[TYPO3-dev] non-standard page types and extension configuration info?

[Jason Lefkowitz]

Hey everybody...

I'm in the process of writing my 1st TYPO3 extension, and I've run into 
a weird thing involving non-standard page types.

One thing I want my extension to do is create output that isn't HTML -- 
the way tt_news does with XML feeds.  I figured out that I could use an 
alternate page type to accomplish this.  From the extensions Typoscript 
setup:

xmlPage = PAGE
xmlPage.pageNum = 9999
xmlPage.config.disableAllHeaderCode = 1
xmlPage.config.additionalHeaders = Content-type: application/xml
xmlPage.10 < plugin.tx_myextension_pi1

This works fine -- the page comes back as XML, with the right MIME type 
and everything, when I hit it using the pageNum (i.e. 
index.php?id=1&type=9999).

The problem is when I try to get the data set in the plugin's Flexform. 
   An example would be the startingpoint set by the user.  When I hit 
the page without the special pageNum (i.e. index.php?id=1), I can get 
the startingpoint this way:

$startingPoint = $this -> cObj -> data['pages'];

However, when I hit it WITH the pageNum (index.php?id=1&type=9999), 
$startingPoint is empty.

The same thing happens with the Flexform I set up to allow configuration 
of the plugin output.  None of the settings come through in 
$this->cObj->data['pi_flexform'] when using the pageNum, even though I 
have "$this->pi_initPIflexForm();" in my script.

Is there some special thing I have to do to get access to plugin 
configuration data like the starting point when using non-standard page 
types?

Thanks!

-- Jason Lefkowitz