[TYPO3-ttnews] How to test if a list is empty, from TypoScript

[Olivier Schopfer]

Olivier Schopfer wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I'm looking for a way to test if a LATEST list is empty, in order to 
> automatically adapt the layout of the page (=hide all the COA).
> 
> The if condition below doesn't work. Does anybody have an idea of how to 
> make if work?
> 
> Olivier
> ops at wcc-coe.org
> 

Hi again,

I found the solution to my own problem. Here it is, for anyone interested:

I had the idea of using a typoscript register, to count the news items 
from the list that tt_news is about to render.

To do so, I used one of the stdWraps, and added a cObject to it, with 
LOAD_REGISTER:

newsList < plugin.tt_news
newsList {
         (... various news settings)
	# Count the news items
	displayLatest.subheader_stdWrap.cObject = COA
	displayLatest.subheader_stdWrap.cObject {
		10 = TEXT
		10.current = 1
		20 = LOAD_REGISTER
		20.news_count.cObject = TEXT
		20.news_count.cObject.data = register:news_count
		20.news_count.cObject.wrap = |+1
		20.news_count.prioriCalc = intval
	}
}

Item 10 is to render the normal content (here the subheader).
Item 20 doesn't produce any output, but increments the counter stored in 
register:news_count

The news list item is mapped as a TemplaVoila field.

I then use another typoscript based TemplaVoila field, that is 
calculated AFTER the first one (very important), but with a result 
mapped to the style attribute of the main div containing the list.

10 = TEXT
10.value = display:none;
10.if.isFalse.data = register:events_count

This results in a div tag like this, when there is no news in the list: 
<div id="news-bloc style="display:none;">
So the whole block is hidden.

Hope this helps. And maybe someone will find a simpler solution...

Olivier