Book Image

Mastering TypoScript: TYPO3 Website, Template, and Extension Development

Book Image

Mastering TypoScript: TYPO3 Website, Template, and Extension Development

Overview of this book

Free, open-source, flexible, and scalable, TYPO3 is one of the most powerful PHP content management systems. It is well suited for creating intranets and extranets for the enterprise. While providing an easy-to-use web interface for non-technical authors and editors of content, its messaging and workflow system enable shared authoring and collaboration. TYPO3 provides flexible and powerful interfaces for both content editors and administrators, giving them full control of the core aspects the system. However for developers who need to customize the system, TYPO3 offers a powerful configuration language called TypoScript. Good knowledge of TypoScript is really a prerequisite for implementing complex applications with TYPO3 and gives developers full control over the configuration of TYPO3 and its template engine. TypoScript enables the complete output template to be created and manipulated, giving you full control over the layout of the site. TypoScript also allows you to integrate dynamic contents, JavaScript-based menus, Flash, Graphics, etc. with ease. You have maximum control over the design of the website and can control all options that would otherwise be addressed by HTML-simple text output, formatting, and much more. TypoScript also allows you to generate graphics at run time and display different content dynamically.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Mastering TypoScript: TYPO3 Website, Template, and Extension Development
Credits
About the Author
Preface

Building Extensions


Let's start with some basic advice for building extensions. Once you get familiar with TYPO3 extensions, you will notice that there is a ready-made solution for just about any problem. So before you create your own extension, check to see whether there is one already in existence that will solve your problem. The installation of any extension is made incredibly simple using the extension manager. The entire system of extensions is very well developed in TYPO3 and consists of the following components:

  • Extension API: This is the interface which you use to integrate extensions into TYPO3.

  • Extension Manager: This back-end module handles installing, updating, and deleting extensions (more about this later).

  • Extension Repository: This is the central contact point for extensions—developers can upload their extensions and users can download them and get information on individual extensions.