Changes and Features in MM 2.3

The following is an overview of the changes and features in MetaModels 2.3, made possible by the “early adopter program” — more information under Fundraising on the MM website.

For a checklist after upgrading to MM 2.3, see further notes below.

Note

To create mm_* tables and attribute columns, a DB migration must be performed — see Schema Manager.
After creating or modifying the labels of models, attributes, or legends, please clear the (translation) cache — see Symfony Translation.

General and Core

Integration of a new schema manager — More info
Entries for sorting/grouping now have a toggle button and can be enabled/disabled (#1380)
Note for developers: there is a new class for sorting attributes by name (src/CoreBundle/Sorter/AttributeSorter.php) — used for example in attribute selection for sorting (which is now sorted in ascending order)
When the first sorting entry is created, the “Default” checkbox is now pre-selected (#1472)
If the render mode is set to “Hierarchy” in the input mask, a notice now appears that sorting must be set to “Manual” (#1324)
The “Variant” checkbox for attributes is disabled when the model is non-variant (#884)
For variant items, the move buttons are disabled (#871)
For variant items, non-variant attributes in the mask are no longer hidden but displayed as readonly
The “getSearchablePages” class (indexing of detail pages) has been completely rewritten and now runs more efficiently/faster
There is a new event for manipulating the input mask headline: GetEditMaskSubHeadlineEvent
The input mask can be configured to display item values in the mask headline when editing
Insert tags have been completely revised — please note partially changed syntax
Adjustment to Contao’s change of locale notation (now _ instead of -) — all uses of $GLOBALS[TL_LANGUAGE] marked as deprecated
The sorting in the CE/module now has a setting for appending a URL fragment to target an anchor for generateSortingLink and renderSortingLink
In the list template metamodels_prerendered, two methods are available to output links for toggling the sort order of an attribute — more in the “Cookbook”
Support for the new routing introduced in Contao 4.10 — legacy routing can now be disabled via config.yml (legacy_routing: false)
Session handling has been migrated from Contao session to Symfony session
Route priority handling — see Setting the Route Priority
Widget template selection for the input mask (BE) — see Attributes
Models linked as child tables can now contain variants (#1054)
The BE list can now be grouped by calendar week — formatting can be customized individually per language via a language key
Translations have been migrated from the CCA-Translator and Global-Lang-Arrays to the Symfony Translator. Translations are now stored in the corresponding Symfony message catalog, speeding up backend page loading. Custom translations can now also be maintained in XLIFF format.
Only a few places in the BE are noticeably affected by the switch — one fix enabled is the table view of items when an attribute in the list was not present in the associated input mask: previously only the translation key appeared, now the attribute’s title is shown.
Existing custom translation texts created as PHP arrays must be migrated to an XLIFF file.
More on this topic under Symfony Translation
A routing change has been made: MM masks in the BE are no longer accessed via the GET parameter ...contao?do=metamodels_<model-name> but via the route ...contao/metamodels/<model-name>. This allowed a simplification of, for example, permission management in the BE. Previously, for user groups, clicks were required both in the input/render assignments (“last icon”) and in Contao’s user group settings — the Contao-side settings have been removed, and now only MM permissions need to be assigned (input mask + assignments).
The new routing introduces a problem with toggling the debug mode in the BE — Contao expects the referer value in a specific form that cannot currently be easily rewritten; after toggling, you land on a Contao “default page” — this has no further effects (see “Known Issues”).
In the render settings, the reference type for generating the URL for redirect links (jumpTo) can now be specified — for example, it is now possible to define an absolute URL including domain; see Symfony UrlGeneratorInterface
The templates for attributes in the render settings are now a required field
For multilingual models, the panel (filter/search) in the BE list now responds to the list’s language setting
Core, attributes, and filters have been checked with the toolset PHPCQ and adjusted accordingly — see GitHub
File-Usage Integration

Attributes

For all attributes, the HTML5 templates have been revised: CSS class with attribute type and output type, PHP shortcode, surrounding HTML tag with optional CSS class output
For all attributes, the backend template can now be selected via a dropdown — for the frontend see FEE
Alias
- Check for the variant/unique combination — see news January 2025
File
- Support for predefined image size dimensions from config.yaml — see contao.image.sizes:…
- Support for file search in the backend — search by filename or UUID; items where the file is embedded are shown, either as a direct file selection or when the parent folder was selected
- File-Usage Integration
Content Article
- Template adjustment
- Change to the backend list view output — instead of an overview of element types, the original rendering is now used; this is required for example for full-text search indexing — the output template can be customized individually
- File-Usage Integration
Combined Values
- Check for the variant/unique combination — see news January 2025
Long Text
- Long text supports readonly for TinyMCE and ACE — see
- Fix of templates for text output: all HTML tags are stripped
- File-Usage Integration
Multi-Table (MCW)
- Support for readonly and CSS classes for tl_class of the widget
Text Table
- Support for readonly
Translated Alias
- Check for the variant/unique combination — see news January 2025
Translated File
- Support for predefined image size dimensions from config.yaml — see contao.image.sizes:…
- Support for file search in the backend — search by filename or UUID; items where the file is embedded are shown, either as a direct file selection or when the parent folder was selected
- File-Usage Integration
Translated Content Article
- Template adjustment
- Change to the backend list view output — instead of an overview of element types, the original rendering is now used; this is required for example for full-text search indexing — the output template can be customized individually
- File-Usage Integration
Translated Combined Values
- Check for the variant/unique combination — see news January 2025
Translated Long Text
- Long text supports readonly for TinyMCE and ACE — see
- Fix of templates for text output: all HTML tags are stripped
- File-Usage Integration
Translated Text Table
- Support for readonly
Translated Multi-Table (MCW)
- Support for readonly and CSS classes for tl_class of the widget

