TYPO3 Version 4.3 released: Frontend Editing and guaranteed upgradeability

BAAR, 2009-11-30
Today the TYPO3 Association released the newest version of their outstandingly successful Open Source project TYPO3. TYPO3 has been downloaded over 4.1 million times – making it one of the world’s leading Enterprise Open Source projects.

The latest TYPO3 version 4.3 comes packed with numerous brand new features and improvements. Highlights include the completely new Frontend editing module and the integration of Extbase and Fluid. Additionally, TYPO3’s already excellent security features have been improved even further.

TYPO3 version 4.3 innovations in detail:

The completely revised Frontend editing now provides a modern look and feel, and makes working with content intuitive and stress-free. Using “drag & drop”, content elements can be moved or deleted, lightbox-based editing takes place directly on the page, and the entire page no longer needs to be reloaded when you use AJaX-technology to save changes. TemplaVoila as well as classic templating are of course fully supported. However, the new Frontend editing is not part of the TYPO3 Core, and has to be installed as a “feeditadvanced” extension. This allows updates of the extension in a more frequent and convenient way.

The two extensions “Extbase” and “Fluid” smooth the way for a carefree migration to TYPO3 version 5. Both extensions are backports from FLOW3 and therefore already allow future-proof development using TYPO3 version 4.
Using Extbase, developers can use the MVC-Concept (Model View Controller) for development, while simultaneously ensuring compatibility with TYPO3 version 5.
With Fluid, TYPO3 version 4 is expanded with a new and highly flexible templating engine. Fluid combines established ideas and concepts from different templating approaches.

Although TYPO3 is considered to be one of the most secure Open Source Content Management Systems available, TYPO3 version 4.3 improves security even further.
Using “Salted MD5 Hashes” for password storage makes unauthorised decryption nearly impossible. At the same time this function can be used transparently in custom extensions.
Sensitive data can be transferred over a secure channel using RSA authentication even if the website does not support HTTPS.
Furthermore, authentication of frontend and backend users is now optionally possible over OpenID.

Besides improved security, TYPO3 users can look forward to having a more convenient TYPO3 backend.
A Flash uploader allows simultaneous uploading of multiple files. Automatic code completion and an integrated documentation with intelligent as-you-type suggestions have been added to the TypoScript Editor, t3editor. This will especially help beginners learn TypoScript and assist advanced developers in writing error-free code more quickly.
For many users the most helpful innovation may be the new recycler. It allows restoring of deleted records in a convenient and uncomplicated way.

Thanks to the new system scheduler, the TYPO3 Core now offers a central location to manage tasks which should happen on defined dates or at regular intervals. This no longer requires the creation of several CRON jobs on the server – every extension can now create its own tasks and have them executed by the system scheduler. Management of tasks is straightforward using the system scheduler backend module.

Backend developers can now also use conditions in TSconfig. This has already long been possible in the frontend using TypoScript, but with TYPO3 version 4.3 this feature is now also available for PageTSconfig and UserTSconfig.
Integration of the well-known JavaScript framework Ext JS as a common library offers simple yet powerful possibilities to create attractive user interfaces. For example, Ext JS supports grid views, dialog windows and dynamic panels and a lot more.
Searching for deprecated functions in custom extension will be a lot easier now with a “deprecation log”. Developers can check the log entries and update their extensions, since these deprecated functions will be removed completely with TYPO3 version 4.5 at the latest.
The error and exception handling of FLOW3 has also been backported, in line with the goal of easing the transition between TYPO3 versions 4 and 5.

Website projects relying on high performance will profit from two new features in TYPO3 version 4.3. Autoloading only loads files into the memory that are really needed for an application. This results in a dramatic improvement of performance.
The new optional caching framework which was backported from FLOW3 also adds to performance. It offers different methods to store data in the database, in the filesystem and in memcached environments. Furthermore, cache entries can be tagged, giving developers more flexibility.

Get TYPO3 version 4.3 now!
TYPO3 version 4.3 can be downloaded directly from http://www.typo3.org/download/. Technical documentation and the detailed release notes can be found at https://typo3.org/release-notes/typo3-43/

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TYPO3 - The Enterprise CMS
TYPO3 is an Open Source Enterprise Content Management System released under the GPL. It runs on more than 130,000 servers worldwide. The application has been translated into 42 languages and is actively being developed by a community of over 44,000 developers in over 60 countries. Some of its users include DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, the United Nations and Harvard University, as well as numerous other companies, universities, government agencies and non-profit organizations.
For additional information on TYPO3, please visit http://www.typo3.com and http://www.typo3.org.

About the TYPO3 Association
The TYPO3 Association is an association under Swiss law (as defined in Articles 60 et seq of the Swiss Civil Code), which was founded in November 2004 by members of the TYPO3 community, including Kasper Skårhøj. The TYPO3 Association is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland (Switzerland).

According to its statutes, the TYPO3 Association is promoting the free TYPO3 project under the GNU General Public License. The TYPO3 Association is a non profit organization, making software development by third parties publicly available. To finance the development and hire qualified developers, the association collects membership-fees and donations for development projects.

The TYPO3 Association is politically and religiously neutral.

The association consists of members and sponsors, whose names can be found on its website (http://association.typo3.org).

Source: TYPO3 Association Press Office
Author: Søren Schaffstein, Press Officer of the TYPO3 Association
For questions about this press release or other TYPO3-related issues, please contact press@typo3.org or your local TYPO3 press representative. (http://association.typo3.org/press/local-press-representatives/)
TYPO3 Newsfeeds: http://news.typo3.org
TYPO3 Association Website: http://association.typo3.org

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Søren Schaffstein
Press Officer of the TYPO3 Association
Sihlbruggstrasse 105
6340 Baar
Switzerland

Phone: +41 41 5110 00 35
Fax: +41 41 5110 00 39
Email: soeren@typo3.org

This release was published on openPR.