I am new to TYPO3 and have trouble understanding the general relation between extensions and the backend of TYPO3.
For example, is it true that the goal of making an extension is to be able add edited/new content elements to your page that cannot be found in TYPO3 out of the box?
For example if I wanted to add a carousel to my page, would I make an extension and design it in such a way that I can add it from my backend to the desired page? Or would it make more sense to, for example, put it as a partial and import it to the desired page using fluid (all of this without using the backend and just using code).
Or are both approaches possible and when would you go for the first or the second (or seek out a third approach)?
Sorry if this question is too general/vague. I feel like I do not understand how the backend and the files in my TYPO3 folder communicate to generate the website and that I am using content elements in the backend one time and typing out the elements in HTML the next time without a good reason for it.
I try to bring some light into the dark areas.
Backend This is the admin area of the CMS where in most cases the content is created by editors.
Frontend: How the website looks to a regular visitor
Extension: An extension is custom code, either your own code or by others which extend TYPO3 in one or more ways. The benefit is that you don't change the code of TYPO3 core itself and therefore it can be always updated.
An extension can be used for a lot of things:
- Shipping a site template with all the assets like CSS, JavaScript, HTML template, ..
- Providing custom content elements
- Providing new record types like news or forms
- Improve user experience
So yes, if you want to have a new kind of content elements you need to use an extension:
Search on https://extensions.typo3.org to check if there is already something which fits your needs
Use https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/mask/ (best in combination with https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/mask_export/) or https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/dce/ to make it a lot faster to create content elements
If experienced you can also create a custom content elements without any additional extension but for start I don't recommend that.
One approach to look at this question in a different way might be to differentiate between content created and maintained by editors (the backend users which typically add and maintain content) and parts of the visible webpages created in other ways. For example, the header, footer, menu of a site may be created by a sitepackage extension - this is something the editor (backend user without admin access) typically has no permission to access and that is one of the points of a CMS - the content is editable by someone without technical background. Of course this improves the stability as well because you don't have people fiddling around with things they should not be able to have access to and thus cannot break.
If you want your editors to be able to add (remove, change) content - do it in a way they have access to (typically using content elements).
You are right, the core provides content elements (such as "textmedia"), extensions can extend this by adding other content elements.
For your example with "carousel" you might want to look at the (official) Introduction Package which uses the bootstrap_package which offers a carousel content element. The Installation Guide explains how to setup a TYPO3 installation with "Introduction Package" so you may already be using that.
For example, is it true that the goal of making an extension is to be able to add edited/new content elements to your page that cannot be found in TYPO3 out of the box?
That is one of many, many other possible purposes of an extension. For example, look at the extension "min". It does not provide any content element and there is no visible change for the editor. An extension is just a way to extend the TYPO3 core (while the core itself also consists of extensions).
Introduction of Extensions in TYPO3 Explained
Sitepackage Tutorial
Related
For the construction of an extensive list of links, since the source page is a thematic portal, I am looking for a suitable EXT., Which also runs under TYPO3 7.6 LTS.
it if the list of links to a permits the use of categories and multiple categorization of links is possible would be nice. should Weiterrhin the links are described not only the destination address and an alias but here should still an outline of the target page (possibly with photo) be possible.
Additional functions such as proposing links by users, reporting broken links or even a User Voting would nice additional features.
There were times the Modern Linklist, but they were no longer being developed for TYPO3 <6.x.
Is there perhaps somewhere an alternative or as one might like to vorhnandenen solutions might realize? It would be nice of course, without any programming knowledge, since I'm not a programmer.
P.S .: It is not about building a spam list but high quality links with topics relating to the original page.
As this seems to be a straight forward usage you could try to build that extension by yourself with the ExtensionBuilder.
just build up the records neccessary for your data. and let the EB generate all usefull actions: list & show, even create, edit, delete in FE would be possible.
Afterwards you just need to edit the generated fluid templates.
these links may help:
Overview
EB manual
small remark: if you want the newest code state, use the EB from git instead of TER
I`m not aware of an existing extension for it but it could be a good project to learn extbase / fluid.
You should also take a look at
typo3/sysext/fluid_styled_content/Resources/Private/Partials/Menu
and
typo3/sysext/fluid_styled_content/Classes/ViewHelpers/Menu
Fluid Content contains everything you need to create a list like that, you "just" have to combine the necessary bits and pieces.
You can do a lot with TYPO3 core functionality: there is a page type "external URL", pages can have categories by default, there are plenty of menu options (TypoScript HMENU, menu content elements, Fluid menu Viewhelpers). The Linkvalidator can periodically check all links and report broken links.
For suggestions you could add a form. Powermail for example can also store submitted info in database records, so your visitors could prepare page records (they are hidden until you make them visible).
I have installed TYPO3 and am working with a HTML template and markers to display content.
There is only one thing i am asking myself:
I have several pages with the same layout but different content and I only want to change parts of these contents.
Do I have to implement a specific template for every page to make this work or is there any other way?
