[TYPO3-dev] Howto extend 3rd partxy Extension?

[Jigal van Hemert]

Hi,

On 02/03/2015 00:01, Dirk Ho wrote:
> before I start coding, I wanted to ask, how best practice is to extend a
> 3rd party extension - in my case it's Powermail2.

In TYPO3 is a mechanism called XCLASS [1] which allows you to extend an 
existing class (and effectively replace one or more of its functions). 
The extended class is automatically used instead of the existing class.

As explained in the documentation the safest option is if you can call 
the original method (call parent::functionName(); ) at some point in 
your extended version of the function. That way the original is used 
also after updating the extension.

> Because I use powermail2 not only for a membership form, but also for a
> contact form, I need the possibility to set a flag, whether to use the
> new functionality or not.

You can always use an extra option somewhere in the 'settings' section 
of the powermail TypoScript configuration and check your new setting in 
your own code. Your XCLASS-code runs in the context of the original 
powermail code, so you can easily access the powermail settings.

[1] 
http://docs.typo3.org/typo3cms/CoreApiReference/ApiOverview/Xclasses/Index.html

-- 
Jigal van Hemert
TYPO3 CMS Active Contributor

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