TYPO3 Connect (FAL)

Typo3-UI

celum_connect_fal is a Typo3 FAL (file abstraction layer) implementation which allows to browse the files stored in Celum directly in Typo3.

1. Prerequisites

  • Rest-API (CORA) v3.2 or higher has to be installed.
  • Either all assets intended for the usage in TYPO3 need a public URL to a CDN or the Direct Download extension has to be installed in CELUM as it is the fallback.
  • The REST Infofield Setter extension with configured token in CELUM is required for bullets or usage references
  • The Asset Marker extension is required in CELUM for bullets to indicate an asset is used in TYPO3

2. Installation

The extension can be installed either through composer or through the backend:

Through composer

Through the backend

  • Login into the Typo3 backend as an administrator
  • Go to ADMIN TOOLS and select Extensions
    • From the store: Select get extensions, search for celum:connect (FAL) and install it
    • Manual installation: Click on Upload Extension and upload the celum_connect_fal.zip file or choose Get Extension in the dropdown, search the «celum:connect» Extension in the repository and click on Import and Install
  • Activate the extension in the extension overview
  • Go to WEB and select List
  • Scroll down to File Storage and add a new entry
  • Select celum:connect (FAL) and enter a name, e.g. Celum
  • Specify license key (obtained through brix)
  • Enter the Celum API key for CORA
  • Choose the locale in which the folders will be displayed, e.g. de
  • Specify a default locale (used when the name isn't available in the language chosen above), e.g. en
  • List your root node Ids as comma separated list (all those nodes and their children (recursive) will be shown in your celum drive)
  • Add your directDownload secret, if your directDownload plugin is using this feature (recommended)
  • Optionally enter the name for the CELUM information field that should be used as description in TYPO3. It has to be a text or text area field or their localized versions (the locales configured above will be used to extract the value). Attention: the name seems to be normalized (camel-case with underlines and spaces removed and the first letter lower case, e.g. Random_Example would become randomExample, to be sure a list of all fields can be requested via CORA).
  • Optionally enter the name for the CELUM information field that should be used as alternative text in TYPO3 (same as above for description)
  • Enter the token for the REST Infofield Setter if you want to use usage references or bullets
  • Check "write public URLs" if you want the usage references to be added to the CELUM asset
  • Configure the information field (checkbox or nodereference) to indicate whether an asset is used in TYPO3 or not. This can be used as condition for the Asset Marker to show a bullet
  • If a node reference field was configured above, add the node that should be added/removed from the field
  • Enter the provider and description of the public URL for images and videos (not required, fallback is direct download), e.g. connector.youtube and url
  • Optionally change the cache time in minutes
  • Specify a writable folder for manipulated and temporary files on the file system, e.g. 1:/processed_CELUM (1 is the ID of the File Storage > fileadmin)
  • Go to Access capabilities and uncheck Is writable?
  • Save your configuration
  • Go to FILE Filelist and you should see your Celum drive

The folder for manipulated and temporary files is required by Typo3 FAL but will not be visible. 1:_processed_ should always work. The storage 1 is the file storage which is automatically created by Typo3. _processed_ is the identifier of the processed folder in any storage. Because it needs to be writable it cannot be the CELUM drive.

settings - file list settings - fal config

3. Usage

Same as the File Storage.

file list image block image block selection

4. Known Issues

  • The file search is not working
  • Original file size and not the one of the actual file is displayed (depends on public url and download format)
  • Same for the file extension, creation date and modification date
  • On Windows installations, TYPO3 may convert the filenames internally to lower case which leads to them not being found in CELUM (no thumbnails, no editing possible), so this has to be corrected in TYPO3

Compatibility Matrix

TYPO3 Connect (FAL) CELUM TYPO3
1.0 and above 5.13.3 and above 8.7.0 and above
1.1.4 and above 5.13.4 and above (tested with 6.4) 8.7.0 and above
1.1.13 and above 5.13.4 and above (tested with 6.8) 8.7.0 and above
2.0.0 and above 6.8 and above (tested with 6.8) 11.5.0 and above

Attention for older CELUM versions: public urls provider cannot have a space or CORA fails, this is fixed in v6+.

Release Notes

1.0.1

Released 2018-12-18

Initial version of the CELUM FAL driver

1.0.3

Released 2019-01-04

Fixed size of image in the info view for version 9+ (scale to max 1024px as we cannot know what the download size will be, only the size of the original is known) and no more floating point pixel values.

1.0.4

Released 2019-01-07

Increased security by adding the new secret feature of the directDownload plugin.

1.0.5

Released 2019-01-28

Linux path fix. On Linux systems Typo3 sometimes requests the "//" or "" folder when it wants to get the root "/" which lead to errors on previous versions.

1.0.7

Released 2019-02-05

Add file extension to name, otherwise the thumbnail isn't displayed in the backend. Read width and height from the cache in the extractor, so that the image is editable in the backend.

1.0.8

Released 2019-02-22

Switched to guzzle. Better bug fix for invalid identifiers.

1.0.9

Released 2019-07-02

Added composer.json

1.1.1

Released 2019-07-04

Several improvements, tested and working version for composer, configurable download format. Removed file logger for productive environment (standard error logger still active).

1.1.2

Released 2019-12-09

Bug fix, Typo3 is creating driver instances before the configuration is entered leading to an "invalid license" error.

1.1.3

Released 2019-12-09

Bug fix in public URLs.

2.0.0

Released 2021-10-05

  • Drastic performance improvements
  • Use previews from CELUM
  • Search is now working
  • Ordering is now working
  • Usage references (deep links)
  • Usage indication (bullet)
  • Description
  • Alternative text
2.x.x

Details of all releases can be found on extensions.typo3.org.