(the red marked content shall be changed only)
I hope you got the point what I want to achieve and can answer my question.
there is a bootstrap introduction package that you can install (look at packages in the extension module)
https://typo3.org/extensions/repository/view/introduction
based on:
https://typo3.org/extensions/repository/view/bootstrap_package
there is no need for gridelements or DCE.
when you are a TYPO3 beginner, the introduction package gives you a good start because it stays close tho the TYPO3 'core' way of creating a website.
After you have learned how to create basic templates (with backend layouts & FLUIDTEMPLATES) you can deep into other extension like DCE or gridelements.
You can either create a template for each page or use one template for the whole content and then use some other extensions to create the grid view.
For this job the best extensions are:
dce - dynamic content element dce extensions
-- or --
gridelements gridelements extension
What is to be understood by "Fluid powered TYPO3" (as stated by http://fedext.net/) and what are its benefits for the integration?
Are there other modern templating approaches for TYPO3 6.x that would be best practice to switch to now?
I don't understand the different systems that are around at the moment and I need some clarification.
The background of the question, what I am looking for:
Don't use Templavoila
Keep it simple, little coding overhead
That's why I still use markers!
Enable Custom content items in the backend like FCEs in TV
Foment "structured content" approach in TYPO3: predefined inputs and detailed rendering vs. "Anything goes" like in css_styled_content
And what about https://github.com/Ecodev/bootstrap_package ? Is it recommendable?
Although this question is fairly old by now (I didn't see it until now) and you probably already found out more about what Fluid Powered TYPO3 offers:
The features you ask for (TV-style FCEs, low coding overhead and especially the last one which is more regarding the process than the tool) are exactly what Fluid Powered TYPO3 is all about:
We provide simple ways to get page and content templates recognised by TYPO3 and made available to use by the site's content editors.
We use a common API approach (which is built on top of TYPO3's TCA/TCEforms) which you can use in both page and content templates to add custom fields (as an example: create a field to set the color of the site's header or configure a content element to have a blue background, and so on).
We use Fluid which is (as Michael already stated) a superb rendering engine.
But this is just a small part of the possibilities you have with the extensions (currently there are 20 - no, really, 20) which all provide different feature sets: there's the ViewHelper library VHS which you can use with any type of Fluid template, there's fluidpages, fluidcontent and fluidbackend which lets you place template files in a recognised path and made available to use without further hassle, there's view which lets you use overlay paths for plugin templateRootPaths (example: override only one template file from EXT:news without having to copy all template files from EXT:news). There's builder which can generate extensions, ViewHelper unit test classes, test your Fluid templates and more. There's tool which contains a range of Extbase Service-type classes that you can use in your own Extbase plugins. There's fluidwidget which is a great base for complex Fluid Widgets. You've got side utilities like *extbase_realurl* which can generate automatic realurl rules for any Extbase plugin. And there's schemaker which can let you create your own XSD schemas for your own ViewHelpers (or any version of for example fluid itself, or VHS, or flux etc.).
And there is more than this. Simply put, we offer you every tool you need to create every type of site, template or plugin. Our tools have one primary focus: efficiency.
It sounds like a huge mouthful but it isn't as complicated as it seems. Usually you will start off by using three or four of the extensions and their purpose is quite clear: Flux allows you to add the form fields which content editors use to configure content, pages and plugin instances; VHS provides a large number of multipurpose VieWHelpers to use whenever you need more than just those included with Fluid. And then one or both of fluidcontent and fluidpages which are -very- simple in that all they do is allow you to use template files as content elements or page templates.
There is quite a bit to get used to - this is true of any framework - but we spent a lot of effort on making the API the same across the line, which means anything you learn in one context (for example page templates) you can use in others (like content templates and backend modules).
If you want to save time and be consistent when creating content, pages and plugins, Fluid Powered TYPO3 (which is the umbrella name for all those twenty-something extensions) will do exactly that for you.
I can recommend taking a few minutes to read the new tour I published on fedext.net - the URL is http://fedext.net/tour/form-api.html - it primarily speaks to developers who've touched on Extbase and Fluid earlier, but even if you're used to "just" working with TYPO3 the main points should make sense.
And if you need more details than this you are welcome to find us on Github or on IRC (#typo3 on Freenet). We're always happy to help new users.
Cheers,
Claus aka. NamelessCoder
Fluid offers a much cleaner approach of dividing template logic from display logic and controller logic. Your result will be structured much better when using the possibilities fluid and the mentioned extensions like vhs provide (like layouts and partials).
The usage is actually very simple but can still be combined with the oldschool marker approach (you can do things like <f:cObject typoscriptObjectPath="lib.marks.MAIN-MENU"/>). If you need more flexibility in the backend like in TV, you (of course) have to code some things yourself.
The easiest way is to use an extension which is created by modelling it in the backend to fit your custom needs, but you can also adjust the rendering of pages and/or default content elements by using typoscript and the fields given (like pages.layout, header_layout, section_frame and so on).
So you always have the choice between detailed inputs (extbase extension objects) and using the TYPO3 default things like page properties and RTE config in combination with some typoscript magic (css_styled_content).
