TYPO3 Extension Development: Developer's guide to creating feature rich extensions using the TYPO3 API

In Detail

TYPO3 is the enterprise-level content management system for the Web. It is large, feature-rich and very flexible--a lot of this flexibility comes through extensions written by the community. Extensions make it possible to use TYPO3 to drive any type of website, including e-commerce, blogs, social networks, catalogs, and many more. TYPO3 can be completely customized using extensions; however creating an extension can be a challenging task.

This book describes TYPO3 extension creation as it should be done. It starts from an overview of the TYPO3 API and provides recommendations on when and how to use this extensive API. Next it describes the TYPO3 extension generation process. It covers all generation options and emphasizes important decisions that extension developers should be aware of.

Since front-end plugins are the most popular TYPO3 extension type, the book has a chapter dedicated to the process of programming front-end plugins. We then move on to back-end plugin programming. All chapters stress best practices and come with unique tips from the author, who wants his experience to be shared with the TYPO3 community. The book finishes with a chapter about improving code and writing documentation.

What you will learn from this book?

• Master the TYPO3 API and get to know the classes and functions
• Learn all about extension categories and the file structure for extensions
• Understand planning issues to take care of before development
• Choose TYPO3 database and form types effectively and adjust generated fields for your needs
• Create front-end plugins--configuring, templating, localizing, and caching
• Program and generate front-end plugins
• Respond to actions using AJAX and eID scripts
• Program back-end modules--planning, managing the database, hooking up with the front end, and implementing
• Upload your extension to TYPO3's extension repository (TER)
• Write documentation following the set template and beautify your code with extdeveval

Approach

The book is structured so that following the chapters in order builds a TYPO3 extension from the ground up. Experienced developers can use individual chapters independently to get only the information that they need.

Each chapter is divided so that the first part contains a description and discussion of the topic covered followed by a coding example with explanation of how principles and techniques from the first part are followed in the code.

The reader is encouraged not only to read the book but also to look into the discussed classes and actually code the extension while reading the book.

Who this book is written for?

This book is for PHP developers who want to develop a TYPO3 extension. It assumes the reader has experience with PHP, XML, and HTML. No prior knowledge about TYPO3 extension programming or the TYPO3 API is presumed.

Dmitry Dulepov is a TYPO3 core team member and developer of several popular extensions (such as RealURL, TemplaVoila, comments, ratings, and others). He is known by his active support of the TYPO3 community through TYPO3 mailing lists. In 2008 Dmitry won the contest to appear on the first TYPO3 playing cards. He runs a popular blog where he regularly publishes original tips and articles about various TYPO3 features. In addition to his continuous TYPO3 core and extension development, Dmitry provides support for the TYPO3 translation team on behalf of the core team.