EXT:container - A TYPO3 Extension for creating nested content elements

Features

• Simple amazing containers (grids) as custom TYPO3 Content Elements
• No default containers; everything will be built the way it is needed for a project
• Supports multilanguage (connected or free mode (mixed mode not supported))
• Supports workspaces
• Supports colPos-restrictions if EXT:content_defender is installed
• Frontend Rendering via DataProcessor and Fluid templates

Why did we create another "Grid" extension?

At b13, we've long supported gridelements, for which we are thankful, and have used this extension with great pleasure in the past.

However, we had our pain points in the past with all the solutions we've evaluated and worked with. These are our reasons:

• We wanted an extension that works with multiple versions of TYPO3 Core with the same extension to support our company's TYPO3 upgrade strategy.
• We wanted to overcome issues when dealing with the colPos field and dislike any fixed value that isn't fully compatible with TYPO3 Core.
• We wanted a thoroughly tested extension with multilingual and workspaces functionality.
• We wanted an extension that only does one thing: EXT:container ONLY adds tools to create and render container elements. There are no FlexForms, no permission handling, or custom rendering.
• We wanted an extension in which every grid has its own Content Type (CType), making it as close as possible to TYPO3 Core functionality.
• We wanted an extension where the configuration of a grid container element is located in one single place, making it easy to create custom containers.
• We wanted an extension with a progressive development workflow. We were working on new projects in TYPO3 v10 sprint releases, needed custom container elements, and did not want to wait until TYPO3 v10 LTS.

Installation

Install this extension via composer req b13/container or download it from the TYPO3 Extension Repository and activate the extension in the Extension Manager of your TYPO3 installation.

Once installed, add a custom content element to your site package or theme extension (see "Adding your container element").

Adding your container element

1. Register your custom container in your site package or theme extension in Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php as new Content Type
2. Add TypoScript and your Fluid Template for frontend rendering
3. Add an icon in Resources/Public/Icons/<CType>.svg

See EXT:container_example for a simple example of a custom container.

Registration of Container Elements

This is an example of creating a two-column container. The code snippet goes into a file in your site package or theme extension in the folder Configuration/TCA/Overrides/. The file can have any name, but it is good practice to name it according to the database table it relates to. In this case, this would be tt_content.php.

\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\B13\Container\Tca\Registry::class)->configureContainer(
(
new \B13\Container\Tca\ContainerConfiguration(
'b13-2cols-with-header-container', // CType'2 Column Container With Header', // label'Some Description of the Container', // description
[
[
['name' => 'header', 'colPos' => 200, 'colspan' => 2, 'allowed' => ['CType' => 'header, textmedia']]
],
[
['name' => 'left side', 'colPos' => 201],
['name' => 'right side', 'colPos' => 202]
]
] // grid configuration
)
)
// set an optional icon configuration
->setIcon('EXT:container_example/Resources/Public/Icons/b13-2cols-with-header-container.svg')
);

Methods of the ContainerConfiguration Object

Method name	Description	Parameters	Default
setIcon	icon file, or existing icon identifier	string $icon	'EXT:container/Resources/Public/Icons/Extension.svg'
setBackendTemplate	Template for backend view	?string $backendTemplate	EXT:container/Resources/Private/Templates/Container.html'
disableBackendTemplate	Disables the backend template for this CType (shortcut for setBackendTemplate(null)), if you want another preview mechanism (e.g. EXT:backenlayout)	-	-
setGridTemplate	Template for grid	string $gridTemplate	'EXT:container/Resources/Private/Templates/Grid.html'
setGridPartialPaths / addGridPartialPath	Partial root paths for grid	array $gridPartialPaths / string $gridPartialPath	['EXT:backend/Resources/Private/Partials/', 'EXT:container/Resources/Private/Partials/']
setGridLayoutPaths	Layout root paths for grid	array $gridLayoutPaths	[]
setSaveAndCloseInNewContentElementWizard	saveAndClose for new content element wizard	bool $saveAndCloseInNewContentElementWizard	true
setRegisterInNewContentElementWizard	register in new content element wizard	bool $registerInNewContentElementWizard	true
setGroup	Custom Group (used as optgroup for CType select, and as tab in New Content Element Wizard). If empty, "container" is used as tab and no optgroup in CType is used.	string $group	'container'
setRelativeToField	Add item relative to existing field.	string $relativeToField	''
setRelativePosition	Valid keywords: 'before', 'after', 'replace'.	string $relativeToField	''
setDefaultValues	Default values for the newContentElement.wizardItems	array $defaultValues	[]