Filter

In the CE/FE module Filter, the filter rule labels now also show the type (#1473)
In the CE/FE module Filter, the ID for “FORM_SUBMIT” can be overridden — see Filter with Forwarding
Matching the FEE rights management, a new filter rule is available that filters the list by the items belonging to the logged-in member
The template for filter output as a link list has been revised so that the Contao crawler no longer follows the links for search indexing
Checkbox Status (formerly Publish Status) and Translated Checkbox Status (formerly Translated Publish Status)
- The filter rule has been renamed from “Publish status” to “Checkbox status”, since a checkbox does not necessarily control publishing
- The option “Do not use filter in frontend preview” now responds to Contao’s “Preview” status — previously it responded to backend login
Custom SQL
- The insert tag parameter “aggregate” now includes the type “list” — this was always described in the info box but was not previously implemented; it now allows comma-separated list values to be passed as GET values
- Check of custom SQL queries using SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX('{{env::request}}', '/', -1), '?', 1) and adjustment for the new routing — see Custom SQL
- It is now possible to restrict execution to specific environments such as the frontend
Simple Lookup
- If the “Static parameter” option is set, a value can be selected in the CE/module MM list for the filter rule — new is the option “without data value [null]”, when no selection — not even an empty string — should be set
Single Select [select]
- Attribute type Numeric (Integer) and Combined Values now supported
- Template list output: attribute data-escargot-ignore added to prevent links from being indexed
Multi Select [Tags]
- Attribute type Numeric (Integer) now supported
- Template list output: attribute data-escargot-ignore added to prevent links from being indexed
Register
- The template for filter output as a link list has been revised so that the Contao crawler no longer follows the links for search indexing (data-escargot-ignore)
- Blocks for formlabel and formfield added to the template
- A URL fragment can now be specified — after reload, the page jumps to the anchor point

Frontend Editing (FEE)

A simple rights management system has been added which, when activated, allows each logged-in member to edit only their own entries (#14)
Matching the rights management, a new filter rule is available that filters the list by the items belonging to the logged-in member
There is a new event for manipulating the input mask headline: GetEditMaskSubHeadlineEvent
The input mask can be configured to display item values in the mask headline when editing (#43) — see FEE
The “Create” link is no longer included in the default template of the FE module — the template has been aligned with the CE template
Change to insert tag resolution during file upload — adjust if necessary
Thumbnails of image files in the Dropzone are now displayed after a page reload
Form template selection for the input mask (FEE) is available for all non-translated attributes
When overriding the buttons for the input mask, an insert tag can now be added to “Parameter” in addition to “Simple Tokens”
The Dropzone template has been adjusted — check any custom modifications
Support for predefined image size dimensions from config.yaml for thumbnails — see contao.image.sizes:…
Option “Single file upload” is supported again
Adjustment of the BE list output for “Content Article” and “Translated Content Article”
Support for Notification Center version 2.x for notifications when creating or modifying records — when upgrading to NC 2.x, existing keys from 1.7 in the table “tl_nc_notification” may be migrated; see the message during DB migration execution
Link generation for edit links in the FE has been revised so that the Contao crawler no longer follows the links for search indexing (data-escargot-ignore) — with the “Delete” link, this could lead to data loss

Extensions

Note List (Notelist) has been released for MM 2.3

Known Issues

When toggling to/from debug mode in the BE via the button, the reference page is no longer correct and the page must be navigated to again — e.g. with “back” in the browser and reloading the page
Contao currently provides no way to influence the referer at that point

Checklist for Upgrading to MM 2.3

In general, an upgrade within the MM 2.x branch is straightforward; any necessary label adjustments and DB changes are handled via migrations. However, there are a few things that cannot or can only very difficultly be caught by migrations. For this reason, the following points should be kept in mind when upgrading to MM 2.3:

Please follow all notes from MM 2.2
After upgrading, please clear the session data for backend users to avoid display of “pseudo-errors” (e.g. Cannot assign null … $intAmount of type int)
For upgrades from below 2.2, please follow the checklist for MM 2.2
Run a DB migration to create mm_* tables and attribute columns — see Schema Manager
Saved bookmarks to MM in the BE are no longer valid due to the new routing — see newsletter
Permissions for user groups are now assigned only in MM (see “Routing change” above) — remove obsolete checkboxes in user groups under “Backend modules”
Check HTML5 templates — they have been revised (see Attributes, Filter, and FEE)
Check HTML5 templates of filter widgets that output link lists — URL crawling has been prevented
Check HTML5 templates with translations — e.g. ContentArticle
Fix templates for text output of both long text attributes: all HTML tags are stripped
Check filters with “auto_item” route priority — see Setting the Route Priority
For FEE and FE module, adjust the template for the “Create” link if needed
For FEE: check the upload mode file upload
For FEE: check insert tag resolution during file upload
For FEE: check whether the list and edit pages are excluded from Contao search indexing
Check custom translations — migrate to XLIFF format
Check custom default values for input masks
Check input mask labels with custom adjustments — “LABEL NOT SET”
Check custom SQL queries using SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX('{{env::request}}', '/', -1), '?', 1) and adjust for the new routing — see Custom SQL
When the “Variant” option of the model is activated, a migration checks attributes for unsupported variant/unique combinations — see news January 2025
In MM list and preset via “Simple Lookup” with “Static Parameter”, note the new setting “- without data value [null] -”