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Adding your own content elements

Note

This part is written for developers!

A content element can be based on already available fields in the tt_content table, or it might be that you need extra fields. This is done the same way as you do for your own extensions, extending TCA. Depending on the data in the tt_content table, you can send the data immediately to the Fluid template or use a data processor in front to do some data manipulation. The content elements in the extension "fluid_styled_content" are using both as well. A data processor is sometimes used to convert a string (like the bodytext field in content element "table") to an array, so Fluid does not have to deal with this manipulation or transformation.

Use an extension

Advisable is to make your own extension. In our example we've used the extension key your_extension_key. If you have plans to publish your extension, do not forget to lookup for the availability of your desired key and register it at the "extension keys" page. login in typo3.org is required.

Since this part is written for developers, we will not explain in full detail how an extension works.

PageTSconfig

First we need to add our new content element to the "New Content Element Wizard" and define its CType. We call it "yourextensionkey_newcontentelement".

mod.wizards.newContentElement.wizardItems.common {
   elements {
      yourextensionkey_newcontentelement {
         iconIdentifier = your-icon-identifier
         title = LLL:EXT:your_extension_key/Resources/Private/Language/Tca.xlf:yourextensionkey_newcontentelement.wizard.title
         description = LLL:EXT:your_extension_key/Resources/Private/Language/Tca.xlf:yourextensionkey_newcontentelement.wizard.description
         tt_content_defValues {
            CType = yourextensionkey_newcontentelement
         }
      }
   }
   show := addToList(yourextensionkey_newcontentelement)
}

Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php

Then we need to add the content element to the "Type" dropdown, where you can select the type of content element:

// Adds the content element to the "Type" dropdown
\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addPlugin(
   array(
      'LLL:EXT:your_extension_key/Resources/Private/Language/Tca.xlf:yourextensionkey_newcontentelement',
      'yourextensionkey_newcontentelement',
      'EXT:your_extension_key/Resources/Public/Icons/ContentElements/yourextensionkey_newcontentelement.gif'
   ),
   'CType',
   'your_extension_key'
);

Then we configure the backend fields for our new content element:

// Configure the default backend fields for the content element
$GLOBALS['TCA']['tt_content']['types']['yourextensionkey_newcontentelement'] = array(
   'showitem' => '
         --palette--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:palette.general;general,
         --palette--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:palette.header;header,
      --div--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:tabs.appearance,
         --palette--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:palette.frames;frames,
      --div--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:tabs.access,
         --palette--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:palette.visibility;visibility,
         --palette--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:palette.access;access,
      --div--;LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_ttc.xml:tabs.extended
');

Configuration/TCA/Overrides/sys_template.php

Since we need to use TypoScript as well, we add an entry in the static template list found in sys_templates for static TS:

// Add an entry in the static template list found in sys_templates for static TS
\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\ExtensionManagementUtility::addStaticFile(
   'your_extension_key',
   'Configuration/TypoScript',
   'Your description'
);

setup.txt

As defined in Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php, this file is in the directory Configuration/TypoScript of our own extension. You can have two options in the TypoScript:

  • Send all the data from the tt_content table for this particular content element directly to a Fluid template

    tt_content {
       yourextensionkey_newcontentelement < lib.fluidContent
       yourextensionkey_newcontentelement {
          templateName = NewContentElement.html
       }
    }
    
  • Or use data processors in front of the view to do some data manipulation or other stuff you would like to do before sending everything to the view. First tell the FLUIDTEMPLATE content object what the name of the template is by using the parameter templateName, then add the full class name for the data processor. You can send your own parameters to the processor as well:

tt_content {
   yourextensionkey_newcontentelement < lib.fluidContent
   yourextensionkey_newcontentelement {
      templateName = NewContentElement.html
      dataProcessing {
         1 = Vendor\YourExtensionKey\DataProcessing\NewContentElementProcessor
         1 {
            useHere = theConfigurationOfTheDataProcessor
         }
      }
   }
}