Notes:

• If EXT:content_defender is installed, you can use allowed, disallowed, and maxitems in the column configuration
• The container registry does multiple things:
  • Adds CType to TCA select items
  • Registers your icon
  • Adds PageTSconfig
  • Sets showitem for this CType (header)
  • Saves the configuration in TCA in $GLOBALS['TCA']['tt_content']['containerConfiguration'][<CType>] for further usage
• We provide some default icons you can use; see Resources/Public/Icons
  • container-1col
  • container-2col
  • container-2col-left
  • container-2col-right
  • container-3col
  • container-4col

TypoScript

The TypoScript is necessary to define the rendering of the container in the frontend. Normally, you will place it in your site package or theme extension near where you define other stuff regarding your content elements. templateRootPaths must be adapted to reflect the path of the HTML files in your site package or theme extension.

// default/general configuration (will add 'children_<colPos>' variable to processedData for each colPos in container
tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container < lib.contentElement
tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container {
templateName = 2ColsWithHeader
templateRootPaths {
10 = EXT:container_example/Resources/Private/Templates
}
dataProcessing {
100 = B13\Container\DataProcessing\ContainerProcessor
}
}
// if needed, you can use ContainerProcessor with explicitly set colPos/variable values
tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container < lib.contentElement
tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container {
templateName = 2ColsWithHeader
templateRootPaths {
10 = EXT:container_example/Resources/Private/Templates
}
dataProcessing {
200 = B13\Container\DataProcessing\ContainerProcessor
200 {
colPos = 200
as = children_200
}
201 = B13\Container\DataProcessing\ContainerProcessor
201 {
colPos = 201
as = children_201
}
}
}

Options for DataProcessing

Option	Description	Default	Parameter
contentId	id of container to to process	current uid of content element $cObj->data['uid']	?int
colPos	colPos of children to to process	empty, all children are processed (as children_<colPos>)	?int
as	variable to use for proceesedData (only if colPos is set)	children	?string
skipRenderingChildContent	do not call ContentObjectRenderer->render() for children, (renderedContent in child will not exist)	empty	?int

Template

The HTML template file goes in the folder you defined in your TypoScript above (see templateRootPaths). It's important to name it exactly as defined in templateName in TypoScript, in this case, 2ColsWithHeader.html. The file name is case-sensitive!

<f:foreach="{children_200}" as="record">
{record.header} <br><f:format.raw>
{record.renderedContent}
</f:format.raw></f:for><f:foreach="{children_201}" as="record">
{record.header} <br><f:format.raw>
{record.renderedContent}
</f:format.raw></f:for>

With explicit colPos defined use {children_200|201} as set in the example above

ContentAreaProcessor for TYPO3 v14 or above

for TYPO3 v14 or higher you can use the ConentAreaProcessor Automatically detects if content element has container columns adds them lazily to the content variable. The ContentArea can be used in f:render.contentArea or f:render.record ViewHelper

TypoScript

tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container < lib.contentElement
tt_content.b13-2cols-with-header-container {
templateName = 2ColsWithHeader
templateRootPaths {
10 = EXT:container_example/Resources/Private/Templates
}
dataProcessing {
100 = B13\Container\DataProcessing\ContentAreaProcessor
}
}

Options for ContentAreaProcessor

Option	Description	Default	Parameter
contentId	id of container to to process	current uid of content element $cObj->data['uid']	?int
as	variable to use for proceesedData	content	?string

Template

<f:ifcondition="{content.200}"><divclass="header-children">{content.200 -> f:render.contentArea()}</div></f:if><f:ifcondition="{content.201}"><f:foreach="{content.201}" as="record">
{record -> f:render.record()}
</f:for></f:if>

PSR-14 Events

BeforeContainerConfigurationIsAppliedEvent

• change container configuration for 3rd-party extensions container you have installed
• apply the same configuration to all or a set of containers (e.g. gridTemplate)
• Note CType and Grid Structure cannot be changed (but Column Properties of the Grid)

