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hh_ext_faqs – FAQ extension for TYPO3 v13

Accessible FAQ lists (native <details>/<summary> accordion) with an optional client-side live search and upgrade wizards to migrate from EXT:jpfaq (manual steps necessary!).

Features

• FAQ: List plugin
  • FAQ entries selected directly (order of selection is kept) or loaded from one or more storage folders (pages + recursive fields of the content element)
  • Optional category filter (sys_category, OR/AND), preselected by the editor
  • Sorting: manual, alphabetical by question, creation date
  • Optional schema.org FAQPage JSON-LD output
• FAQ: Search plugin
  • Pure client-side live search (no page reload, no AJAX)
  • Starts filtering at 3 typed characters, diacritic-insensitive, all search terms must match (AND)
  • Searches question and answer text – "mietrad" also matches "Mieträder" inside a collapsed answer
  • Matches are highlighted with <mark class="highlight">; a plugin checkbox controls whether matching entries are expanded automatically while the search is active (default: on, previous open/closed state is restored when the search is cleared; highlights cannot span across inline tags, e.g. a term split by <strong> inside a word is still found but not highlighted)
  • Non-matching questions are hidden; if a list has no matches, its whole content element container including the header is hidden
  • Editor selects which FAQ lists are searched via a side-by-side select that only offers "FAQ: List" elements on the same page (empty = all lists on the page)
  • Accessible: <search> landmark, associated <label>, aria-describedby hint, role="status"/aria-live result announcements
• FAQ records: question, answer (RTE), media (images/videos), sys_category, translations, hidden/starttime/endtime
• Upgrade wizards for EXT:jpfaq (records + plugins)

Installation

1. composer require hauerheinrich/hh-ext-faqs (or copy to packages/ and install)
2. Enable the frontend rendering per site / root tree (opt-in!):
   • Site-set based sites: add the FAQ set (hauerheinrich/hh-ext-faqs) as dependency in the site configuration (dependencies: [hauerheinrich/hh-ext-faqs] in config.yaml or via the Sites module), or
   • classic sys_template based trees: add the static include FAQ (hh_ext_faqs) in the root template of the tree ("Include static (from extensions)").
3. Create a folder, add FAQ records, place the FAQ: List plugin.
4. Optionally place the FAQ: Search plugin above the list(s) and select the lists it should filter.

Multi-domain / opt-in rendering

configurePlugin() with PLUGIN_TYPE_CONTENT_ELEMENT normally registers global rendering TypoScript for all sites. This extension deliberately removes that global definition again (see ext_localconf.php) and ships the rendering in Configuration/TypoScript/setup.typoscript instead, loaded only via the site set or the static include. Result:

• Sites/trees with the set or static include render the FAQ elements.
• Sites/trees without it render nothing for these content elements.

The backend (TCA) is always global in TYPO3. To also hide the content elements from editors in trees that should not use them, add this to the page TSconfig of the affected root page:

Note for migrations: trees containing migrated jpfaq plugins need the set or static include as well, otherwise the migrated elements stay invisible in the frontend.

Extending the FAQ plugins

Both plugins store their settings in regular tt_content columns instead of FlexForms. This means you can extend them from your own extension using standard TYPO3 APIs only — no XCLASSing, no FlexForm manipulation.

Extending a plugin consists of up to three steps:

1. Add your own tt_content column and place it in the plugin form (TCA)
2. Render the value by overriding a Fluid template/partial
3. Optional: prepare complex data (e.g. FAL references) via a PSR-14 event

Prerequisites: declare the dependency

TCA override files (Configuration/TCA/Overrides/*.php) are executed in extension loading order. Your extension must be loaded after hh_ext_faqs, otherwise the plugin types do not exist yet when your code runs and calls like addToAllTCAtypes() will silently do nothing.

Declare the dependency in your composer.json:

or, in classic mode, in your ext_emconf.php:

Step 1: Add your own field

Use your own vendor prefix for the column name (tx_yourext_*). The tx_hhextfaqs_* namespace is reserved for this extension.

Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php of your extension:

Add the column to your ext_tables.sql (optional on TYPO3 v13, where the schema is derived from TCA automatically):

Then run Admin Tools → Maintenance → Analyze Database Structure and flush all caches.

Step 2: Render the value (template override)

All plugin templates receive the full tt_content row of the content element as the Fluid variable {data}. Scalar values (text, selects, checkboxes) therefore need no PHP at all — override the template or partial and access your column directly:

Prefer overriding a single partial over copying the whole template — this keeps your override compatible with future updates of this extension.

Step 3: Prepare complex data with the PSR-14 event

Values that need processing before rendering — FAL references, relations, computed values — can be added through an event that is dispatched right before the view is rendered:

Both events provide the same API:

Example: resolve a FAL image and pass it to the template

Classes/EventListener/AddBackgroundImageToSearch.php in your extension:

The #[AsEventListener] attribute registers the listener automatically (TYPO3 v12.3+). Alternatively, register it in your Configuration/Services.yaml:

In your overridden template/partial the variable is then available like any other view variable:

After adding a listener, flush all caches once (dependency injection information is cached).

Migration from EXT:jpfaq

Run the wizards in the Upgrade module (or via CLI) in this order:

1. Migrate jpfaq records to hh_ext_faqs (hhExtFaqs_jpfaqRecordMigration)
   • jpfaq categories → sys_category below a new root category "FAQ Categories"
   • jpfaq questions → tx_hhextfaqs_domain_model_faq (pid, sorting, hidden, start/end time, translations are kept)
   • question/category relations → sys_category_record_mm
   • The uid mapping is stored in sys_registry (namespace tx_hhextfaqs) and is reused by the plugin wizard.
2. Migrate jpfaq plugins to hh_ext_faqs (hhExtFaqs_jpfaqPluginMigration)
   • tt_content elements with CType=hhextfaqs_faq (or the legacy list_type=jpfaq_faq) become CType=hhextfaqs_list
   • FlexForm settings.startingpoint → pages field
   • FlexForm settings.flexform.selectCategory → settings.categories (mapped to the new sys_category uids)

Both wizards are idempotent and repeatable; already migrated records are skipped.

Deliberately not migrated

• jpfaq comments (questioncomment, categorycomment) and the helpful/not-helpful counters – no equivalent in hh_ext_faqs
• additional_content_answer (IRRE content elements inside answers) – the referenced tt_content records stay untouched in the database; move their content into the answer RTE field manually if needed
• jpfaq frontend settings from the FlexForm (search box, comment forms, …) – the search is now a separate plugin

Notes

• Hiding the whole container relies on the fluid_styled_content frame (id="c<uid>"). With frame_class = none the plugin output itself is hidden instead – the CE header is part of the plugin frame in that case, check your rendering if you use heavily customized frames.
• If several FAQ lists are on one page, enable structured data for one list only to avoid duplicate FAQPage markup. Note that Google shows FAQ rich results only for a limited set of sites since 2023 – the markup is still valid and useful for other consumers.