You need to add the templateRootPath to your own extension as well, and if you are using it, partialRootPaths and layoutRootPaths:

lib.fluidContent {
   templateRootPaths {
      200 = EXT:your_extension_key/Resources/Private/Templates/
   }
}

Data Processor

In our setup.txt example above, we put the data processor in the directory Classes/DataProcessing. The file NewContentElementProcessor.php could look like:

<?php
namespace Vendor\YourExtensionKey\DataProcessing;

/*
 * This file is part of the TYPO3 CMS project.
 *
 * It is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
 * the terms of the GNU General Public License, either version 2
 * of the License, or any later version.
 *
 * For the full copyright and license information, please read the
 * LICENSE.txt file that was distributed with this source code.
 *
 * The TYPO3 project - inspiring people to share!
 */

use TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\ContentObject\ContentObjectRenderer;
use TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\ContentObject\DataProcessorInterface;

/**
 * Class for data processing for the content element "My new content element"
 */
class NewContentElementProcessor implements DataProcessorInterface
{

   /**
    * Process data for the content element "My new content element"
    *
    * @param ContentObjectRenderer $cObj The data of the content element or page
    * @param array $contentObjectConfiguration The configuration of Content Object
    * @param array $processorConfiguration The configuration of this processor
    * @param array $processedData Key/value store of processed data (e.g. to be passed to a Fluid View)
    * @return array the processed data as key/value store
    */
   public function process(
      ContentObjectRenderer $cObj,
      array $contentObjectConfiguration,
      array $processorConfiguration,
      array $processedData
   )
   {
      $processedData['foo'] = 'This variable will be passed to Fluid';

      return $processedData;
   }
}

ext_localconf.php

If you want to generate a special preview in the backend "Web > Page" module, you can use a hook for this:

// Register for hook to show preview of tt_content element of CType="yourextensionkey_newcontentelement" in page module
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['SC_OPTIONS']['cms/layout/class.tx_cms_layout.php']['tt_content_drawItem']['yourextensionkey_newcontentelement'] =
   \Vendor\YourExtensionKey\Hooks\PageLayoutView\NewContentElementPreviewRenderer::class;

Content Element Preview Renderer

The preview renderer NewContentElementPreviewRenderer.php, for the backend, has been put in the directory Classes/Hooks/PageLayoutView and could look like this:

<?php
namespace Vendor\YourExtensionKey\Hooks\PageLayoutView;

/*
 * This file is part of the TYPO3 CMS project.
 *
 * It is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
 * the terms of the GNU General Public License, either version 2
 * of the License, or any later version.
 *
 * For the full copyright and license information, please read the
 * LICENSE.txt file that was distributed with this source code.
 *
 * The TYPO3 project - inspiring people to share!
 */

use \TYPO3\CMS\Backend\View\PageLayoutViewDrawItemHookInterface;
use \TYPO3\CMS\Backend\View\PageLayoutView;

/**
 * Contains a preview rendering for the page module of CType="yourextensionkey_newcontentelement"
 */
class NewContentElementPreviewRenderer implements PageLayoutViewDrawItemHookInterface
{

   /**
    * Preprocesses the preview rendering of a content element of type "My new content element"
    *
    * @param \TYPO3\CMS\Backend\View\PageLayoutView $parentObject Calling parent object
    * @param bool $drawItem Whether to draw the item using the default functionality
    * @param string $headerContent Header content
    * @param string $itemContent Item content
    * @param array $row Record row of tt_content
    *
    * @return void
    */
   public function preProcess(
      PageLayoutView &$parentObject,
      &$drawItem,
      &$headerContent,
      &$itemContent,
      array &$row
   )
   {
      if ($row['CType'] === 'yourextensionkey_newcontentelement') {
         $itemContent .= '<p>We can change our preview here!</p>';

         $drawItem = false;
      }
   }
}

Fluid templates

For the final rendering you need a Fluid template. This template will be located at the directory and file name which you have entered in setup.txt using the parameter templateName.

Just to show the variable foo, like we defined at Data Processor, we can use the following markup:

<h1>{foo}</h1>