[Typo3-dev] Thoughts on Front end editing

[Jan-Erik Revsbech]

I have several times during my Typo3 development, found myself in need of front end editing, or creation of records. For smaller applications, the feAdminLib is very usefull, and I usually use this script to render the forms for editing. 

However sometimes I need something more than this: Image upload for instance, and also I find it a little silly to specify all the form in a template, when all the information for rendering the form is in the TCA! 

I have found several extensions (CWT edit, julle_feedit) that render forms for FE editing from TCA. I especially found the julle_feedit very usefull, but ther was some things missing (and something broken). I have fixed these issues in julle_feedit, and hope that Christian will incorporate the changes into his extension. The extension now supports fileuploads, and a concept of group (like feAdminlib). 

Anyway I think that front end editing should be a part of the core in TYPO3, and would like to help develop the functionality, if others feel the same way. I propose to either make a new class for rendering frontend editing form, or integrate it into the tceforms. But these funtions must *NOT* be dependent on a backend user being logged in! Of course the funtinality could also be kept as a extension, but I rather like the idea that there is a standard way to make FE edit functionality in TYPO3.

The whole concept of RTE enabled field should also be availbe in FE edit (For now my version of julle_feedit, only supports the FCK editor, but I would rather that it used the TCEforms framework, including transformations). This way records edited from frontend could be edited from the Backend without corrupting the HTML code).

I think that (If Christian allowss, of course) the julle_feedit, could serve as a startingpoint for either of these options. 

There is one thing that I miss in the TCA: For backend editing, the TCA supports multiple types, so that the rendering form can be different depending on the value of a certain field in the record, I would like that there was a similliar field for the Front end editing:

Example from one of my own extension: (TCA.php

 "types" => Array (
     "0" => Array("showitem" => "hidden;;1;;1-1-1, access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "1" => Array("showitem" => "hidden;;1;;1-1-1, access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "2" => Array("showitem" => "hidden;;1;;1-1-1, access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "3" => Array("showitem" => "hidden;;1;;1-1-1, access, target, type, category,header,link"),
     "4" => Array("showitem" => "hidden;;1;;1-1-1, access, target, type, category,header, attachments"),
  )

The class for FE edit could of course use this types array for rendering, but I think it is a good idea to seperate what is editable from FE, and what is ediable fron BE. I propose to have FEtypes configuration possibility also:

 "FEtypes" => Array (
     "0" => Array("showitem" => "access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "1" => Array("showitem" => "access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "2" => Array("showitem" => "access, target, type, category,header, author, bodytext;;;richtext[*],  attachments,link,related"),
     "3" => Array("showitem" => "access, target, type, category,header,link"),
     "4" => Array("showitem" => "access, target, type, category,header, attachments"),
  )


I hope that others will comment on my thoughts. I really think that this would help make Typo3 even more usefull than it allredy is.
 
Jan-Erik Revsbech
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