Icon API

TYPO3 provides an icon API for all icons in the TYPO3 backend.

Registration

All icons must be registered in the icon registry. To register icons for your own extension, create a file called Configuration/Icons.php in your extension - for example: EXT:my_extension/Configuration/Icons.php.

The file needs to return a PHP configuration array with the following keys:

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/Icons.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconProvider\BitmapIconProvider;
use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconProvider\SvgIconProvider;

return [
    // Icon identifier
    'tx-myext-svgicon' => [
        // Icon provider class
        'provider' => SvgIconProvider::class,
        // The source SVG for the SvgIconProvider
        'source' => 'EXT:my_extension/Resources/Public/Icons/mysvg.svg',
    ],
    'tx-myext-bitmapicon' => [
        'provider' => BitmapIconProvider::class,
        // The source bitmap file
        'source' => 'EXT:my_extension/Resources/Public/Icons/mybitmap.png',
        // All icon providers provide the possibility to register an icon that spins
        'spinning' => true,
    ],
    'tx-myext-anothersvgicon' => [
        'provider' => SvgIconProvider::class,
        'source' => 'EXT:my_extension/Resources/Public/Icons/anothersvg.svg',
        // Since TYPO3 v12.0 an extension that provides icons for broader
        // use can mark such icons as deprecated with logging to the TYPO3
        // deprecation log. All keys (since, until, replacement) are optional.
        'deprecated' => [
            'since' => 'my extension v2',
            'until' => 'my extension v3',
            'replacement' => 'alternative-icon',
        ],
    ],
];
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Icon provider

The TYPO3 Core ships two icon providers which can be used straight away:

  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconProvider\BitmapIconProvider – For all kinds of bitmap icons (GIF, PNG, JPEG, etc.)
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconProvider\SvgIconProvider – For SVG icons

Changed in version 12.0

The \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconProvider\FontawesomeIconProvider was removed from the Core in 12.0. You can use the polyfill extension from EXT:fontawesome_provider which is also compatible with TYPO3 v11 LTS.

If you need a custom icon provider, you can add your own by writing a class which implements the EXT:core/Classes/Imaging/IconProviderInterface.php (GitHub).

Using icons in your code

You can use the Icon API to receive icons in your PHP code or directly in Fluid.

The PHP way

You can use the \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconFactory to request an icon:

EXT:my_extension/Classes/MyClass.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace MyVendor\MyExtension;

use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconFactory;
use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize;

final class MyClass
{
    public function __construct(
        private readonly IconFactory $iconFactory,
    ) {}

    public function doSomething()
    {
        $icon = $this->iconFactory->getIcon(
            'tx-myext-action-preview',
            IconSize::SMALL,
            'overlay-identifier',
        );

        // Do something with the icon, for example, assign it to the view
        // $this->view->assign('icon', $icon);
    }
}
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Changed in version 13.0

The following icon sizes are available as enum values:

  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize::DEFAULT: 1em, to scale with font size
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize::SMALL: fixed to 16px
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize::MEDIUM: fixed to 32px (used as default value in API parameters)
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize::LARGE: fixed to 48px
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconSize::MEGA: fixed to 64px

Deprecated since version 13.0

In TYPO3 versions up to 12.4 class constants from \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon must be used:

  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon::SIZE_DEFAULT
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon::SIZE_SMALL
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon::SIZE_MEDIUM
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon::SIZE_LARGE
  • \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon::SIZE_MEGA

One can also use the class constants of \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\Icon if an extension should remain compatible with TYPO3 v13 and older versions.

The class constants will be removed in a future version of TYPO3.

The Fluid ViewHelper

You can also use the Fluid core:icon ViewHelper to render an icon in your view:

{namespace core = TYPO3\CMS\Core\ViewHelpers}
<core:icon identifier="tx-myext-svgicon" size="small" />
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This will render the desired icon using an img tag. If you prefer having the SVG inlined into your HTML (for example, for being able to change colors with CSS), you can set the optional alternativeMarkupIdentifier attribute to inline. By default, the icon will pick up the font color of its surrounding element if you use this option.

{namespace core = TYPO3\CMS\Core\ViewHelpers}
<core:icon
    identifier="tx-myext-svgicon"
    size="small"
    alternativeMarkupIdentifier="inline"
/>
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The following icon sizes are available:

  • default: 1em, to scale with font size
  • small: fixed to 16px (used as default value when not passed)
  • medium: fixed to 32px
  • large: fixed to 48px
  • mega: fixed to 64px

The JavaScript way

Changed in version 12.0

The JavaScript icon provider has been moved from the RequireJS module TYPO3/CMS/Backend/Icons to the ES6 module @typo3/backend/icons. See also ES6 in the TYPO3 Backend.

In JavaScript, icons can be only fetched from the Icon Registry. To achieve this, add the following dependency to your ES6 module: @typo3/backend/icons. In this section, the module is known as Icons.

The module has a single public method getIcon() which accepts up to five arguments:

identifier

|Condition: required |Type: string |

Identifier of the icon as registered in the Icon Registry.

size

|Condition: required |Type: Sizes |Default: medium |

Desired size of the icon. All values of the Sizes enum from @typo3/backend/enum/icon-types are allowed, these are:

  • default: 1em, to scale with font size
  • small: fixed to 16px
  • medium: fixed to 32px (default)
  • large: fixed to 48px
  • mega: fixed to 64px
overlayIdentifier

|Condition: optional |Type: string |

Identifier of an overlay icon as registered in the Icon Registry.

state

|Condition: optional |Type: string |

Sets the state of the icon. All values of the States enum from @typo3/backend/enum/icon-types are allowed, these are: default and disabled.

markupIdentifier

|Condition: optional |Type: string |

Defines how the markup is returned. All values of the MarkupIdentifiers enum from @typo3/backend/enum/icon-types are allowed, these are: default and inline. Please note that inline is only meaningful for SVG icons.

The method getIcon() returns a AjaxResponse Promise object, as internally an Ajax request is done.

The icons are cached in the local storage of the client to reduce the workload off the server. Here is an example code how a usage of the JavaScript Icon API may look like:

EXT:my_extension/Resources/Public/JavaScript/my-es6-module.js
import Icons from '@typo3/backend/icons.js';

class MyEs6Module {
    constructor() {
        // Get a single icon
        Icons.getIcon('spinner-circle-light', Icons.sizes.small, null, 'disabled').then((icon: string): void => {
            console.log(icon);
        });
    }
}

export default new MyEs6Module();
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Available icons

The TYPO3 Core comes with a number of icons that may be used in your extensions.

To search for available icons, you can use one of these possibilities:

Install the styleguide extension

Install the extension styleguide as described in the Readme in the installation section.

Once installed, you can view available icons by selecting help (?) on the top in the TYPO3 backend, then Styleguide and then Icons, All Icons.

There, browse through existing icons. Use the name under the icon (for example actions-add) as first parameter for IconFactory::getIcon() in PHP or as value for the argument identifier in Fluid (see code examples above).

Use TYPO3.Icons

An alternative way to look for existing icons is to browse through TYPO3.Icons.

Migration

The Rector rule \\Ssch\\TYPO3Rector\\Rector\\v11\\v4\\RegisterIconToIconFileRector can be used for automatic migration.

For manual migration remove all calls to \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Imaging\IconRegistry::registerIcon() from your EXT:my_extension/ext_localconf.php and move the content to Configuration/Icons.php instead.