[TYPO3-english] FCEs without TV: state of the art?

Ron Hall ronslists at busynoggin.com
Wed Sep 7 23:17:19 CEST 2011


Hello Peter,

> IMO the datastructure/flexforms are really powerful/nice. For the rendering I'd really prefer to hand over the data (object/array) to a template-system (for example fluid) and let that take care of the visual represantation in the Frontend!

There is an extension that provides an API for producing content elements the can be used with TV or without.

The extension that provides the API is wec_contentelements. That extension provides its own content elements (which can be turned off) but as I mentioned it also provides an API you can access to create your own.

Here are some of the advantages of the approach.

1) No PHP knowlege is requred (only TypoScript and Flexform),
2) Can be used in any TYPO3 installation regardless of the page templating method
3) No mapping of templates required
4) Easily portable between installations as extensions
5) Faster development than other methods

I am a heavy user of TV but I now use wec_contentelements in all situations where I used to create FCEs except for one. I still have to use FCEs for elements that need to contain other elements like for making columns and such. This is the one situation where I know of no other good alternative to TV.

Jeff Segars gave a presentation on this at the San Francisco conference. You can view it here:

http://vimeo.com/24988667

Thanks,
Ron Hall

On Sep 7, 2011, at 8:46 AM, Peter Niederlag wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Am 07.09.2011 09:17, schrieb Dmitry Dulepov:
>> Hi!
>> 
>> Martin Bless wrote:
>>> which method of creating "flexible content elements" (FCEs) like in
>>> Templavoila but without TV ist state of the art?
>> 
>> Why reinvent the wheel? Just use TV. Make your life simpler.
> 
> 1.)
> Because the DS mixes Model (data-structure) and visual layout (rendering/Typoscript) and then this is mapped on a static (HTML-)template. For complex/flexible content elements with differnet options this tends to a not very clear/easy to understand mixture.
> 
> 2.)
> The Mapping can't easily be versioned externally (by SCM) or synched between systems.
> 
> IMO the datastructure/flexforms are really powerful/nice. For the rendering I'd really prefer to hand over the data (object/array) to a template-system (for example fluid) and let that take care of the visual represantation in the Frontend!
> 
> I understand TV is efficient for some people/projects but unfortunatly it is not for all cases!
> 
> For example getting the count of elements in a section into a class attribute of a wrapping/outer div in the HTML-template is a simple requirement which is quite hard to implement with FCE's.
> 
> I guess it is a matter of personal preferences and everyone has his/her personal taste. I can only second that TV/FCE's are not perfect in all cases.
> 
> Greets,
> Peter
> -- 
> Peter Niederlag
> http://www.niekom.de * TYPO3 & EDV Dienstleistungen *
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