README

About this extension

This extension adds a hook for rendering content element previews for TYPO3's backend view in the page module, adding the ability to use Fluid Partials and Layouts to enable consistent preview markup.

Installation

Use composer to add this content element to your project

composer require b13/backendpreviews

and install the extension using the Extension Manager in your TYPO3 backend.

Add configuration

Add this to your PageTsConfig to include the default Fluid Templates provided with this extension:

@import 'EXT:backendpreviews/Configuration/PageTs/PageTs.tsconfig'

You can add your own paths to the setup using PageTsConfig in your own site-extension:

mod.web_layout.tt_content.preview.view {
  layoutRootPaths.10 = EXT:site_example/Resources/Private/Contenttypes/Backend/Layouts
  partialRootPaths.10 = EXT:site_example/Resources/Private/Contenttypes/Backend/Partials
  templateRootPaths.10 = EXT:site_example/Resources/Private/Contenttypes/Backend/Templates
}

By default, we will try to find a template to render a preview based on the CType of the element, meaning for CType mytype we will try to find a template named Mytype.html in one of the paths defined in the templateRootPaths-Array.

You can set a different templateName explicitly like this:

mod.web_layout.tt_content.preview.template.mytype = Myowntemplate

For plugins a template name for a specific plugin can be specified like this:

mod.web_layout.tt_content.preview.template.list.mylist_type = Listtypetemplate

All flexform data of the plugin are available in {pi_flexform_transformed} to create meaningful previews:

<b>Page:</b> {pi_flexform_transformed.settings.page}

Use custom backend previews for default CTypes

Default CTypes for fluid_styled_content define dedicated previewRenderer classes. If you want to use EXT:backendpreviews instead, remove the configuration for each of these CTypes in your extension's ext_localconf.php:

unset($GLOBALS['TCA']['tt_content']['types']['textpic']['previewRenderer']);

License

As TYPO3 Core, backendpreviews is licensed under GPL2 or later. See the LICENSE file for more details.

Background, Authors & Further Maintenance

EXT:backendpreviews was initially created by David Steeb in 2021 for b13, Stuttgart. We use this as a basis to add consistent previews for our custom content element types.

Find more TYPO3 extensions we have developed that help us deliver value in client projects. As part of the way we work, we focus on testing and best practices to ensure long-term performance, reliability, and results in all our code.