[TYPO3-dev] edit mm tables in backend forms with TCA

[Franz Holzinger]

Hello Ernesto,

>>Yes there should be a connection from the place where the select box of
>>the element from the foreign table is and the backend form of the MM table.
>>I do not know what is the most usable way for the customer.
>>Maybe 2 select boxes:
>>one for the uid_local
>>one for the uid_foreign
> 
> 
> uid_local is always the "current" record the user is editing, why would
> you need to have a select box for that?
It is easier for the person editing the attributes of the mm table if he
can stay in one window. So he selects the record from the local table as
well as from the foreign table where the titles are displayed.
He does not have to move among 2 windows: normal TYPO3 and mm backend
window.

> tx_books_articles_mm:
> uid_local (books), uid_foreign (articles), sorting (required), page_number
> 
> 
> But where will the user set the page-number of the articles in this
> specific book?

> 
> My idea would be:
> 
> 1) To add a new article to a book, one would open the tx_books record
> for editing and push the "browse_links" button next to the "articles"
> select-box.

like this?
http://fholzinger.com/development/addresssearch-1.png
http://fholzinger.com/development/addresssearch-2.png

> 3) In this *same* dialog (the browse_links popup) there is also a (new)
> field called "Page Number:" (info comes from TCA). The user fills this
> field out and then clicks on the selected article. Both information
> (tx_article record AND page number) is transfered to the select-box
So the main TYPO3 backend would need a refresh.
When the user always has to select on the main backend to get another
record in the mm backend window, this would be not so usable.

> 5) To change the page-number of an article, the user opens the tx_books
> record for editing.
Or the article's record.

> 6) A new icon is needed besides the articles select-box to change
> relational information. One would mark one article in the list and click
> this icon.
http://fholzinger.com/development/addresssearch-1.png

> 7) The "browse_links" button pops up, with the page-number and currently
> selected article pre-selected. In this dialog there should be no way to
> add multiple records (so no "+" links), we just want to edit the
> currently selected MM-relation.
Maybe later this could be enhanced if needed.

> b) add some features to these MM-relation select-boxes: possibility to
> hold more than just the record-id, maybe using some kind of separator in
> the value ("<uid>|page_number=323|...").
A function which can be called or a TCA entry for the MM table which
defines how the text in the select box should be generated.

> c) add a new icon to edit a specific item in a MM-relation select-box
> (as explained in 6-7 above).
http://fholzinger.com/development/addresssearch-1.png

> d) make sure the saving process (TCEmain?) knows how to handle this new
> value that a MM-select-box might contain.
The TCE needs to be modified so it will store the new mm backend. The mm
backend shall be a TCE backend.


- Franz