TYPO3 Extension: Flux forms for EXT:news

Provides Flux forms integrations for EXT:news - allows defining <flux:form> in an EXT:news controller template to add/modify the FlexForm used by EXT:news.

What does it do?

In essence: puts the definitions of form fields your editors use when inserting EXT:news plugin instances, into the template that is rendered by the controller. Ideal when your overridden EXT:news templates need additional user-configurable options which are not part of the default EXT:news FlexForm - lets you define such form fields directly in the template that requires such values.

The integration is built using standard Flux integrations with minimal adaptations in key places. It consists of a single class file (around 25 lines of code) and one line of code to register this class, which is all that is necessary to connect Flux to EXT:news.

Installation

This extension is only available through composer/Packagist:

composer require namelesscoder/newsflux

Afterwards, either execute:

./typo3/cli_dispatch.phpsh extbase extension:install newsflux

Or, activate the extension in the Extension Manager.

There are no other officially supported installation methods.

Configuration

There is no configuration for this extension. The integrations only trigger if you actually define a form in the templates you override from EXT:news and this form will contain all your configuration.

To consume TypoScript variables in your form such variables *must be addded to the plugin.tx_news.settings scope - which is already where you would define variables you would use as {settings} in your EXT:news templates, including additional variables beyond those EXT:news defines.

How to use the feature

The integration works by making a connection between the template file that would be rendered by the plugin instance and the form that is displayed in the "Plugin options" FlexForm field - which then allows Flux to read a flux:form if one is defined in the template.

This means that your point of integration is your overridden templates which you added to the template paths of EXT:news just like you normally would. This also means that you must override the controller template if for example you need the variable in a Partial template rendered via that controller action. In other words: you cannot define a flux:form in a Partial template or a Layout - it must be in one of the List.html, Detail.html etc. templates.

Once the flux:form is defined this integration will automatically add the sheets/fields you define inside that flux:form to the data structure provided by EXT:news. The merging is done by recursively replacing any existing fields, e.g. if you define a sheet or field that exists in the default data structure then that sheet or field is overridden with the one you define.

Example

An example flux:form integrated into the List.html template to allow selecting a CSS class name:

{namespace n=GeorgRinger\News\ViewHelpers}
{namespace flux=FluidTYPO3\Flux\ViewHelpers}
<f:layout name="General" />
<!--
	=====================
    Templates/News/List.html
-->

<f:section name="Configuration">
	<flux:form id="extended">
	    <flux:form.sheet name="extended" label="Extended fields">
		    <flux:field.select name="settings.myCssClass" label="Special CSS class"
		                       items="normal,special,awesome" />
        </flux:form.sheet>
	</flux:form>
</f:section>

<f:section name="content">
    <div class="{settings.myCssClass}">
        ...
    </div>
</f:section>

To briefly explain this template:

• The Configuration section is added to an overridden template
• Configuration section has a flux:form is added which has a single sheet named/labeled "Extended fields"
• The variable editors will enter in this field can then be used in the standard output section

All features known from the Flux ViewHelper API can be used and will behave in the same way you are used to from extensions such as fluidcontent and fluidpages.