Archive for November, 2006

What I forgot to say about using Select Pro

Written by newbie on Nov 24th, 2006 | Filed under: The Story, tx_gstselectpro

I did forget a couple of things.

One is, even after selecting the starting point for the plugin, and pid’s to ignore, it didn’t do those things. I actually had to put the sysfolder with the queries into the branch of the website that the queries were for.

The other thing I forgot to say is that the stylesheet for the plugin rendering is actually in the same file as the template.


No, back to my original plan…

Written by newbie on Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed under: The Story, tx_gstselectpro

No, too involved, can’t be bothered. I am back to setting it up with TS template.

So .. I have gotten it to work.

First of all, a little explanation.

The tx_gstselectpro extension *can* be used as a flexible content element with templavoila - but only if it is the only instance in your whole site.

Otherwise it is better to call each instance as a lib.myObject, in order to configure it more accurately.

My typoscript looks like this (taken from the file gst_selectpro-1.0.0-ext_typoscript_setup__txt which is included in the extension download):

#latest artlicles teasers
lib.latestarticles < plugin.tx_gstselectpro_pi1
lib.latestarticles = USER
lib.latestarticles {

    // Set the administration parameters.
    debugSQL = {$plugin.gstselectpro.debugSQL}

    // Set the administration parameters.
    useResForTempl = {$plugin.gstselectpro.useResForTempl}
    useParseFunc = {$plugin.gstselectpro.useParseFunc}
    useStripTags = {$plugin.gstselectpro.useStripTags}
    unsetLastSeparator = {$plugin.gstselectpro.unsetLastSeparator}
    useContUid = {$plugin.gstselectpro.useContUid}

    // Set the query parameters.
    queryPid = 1121

    // Set the imgage directories parameters.
   directories {
          path = {$plugin.gstselectpro.directories.path}
          all = {$plugin.gstselectpro.directories.all}
    } // end directories

    // Set the css parameters.
    classTdBrowse = {$plugin.gstselectpro.classTdBrowse}

    // Set the parseFunc parameters.
    text_parseFunc {
    } // end text_parseFunc

    // Set the standard wrap parameters.
    text_stdWrap {
    } // end text_stdWrap

    image_stdWrap {
    } // end image_stdWrap

    date_stdWrap {
    } // end date_stdWrap

    link_stdWrap {
    } // end link_stdWrap

/* -disabled by default-
    // Change local language variables.

    _LOCAL_LANG.default.dateFormat = %A, %m-%d-%Y
    _LOCAL_LANG.de.dateFormat = %A, %d.%m.%Y
    _LOCAL_LANG.fr.dateFormat = %A, %d/%m/%Y

*/

}
NOTE: that I set the queryPid exactly for this lib.myObject, rather than leaving it as queryPid = {$plugin.gstselectpro.queryPid}My constants are exactly the same as the sample constants file, gst_selectpro-1.0.0-ext_typoscript_constants__txt. My constants are exactly the same as the sample constants file,Now, while it is possible to use the extension with TV, it is still necessary to create a template file containing the markers used by the extension for the data to render correctly.The extension includes three sample templates to give you an idea how to do it.

My constants are exactly the same as the sample constants file,Now, while it is possible to use the extension with TV, it is still necessary to create a template file containing the markers used by the extension for the data to render correctly.The extension includes three sample templates to give you an idea how to do it.The most important thing to realise is where the ###MARK1### etc comes from. It is essentially ###MARK[column_number]### from the column numbers you assigned to each one of the SelectPro Column Definitions as you created the query.

The template needs to be structured along the following lines:

< !– ###SELECTPRO_TABLE### –> 
<!– ###CONTENT### –>
<!– ###CONTENT_ITEM### –> <div>###MARK1###</div>
<div class=”###CSSCLASS2###”>###MARK2###</div>
<div class=”###CSSCLASS3###”>###MARK3###</div>
<div>###LINK###</div>
<!– ###SEPARATOR_ITEM### –>
<div><img height=”10″ src=”/clear.gif” width=”1″ ></div>
<!– ###SEPARATOR_ITEM### –>
<!– ###BROWSE_ITEM### –>
<div class=”###CLASSTDBROWSE###”>###BROWSEFROMTO###
###BROWSELINKS###</div>
<!– ###BROWSE_ITEM### –>
<!– ###CONTENT### –>
<!– ###SELECTPRO_TABLE### –>

There is probably something else I meant to include here, but it is too late … I will reread tomorrow and add whatever I forgot :)


Multiple Instances of SelectPro as lib.myobject

Written by newbie on Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed under: The Story, tx_gstselectpro

I have decided to try the SelectPro extension (the more flexible version of TopContent) to see if it solves my problems of creating pages with dynamic teaser text.

It is quite a complex extension, and of course I want to use it with multiple instances on a page, and it isnt templavoila enabled.

I was planning to try to set it up through the typoscript template, but as I start to write this I think - no, maybe I will create mini-html templates to hold the information, and call it that way… I shall try that, it will make things simpler. Then if it doesn’t work, I will be back to work it through in the TS template :)


The joys of understanding manuals

Written by newbie on Nov 16th, 2006 | Filed under: The Story

Typo3 has a wonderful array of extensions from which to choose, and I love the extensibility of the CMS - however the documentation for some of them is very difficult to understand at first read.

For example - in the tt_news extension, in the Category Settings sheet (tab) of the plug-in is the variable “Max number of categorys texts” (with a “clarification” in the manual of “category-texts (titles)”!)

Now, what the hang does that mean? Does texts=words? Or strictly texts=titles? How many titles does a news article have?

Having absolutely no idea, I may have to wait until I put some news in, and see what comes out! :)