Typo3 Editor's Manual

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Manual Home  >  Typo3 assistance  >  Help working with content  >  Types of Content  >  Insert Records

Content - Insert Records

• • Insert Records - what is it and what can it do?
  • How to find Insert Records
  • General tab
  • Insert Records tab
  • Access Tab
• • How to insert records
  • Adding several records from one page at a time
  • Moving or deleting your inserted records
  • Inserted records on the page
  • Typo3 and browser caching

Ever have content on one page that you want on another?  But you don't want to have to maintain both, keeping them in sync?  And you don't want to show the whole content from one page on another (covered on Content from another page).  Using insert records you can add one content element from a page or all the content elements from a page.  You can also add content element from several pages.

The content below labeled "Access tab" is inserted from "Regular Text Element" as the access tab is the same between record types.

Insert records, for some reason, is not shown in the New Content Element Wizard.  To use Insert Records, first choose a Regular Text Element.  Once on the Regular Text Element, in the General tab, change the type to "Insert records".

Before the changes take effect, Typo3 will warn you and ask if you want to save now and then change the type.  Click Ok.

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1. A regular Insert Records content element
2. A hidden Insert Records content element
3. An Insert records content element with a start/stop date

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1. Type - this would change the element to another of the different content elements available.  You can choose Text, Insert records, Site Map, Header only, HTML, Mail form, and Plugin.
2. Columns - what column you want the content in, Normal, Left, Right or Border.  At Creighton we almost always use Normal for the center/main content.  Left and Right columns are obvious and Border usually is below the Normal content with styling separating it from the main content.  You can change what column your content is in in a regular edit of the General tab (see #2 above), you can change several using quick Edit or you can actually "move" them from column to column.
3. Index - if you are using a Section Index Menu (creating bookmarks to the content on this page, that menu would only show the content elements with Index checked.
4. Hide this content element.
5. Name, this will show on your page.  Also if you have the index checked, and have the name filled in then the insert record element will be included in your section menu.

This is where you will choose the records you wish to display.  You can choose one record or many, from one page or many.  

The tab after you have added records.

1. Opens the element browser to navigate to and choose content elements to insert.
2. This area will display the records you have added and are in the process of adding.
3. Layout. (Medschool Server does not have this)  Do not use this in conjunction with insert records.  I tested Normal and Layout 1 which worked but when I used Layout 2 or Layout 3 the content disappeared from the page.  And there was no difference in the html between "normal" and "Layout 1" until more is know, don't use it.
4. This is the list of the records you have already inserted.  NOTE - each element will have a element icon to the left of it as illustrated above.  You may edit this element from here, you need not go to the page where the element is to edit it.

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The Creighton Typo3 trainers do an excellent job of covering this in the Typo3 class.  You can find it in the handout from that class on page 20.  If you cannot find your copy you may download one from here (pdf, doc).  The class is also available in Bluetrain.

One thing to note is that the content will appear/disappear at midnight of the date entered.

1. Start - If you want this page hidden but to show on a certain date, you can put that date here. NOTE: the format is Day/Month/Year.  And the effective time is midnight of that date.  
2. Stop - If you wanted this page to become hidden on a certain date, you can put that date here. NOTE: the format is Day/Month/Year.  And the effective time is midnight of that date.
3. Selected (and Items) - Not seen on the Medschool Server - this is used when there is information on that page that would be limited to a certain group of people who had to login to see it.  It is used in conjunction with a login.

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To insert records go to the "Insert Record" tab and click the little folder to the right of the textarea. 

You will get the Typo3 element browser where you will navigate the pagetree to the page which holds the records you wish to use.  Click on the page name and the list of content elements will display to the right.

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You can choose more than one record on a page or you can choose records from more than one page (this will require you to click the small folder for each page's content elements).

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You may want to add several content elements from another page at one time.  You can easily do this without clicking on the element name (and thus closing the Element Browser).

Open the Element Browser by clicking the small folder next to the textarea (see "How to insert records" above).  But instead of clicking on the name of the content element, click the + on the left of the element's name.  Then click the next one you wish (they will add in the order you click the plus signs).  Once done with the Element Browser click the Close icon (Upper right for PC's, Upper left for Macs - image below taken on a Mac).

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Inserted records show in the order you added them, the order they are in the Items textarea.  You may find that you need to move one up or down in the list or that you have added one you no longer want in the list.  

To move a record, highlight it in the list, then click the little arrows that are to the right of the text area.  The arrow with line above at the top and the arrow with the line below at the bottom just above the x will move the record to the top or to the bottom of the list respectively.  The up and down arrows in the center, will move the record up or down one place respectively.  

 

To delete a record, highlight it and click the x at the bottom right, under the arrows.

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Once you have inserted your records and saved, a list of the inserted records will appear on the right of the Items textarea and they will show on your page in the order you added them.

Click image for full size:

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When you update the master record, the record you have inserted into other pages, it may take a little while to appear updated on the pages that you inserted it into.  This is because Typo3 caches pages and it can take a minute or two for the changes to appear in the page where you have inserted the records.  Also, it's a good idea to clear your browser cache too as a browser caching pages can also make it seem like a page or content have not updated.

You can clear the individual page's cache yourself (but not the entire server).  When you are in List module or Page module (but not in a content element, it must be the list or the page) there will be a small lightning bolt in the upper right corner in the gray header, just above the page path and below the Live/Draft select.  You may need to contact the webteam to have them clear Typo3's main cache.  The change will show up though even if you do not clear the page's cache.  It just may take a few minutes.

 

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Inserting content from another page is a great way to put the same content on two pages. It eliminates having to make sure that replicated content is always in sync, editing two or more content elements.

You can find and edit these elements by two methods.  You can put the unique ID of the record in the Typo3 search (the magnifying glass in the upper right of the workarea) and press enter.

Click image for full size:

However once you edit the element and save, you stay in the search results, you are not on the page with the inserted records.  You have to go back to that page to get back to the inserted records element.

The other method leaves you on the inserted records element once you have edited the record.

On the Insert Records tab, find the record you want to edit and left click on the Record icon to the left of the header/sample text.  You'll get a contextual menu where you can pull down to "Edit".

Once you've edited the record, save and close.  You will go back to where you found the inserted record in the Insert Records tab of the page you were on.