting — Define the sorting order of your items

`expandAll` option for selectCheckBox¶

This nifty little option allows in TYPO3 v11 to initially expand all groups.

Support for more checkbox options¶

TYPO3 supports some special configuration for checkbox items. The dedicated items module, as mentioned earlier, also supports these options now, depending on the selected renderType.

ValuePicker¶

The well-known value picker allows to create a list of pre-defined values, which can be added by the user from a select field. Mask does now support this feature for its text-like fields. You will find a new tab Value Picker containing this module.

Icon overlay for newContentElementWizard elements¶

In addition to the normal icon, TYPO3 v11 supports an additional overlayIcon. This icon will be displayed as a smaller symbol on the bottom right corner of the standard icon. Mask provides a second icon (and color) picker beneath the normal one for this.

Quality of life changes¶

Search for Mask elements¶

You will see a new search bar inside the content elements header. Use it for filtering your custom content elements.

Element search — A search bar for filtering content elements

Next with Enter key in New content element wizard¶

When you are finished typing in the label for your new content element, try to press the enter key. This will take you immediately to the next slide without the need to use the mouse!

The bodytext field as (plain) type text¶

The good ol' core bodytext field was always treated as a richtext field by Mask. It was not possible to select it as a normal type text field. This was and still is a limitation of Mask: One type per field. To circumvent this, Mask now provides an exception for the bodytext field in particular and allows to both select it as type text and type richtext. Backwards compatibility is given.

The bodytext field as text — The bodytext field can now be selected as plain text

Migration Manager¶

The Mask json definition has a long history and while many things changed in newer versions of Mask (and TYPO3), a whole heap of migrations were added to stay compatible with older definitions. First of all, a meaningful API has been added for migrations, called the MigrationManager. The MigrationManager will convert your old definitions to an up to date version, if it is necessary. This conversion can become resource-heavy as your elements increase in count. To circumvent the performance loss, a new version number is now added to your definitions. This version number is used to decide, whether a migration should be triggered. If you visit the Mask backend, a notification will appear, in case a migration has been done. An action button allows to update your definition with just one click. Don't forget to add these changes to your VCS.

Tip

You can also update your Mask definition via CLI:

vendor/bin/typo3 mask:convert

Migration notification — An info notification appears, if migrations were performed

TYPO3 v11 deprecation free¶

Mask is now deprecation free in TYPO3 v11 in terms of TCA migrations. The following migrations are done by Mask to mitigate deprecation log entries from the core:

The new option showNewRecordLink has been added, while the former levelLinksPosition option with the value none is migrated to use this option.
The new option fileFolderConfig is now used instead of the old separate versions.

Bugfixes¶

If null is selected in the extended view, SQL fields now also allow NULL values
Paths both with and without trailing slash now allowed in all mask settings
Many, many more bugfixes already included in v7.1

Miscellaneous¶

All select renderTypes are now resolved in the frontend
Parent record data (pages record) now available per default in the frontend
Added missing default option for type Select
Added createNewRelationLinkTitle option for type File
Added elementBrowserEnabled option for type File
Added enabledControls options for type Inline and File
Set useSortable as default to true for Inline and File fields, to enable drag and drop per default
Improved HTML code generation
The command mask:convert can now be called without arguments to persist your current definition
saveAndClose for content elements is now available in the settings

Documentation improvements¶

Help links now linked to TYPO3 v11 documentation
Aligned with new TYPO3 documentation standards (Thanks to Alexander Nitsche)
Improved README introduction
List all available TCA and custom options for fields

Technical improvements¶

Added PHPStan static code analyzer to automatic testing (Level 6)
Switched from travis-ci to github actions
Removed usage of some leftover extbase classes
Switched to main as default branch

Deprecations¶

MASK\Mask\ViewHelpers\EditLinkViewHelper -> Please use be:link.editRecord instead
MASK\Mask\ViewHelpers\ContentViewHelper -> Please use f:cObject instead

Statistics¶

git diff v7.1.0 main --shortstat

249 files changed, 14697 insertions(+), 5244 deletions(-)

Credits¶

Thanks for new and old contributors for this version:

Can Karadağ
Alexander Nitsche
Nitori (Sani)
Susanne Moog
Guido Schmechel (ayacoo)
Georg Ringer

Sponsoring¶

Do you like the new version of Mask? You can now sponsor my (Nikita Hovratov) free contribution to this project on GitHub.