BeforeContainerPreviewIsRendered

Change view object, e.g., add variables to view or change paths

Concepts

• Complete registration is done with one PHP call to TCA Registry
• A container in the TYPO3 backend Page module is rendered like a page itself (see Backend/Preview/GridRenderer called in PageContentPreviewRenderingEvent Listeners)
• For backend clipboard and drag & drop <tx_container_parent>_<colPos> used in the data-colpos attribute in the wrapping CE-div Element (instead of just the colPos as in the PageLayoutView)
• The <tx_container_parent>_<colPos> parameter is resolved to tx_container_parent and colPos value in DataHandler hooks
• When translating a container, all child elements also get translated (the child elements are not explicitly listed during the translation dialog)
• Copying or moving children of a container copies or moves translations as well
• Custom definitions make use of custom colPos values so site owners build their own elements, no fixed colPos given, so no interference with existing solutions
• Each container type is just a definition for its own CType

Migration to EXT:container

In case you want to migrate your existing hierarchical contents (e.g. EXT:gridelements) to EXT:container it's best to know a bit about the internal structure.

• a CEs pid should always match its container CEs pid
• a CEs tx_container_parent points its container CEs uid
• a CEs sorting is pid-wide (and thus logically consistent for all CEs within the same colPos)
• a translated CEs l18n_parent points obviously to its translation origin (if it has one)
• a translated CEs tx_container_parent doesn't point to the translated parent (as you would assume) but to the translation origin
• a translated container CE should have the same CType as its translation origin if they're "connected"
• a container doesn't store the number of its children (there no pendant to the field tx_gridelements_children)

Here's a typical use case of a translated container and its child CEs.

+--------+-----+------------------+-------------+-----------+--------+---------------------+---------+
| uid | pid | sys_language_uid | l18n_parent | CType | colPos | tx_container_parent | sorting |
+--------+-----+------------------+-------------+--------------+-----+---------------------+---------+
| 123 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2_columns | 0 | 0 | 256 |
| 321 | 15 | 0 | 0 | text | 100 | 123 | 512 |
| 322 | 15 | 0 | 0 | text | 100 | 123 | 768 |
| 330 | 15 | 0 | 0 | text | 101 | 123 | 1024 |
| 1123 | 15 | 1 | 123 | 2_columns | 0 | 0 | 1280 |
| 1321 | 15 | 1 | 321 | text | 100 | 123 | 640 |
| 1322 | 15 | 1 | 322 | text | 100 | 123 | 896 |
| 1330 | 15 | 1 | 330 | text | 101 | 123 | 1152 |
+--------+-----+------------------+-------------+-----------+--------+---------------------+---------+

CLI commands

There are several CLI commands to check/fix the integrity of the containers and their children.

# Check the sorting of container children
vendor/bin/typo3 container:sorting
# Fix the sorting of container children on page 123
vendor/bin/typo3 container:sorting --apply 123
# Check the sorting of records in page colPos
vendor/bin/typo3 container:sorting-in-page
# ??
bin/typo3 container:fixLanguageMode
bin/typo3 container:fixContainerParentForConnectedMode
bin/typo3 container:deleteChildrenWithWrongPid
bin/typo3 container:deleteChildrenWithNonExistingParent
bin/typo3 container:deleteChildrenWithUnusedColPos

TODOs

• Integrity proofs
• List module actions

Extension Tests and Coding Guidelines

You can run our test suite for this extension yourself:

• run composer install
• run Build/Scripts/runTests.sh -s unit
• run Build/Scripts/runTests.sh -s functional
• run Build/Scripts/runTests.sh -s acceptance

See Tests/README.md on how to run the tests locally (like how github-actions runs the tests).

To assure coding guidelines are fullfilled:

• run php -d memory_limit=2G .Build/bin/phpstan analyse -c Build/phpstan14.neon
• run php -d memory_limit=2G .Build/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --config=Build/php-cs-fixer.php --dry-run --stop-on-violation --using-cache=no

Credits

This extension was created by Achim Fritz in 2020 for b13 GmbH, Stuttgart.

Find examples, use cases, and best practices for this extension in our container blog series on b13.com.

Find more TYPO3 extensions we have developed that help us deliver value in client projects. As part of our work, we focus on testing and best practices to ensure long-term performance, reliability, and results in all our code.