[TYPO3] Using $TCA to globally override sort and size of all FE Group select boxes?

[John Kallies]

Reading through my post, I just thought using about the same UI for 
selecting tt_news categories for selecting nested FE groups. It would 
probably only work if there was one place you could say "all FE groups 
lists look like this, even if an extension defines them differently (or 
reset them _after_ an extension defines them differently). I guess this 
would make more sense for the nested group structure than the alpha 
listing I mentioned before (I just got used to seeing the FE group list 
a certain way in the back end).

Without asking for someone to write the code for me, in general is this 
possible at a "define once for all" or "re-define once for all" kind of 
level?

Thank you again for your insights...
John Kallies


John Kallies wrote:
> My primary goal is to have all FE group select dropdowns in the Back End 
> be a certain number rows, ordered by fe_group.title. I want a consistent 
> appearance that fits a client's level of  FE group complexity (globally 
> show more rows for a client with more FE groups, and just a few for a 
> smaller client).
> 
> I've read through almost all postings with TCA in the title, and I've 
> got the general gist of it, but I apparently am not connecting all the 
> dots in my mind yet. I _do_ know how to edit the $TCA to change the size 
> and the foreign_table_where in tbl_cms and for a given extension.
> 
> One critical problem I want to avoid is losing the overrides when I 
> upgrade Typo3 source or an extension. I want/need to configure a global 
> override for _all_ instances of an FE group select dropdown. An OK 
> compromise would be to override all the $TCA for all extensions that use 
> FE groups in one file and reference it in localconf.php's 
> $typo_db_extTableDef_script. Ideally, I would prefer one global override.
> 
> I think I have all the right factors here, but I'm still not sure how to 
> put it together, and I haven't seen any examples that try to solve my 
> "global override" problem (none that I recognized at least).
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> John Kallies