So as a conclusion I strongly recommend using fluid templates and additional extensions like vhs as they provide a lot of (additional) power and reusable templates while still let you use markers if you want to. Personally, I also prefer to enhance or limit the RTE in the backend in favor of writing too much special code for an FCE-like result.
BTW: There are very good autocomplete features by using the DTDs/XSDs from fedext.net in your IDE which made my template programming much faster (like 25%).
I was wondering if page templates can be built instead of individual components in Teamsite 7? I've seen other cMS systems where it is just a page template that has lots of functionality built I and you can "switch" on and off elements that you want to display instead of having to drag components onto a page? Is this possible?
Old question, but since I just came across it:
Yes, TeamSite supports templates (.template) files which can be partial or full page templates. The default location is iwadmin/main/livesite/template.
I recommend downloading the developer guides from Autonomy's web site for detailed information.
Templates in teamsite/livesite is like a bag that can contain components. But in order for a functionality to be developed in teamsite/livesite we need to create components. certainly we can avoid dragging and dropping components in each page by creating templates and dropping components within it for once. Keep in mind templates are bound to layouts. for each type of layout we need to create a template. Please have a look at TS_7.3_SiteDeveloper_rev1, Chapter 5.
Yes, you can create templates instead of dragging components.
Since, TeamSite supports templates (.template) files which can be partial or full page templates and resides at location : iwadmin/main/livesite/template.
So, whenever you try to create a new page everytime the HTML code required for that page gets automatically added with the template and layouts you selected.
But, again this is not good since you can have any number of templates you need but this could create confusions at times when you try to create a new page since you will need to remember every template name and contents that you will need for a particular page so it's better to have small lists of templates and layouts since then we can say that there is reusability in our application/website which we are going to develop using Teamsite and Livesite.
Please vote the solution if its helpful.
Thanks!
I have a website that has related pages. They have links that point back and forth to one another but I have no integrated system, nor do I know what that would mean.
What is the minimum code that a group of web pages must have to be considered a Content Management System (CMS). Is it that all the settings are in the database and the pages are generated somehow? Is there some small snippet that all my pages could share that makes them a CMS, database or not?
Thanks. I was also hoping not to have to study a giant CMS to see what makes it a CMS . After maybe a basic understanding I would know what I was looking for.
edit: here's why I ask about code. Whenever I have looked at a CMS, and maybe they aren't all the same, I saw that to develop a module you always had to inherit from certain classes and had some necessary code. I didn't know if there was some magic model that I just don't get that all cms makers understand.
edit: perhaps my question is more about being extendable or pluggable. What would a minimum look like? Is it possible to show that here?
edit: how about this? Is something a CMS if it is not extendable and/or pluggable?
I think this is really impossible to say. We all manage content. The "system" is just whatever mechanism you use to do so(dragging and dropping in Explorer or committing content changes via a SQL query). To say there is a minimum amount of code needed really isn't indicative. What is indicative is how often you find yourself making mistakes and how easy it is for a given user of a given skill level and knowledge to execute the functions in the designed system. That tells you the quality/degree of what you have in place being worthy of being called a "CMS."
Simply put a CMS is an application that allows the user to publish and edit existing web content.
In response to the edit:
A "good" CMS allows of extensibility. By using inheritence you can extend the functionality of a CMS outside of the core components provided. That's the magic.
About Extensibility:
Depending on the language/framework you want to build your CMS with, you can load pages or controls(ASP.NET) using command built into the framework. Typically what is being done is a parent class/interface is being defined that forces an module that is to be developed to follow some given standards:
Public MustInherit Class CMSModule
'Here you will define properties and functions that need to be global to all modules being developed to extend your CMS.
public property ModuleName as string
End Class
public class PlugInFooCMSPage
inherits CMSModule
end class
Then it's just a matter of simply loading a module dynamically in whatever construct a given language/framework provides.
Ultimately, a CMS is a system that lets you manage content, so it needs an user interface that is dedicated to letting you easily create, edit and delete pages on your website.
However, it's fairly usual to expect from a CMS to provide a browser-based WYSIWYG page editor, file uploading, image resizing, url rewriting, page categories and tags, user accounts (editor, moderator, administrator), and some kind of templae system.
Without dragging you into a theoretical explanation of what a CMS is and what it's not, perhaps some tutorials on the building methodology of a CMS will help you better understand.
http://css-tricks.com/php-for-beginners-building-your-first-simple-cms/
http://www.intranetjournal.com/php-cms/
A Content Management System is a System that Manages Content. :)
So if you got many pages that share the same layout, you can create a system that stores the content into a database and when a page is requested, it gets that content, merges it with a template that contains the page header, menu, etc.. and outputs the result.
The basis idea is that you don't want to copy HTML pages, and have to edit hundreds of them when you want to change your layout.
Such a system can be very complex, featuring wysiwyg editors, toolbars, version control, multiple user publishing and much more, but it could be as simple as a single page behind a standard loging, that contains only an input field for the title and a textarea in which you type the html content.