[TYPO3-core] RFC #16396: Implement a Grid View + wizard to enable the backend layout to be adapted to the frontend look and feel

[Thomas Hempel]

This is an SVN patch request.

Type: New feature

Bugtracker reference:
http://bugs.typo3.org/view.php?id=16396

Branches:
trunk


Problem:

The normal page module in the TYPO3 backend is considered as the most 
common used view by editors.
This column view is around for quite some time now. The column view is a 
good representation of the
website in many cases but it can't represent more complex layouts like this:

+---+----+---+
|   |    |   |
|   |    +---+
|   |    |   |
+---+----+---+
|            |
+------------+

TemplaVoila can handle such complex layouts but can be a little over the 
top if you only want to
represent two rows of content instead of two columns. For example

+------------+
|            |
+------------+
|            |
+------------+


Solution:

During the T3UXW09 a first prototype of the so called Grid View has been 
created by team 1 to
enable people who don't use TemplaVoila to layout their page module 
interface as well.

Basically it creates a backend layout table with colspan and rowspan to 
represent the FE layout
as close as possible. Therefor it uses a TS like syntax that can be 
written manually or created
automatically by a Grid Wizard.

To give the editors an impression of the layout you can attach some 
icons as well and if needed
there can be a connection between the BE grid and a corresponding FE 
template.

After testing it as an extension named "modernbe" that existed for TYPO3 
v4.3 only, this Grid View
has been adapted now to the new page module of v4.5.

If you want to know how it works take a look at this wiki page:
http://forge.typo3.org/projects/extension-modernbe/wiki/Grid_View [^]
or watch the video of the 4.3 extension:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsxfNd4TYbk [^]

There have been some small changes to the 4.3 version, but the wiki page 
is completely up to date.

This patch implements the described feature.


How to test:

1. Apply the patch
2. Copy all the icons from the archive to the source folder
3. Update your database with the compare tool in Install-tool
4. Go to a site and create a new "Backend Layout" record
5. You can either paste the following code to the config field or use 
the grid wizard.

be_layout {
	colCount = 3
	rowCount = 3
	rows {
		1 {
			columns {
				1 {
					name = Left column
					rowspan = 2
					colPos = 1
				}
				2 {
					name = Main Content
					rowspan = 2
					colPos = 0
				}
				3 {
					name = Top Right
					colPos = 2
				}
			}
		}
		2 {
			columns {
				1 {
					name = Bottom Right
					colPos = 3
				}
			}
		}
		3 {
			columns {
				1 {
					name = Bottom
					colspan = 3
					colPos = 4
				}
			}
		}
	}
}


(This will recreate the layout I mentioned in the first example and it 
was actually created with the wizard)

- Give the layout a name and save it.

6. Create a page and edit the page settings
7. On tab "Appearance" select your newly create layout in Field "Backend 
Layout" and save.
8. Go to the "page" module if you not already there and select 
"Grid-View" as sub-module.
9. Voila. You should now see something like this: 
https://skitch.com/matrikz/ry19h/new-typo3-site-typo3-4.5-dev


Note
It's fully functional but might need some tweaks here and there to 
achieve the last 10%. ;-)

Note 2
You can also use the attached T3D export to test this. It contains some 
grid definitions for testing purposes.
ATTENTION: To avoid overridden data, create a new page and import the 
t3d into that newly created page!


Greets,
Thomas
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: modernbe_examples_16396_V1.t3d
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 86051 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.typo3.org/pipermail/typo3-team-core/attachments/20101116/ac144822/attachment-0001.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: modernbe_files_16396_V1.zip
Type: application/zip
Size: 27256 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.typo3.org/pipermail/typo3-team-core/attachments/20101116/ac144822/attachment-0001.zip>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: modernbe_patch_16396_V1.diff
Type: text/x-patch
Size: 89983 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.typo3.org/pipermail/typo3-team-core/attachments/20101116/ac144822/attachment-0001.bin>