The TCA Builder

What does it do?

With the TCA builder you have the possibility to create or change the fields in type list in an easy and speaking way.

Times of semicolons within field names are gone.

For example:

1. Compose the field list for the form of a content element or any other record
2. Change the types of existing definitions

Introducing TcaCreator in v1.6.0

With the TCA creator you have the possibility to create TCA forms from scratch and do not need to think about the configuration of the default fields like the ctrl section or the default fields in the columns section.

More to see in the Examples Section

Installation

Installation via composer

composer require spooner-web/tcabuilder

⚠️ In a composer install, the package won't be in typo3conf/ext folder but in vendor

Installation via classic mode

1. Head to https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/tcabuilder
2. Download the ZIP file
3. Upload it to your TYPO3 instance using non-composer mode

Installation via Extension Manager

1. Update your extension list
2. Search for "tcabuilder"
3. Install

Composer fails checking out this package

As composer is not able to detect the ZIP archive of a self-hosted GitLab instance, there may occur problems when deploying or building a project with this package.

To fix this issue, you need to add the GitLab built-in packagist API into the repositories section of your project composer.json:

{
	"type": "composer",
	"url": "https://git.spooner.io/api/v4/group/8/-/packages/composer/"
}

Usage

General usage

Recommendation is to use the TcaBuilder in the php files of your Configuration/TCA/Overrides/ folder of your extension.

1. Instantiate the TcaBuilder class
2. Set the table and type to configure (may also be a not existing type yet)
3. Use the methods to manipulate
4. Save to the TCA
5. Flush caches
6. See result

Methods

Main methods

Method name	Description	Parameters
setTable	Sets the table to load configuration from	string $tableName
setType	Sets the type to load configuration from	string $typeName
load	Loads configuration if it's an existing type
loadConfiguration	Shorter method to run setTable, setType and load at once	string $tableName string $typeName
useLocalLangFile	Set a locallang file (beginning with EXT:) to use in labels	string $localLangFile
saveToTca	Saves the manipulated configuration to TCA	bool $resetAfterSave (optional)
returnAsArray	Instead of saving the configuration it returns it directly as array

Manipulating types

Method name	Description	Parameters
addField	Adds a field to selected type	string $typeName string $position (optional) string $alternativeLabel (optional)
removeField	Removes a field from selected type	string $fieldName
moveField	Moves a field to a new position (alternatively with a new label)	string $fieldName string $newPosition string $newLabel (optional)
addPalette	Adds an existing palette to selected type	string $paletteName string $position (optional) string $alternativeLabel (optional)
removePalette	Removes a palette from selected type	string $paletteName
movePalette	Moves a palette to a new position (alternatively with a new label)	string $paletteName string $newPosition string $newLabel (optional)
addDiv	Adds a div (tab) to selected type	string $divName string $label
removeDiv	Removes a div (tab) from selected type, either by position (index, beginning with 0) or by label	string|int $positionOrLabel
addOverride	Adds a custom override of a field	string $fieldName array $configuration
initialize	Initializes the type with an empty list

Manipulating palettes

Method name	Description	Parameters
addCustomPalette	Creates a new palette (and optionally inserts it directly to given position)	string $paletteId array $fields string $label (optional) string $position (optional)
addFieldToPalette	Adds a field to a palette	string $paletteId string $field string $position (optional)
removeFieldFromPalette	Removes a field from a palette	string $paletteId string $field
initializePalette	Initializes the palette with an empty list	string $paletteId

Helper methods

Method name	Description	Parameters	Returns
getPaletteString	Finds the complete palette string which is used in list (for using it in position strings)	string $paletteName	string The complete palette string with --palette-- and the possible label config
getDivString	Finds the complete div string which is used in list (for using it in position strings), either by position (index, beginning with 0) or by label	string|int $positionOrLabel	string The complete palette string with --div-- and the div's label

Possible values for positioning fields, palettes or divs

Value	Description
before:<item>	Moves the item before the given item
after:<item>	Moves the item after the given item
replace:<item>	Replaces the given item

Examples (TCA builder)

Add an own content element

$tcaBuilder = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaBuilder::class);
$tcaBuilder
    ->setTable('tt_content') // define table
    ->setType('test') // define type
    ->addDiv('General')
    ->addField('header', '', 'Top header!!')
    ->addField('bodytext')
    ->addField('subheader', 'after:header')
    ->addField('layout', 'before:header')
    ->addDiv('Extra')
    ->addPalette('access')
    ->addPalette('hidden', 'after:bodytext', 'Alternative label')
    ->saveToTca(); // save to TCA

Change existing configurations

$tcaBuilder = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaBuilder::class);
$tcaBuilder
    ->setTable('pages') // define table
    ->setType(\TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\Page\PageRepository::DOKTYPE_LINK) // define type
    ->load() // load definitions
    ->removeField('doktype')
    ->removePalette('external')
    ->removeDiv(1)
    ->addPalette('external', 'after:--palette--;;layout')
    ->saveToTca(); // save back to TCA

$tcaBuilder = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaBuilder::class);
$tcaBuilder
    ->loadConfiguration('pages', \TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\Page\PageRepository::DOKTYPE_MOUNTPOINT)
    ->removeDiv('LLL:EXT:frontend/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_tca.xlf:pages.tabs.metadata')
    ->movePalette('title', 'after:' . $tcaBuilder->getPaletteString('abstract'), 'New title')
    ->addOverride(
        'title',
        [
            'label' => 'New title',
            'config' => [
                'renderType' => 'inputLink'
            ]
        ]
    )
    ->saveToTca();

Use language file

$tcaBuilder = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaBuilder::class);
$tcaBuilder
    ->loadConfiguration('pages', \TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\Page\PageRepository::DOKTYPE_MOUNTPOINT)
    ->useLocalLangFile('EXT:my_extension/Resources/Private/Language/locallang.xlf')
    ->addField('new_field', '', 'LANG:new_field') // Used label: "LLL:EXT:my_extension/Resources/Private/Language/locallang.xlf:new_field"
    ->saveToTca();

Do minimal changes

$tcaBuilder = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance(\SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaBuilder::class);
$tcaBuilder
    ->loadConfiguration('tt_content', 'textmedia')
    ->removePalette('headers')
    ->saveToTca();

Examples (Tca Creator)

Creating TCA configuration for a new table (inside custom extension)

// Returns the default values of ctrl section
// By default language, version and sorting options are set
// These options can be unset and additional overridden fields can be set
$configuration['ctrl'] = \SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaCreator::getControlConfiguration(
    'title',
    'label'    
);

// Returns the default columns depending on the ctrl section configuration
// Example: If ctrl section includes language, this method returns the field configuration
// for all language fields (sys_language_uid, l10n_parent, l10n_diffsource, l10n_source)
$configuration['columns'] = \SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaCreator::getColumnsConfiguration(
    $configuration['ctrl'],
    'tx_extension_domain_model_record',
    [
        'title' => [
            'label' => 'My label',
            'config' => [
                'type' => 'input'
            ]
        ]
    ]
);

// Uses TcaBuilder class to create the configuration for the TCA form
$configuration['types'][] = \SpoonerWeb\TcaBuilder\TcaCreator::buildTypesConfiguration()
    ->addDiv('General')
    ->addField('title')
    ->addField('subtitle')
    ->addDiv('Categories')
    ->addField('categories')
    ->returnAsArray();
    
// Now return TCA configuration
return $configuration;