09/11 2016

Preparing Flux 7.5.0

What to expect from the up-coming release of Flux - and when to expect it.

Dear developers,

IMPORTANT: Flux 8.0.0 has been released instead of Flux 7.5.0 due to a few breaking changes. Read the <link https: fluidtypo3.org blog news flux-800-released.html external-link-new-window>Flux 8.0.0 release notes instead!

I know you've all been waiting for a new release of Flux - not least due to problem with TYPO3v8 support - but I'm afraid we will have to ask for just a little bit more patience from you. In order to prepare you a little bit though, here are the current release plans and a taste of the coming improvements:

When will we release?

We would have done so already except we are blocked by one problem in the TYPO3 core which seems very simple but has a huge impact. Due to a regression in the building of SQL queries in PageLayoutView, any installation that uses Flux on TYPO3 8.4 will cause malformed SQL queries. Unfortunately, due to the release schedule of TYPO3 this also means that we won't be able to release an official version with the correct support until TYPO3 8.5 is released.

And that means the scheduled release date will be est. December 20th 2016.

Until that time you should be able to use the current dev-development version names when installing using composer. And depending on the dependencies you use you may also need to alias this to the latest TER version, e.g. composer require "fluidtypo3/flux:dev-development as 7.4.0". Note that you will also need TYPO3 checked out on master in order - or you will be affected by the mentioned SQL query bug.

What will Flux 7.5.0 solve and what new will it add?

In the bug fix department:

1. A few important issues with compatibility will be solved - namely, compatibility with TYPO3v8.
2. An issue using the Radio component on PHP7 is solved
3. Issues with copying translated records will be solved (fixes are not yet merged)
4. Drastic performance improvement when using many Flux-based elements, page templates etc.
5. Minor bug fixes for some edge cases when using custom controllers

And in the feature department:

1. Flux ViewHelpers now compile on both TYPO3 7.6 and v8 - via <link https: github.com namelesscoder typo3-cms-fluid-gap external-link-new-window>github.com/NamelessCoder/typo3-cms-fluid-gap (NB: the same is planned for VHS!), providing a further performance increase for all Flux parsing.
2. A new option, static, can be set on flux:form to cause fully static caching. This method outperforms even traditional XML FlexForms when used on form structures which are not dynamic. Using this option is the most efficient method so far of improving performance in both FE and BE and I expect many, many use cases will benefit from it.
3. The flux:field.select ViewHelper now supports a range as value of items argument, e.g. <flux:field.select name="numbers" items="1..20" />.
4. Custom Flux controllers no longer require the presence of an action method in order to execute - this allows you to override things like initializeAction without having to define all actions.
5. The transform setting now supports the boolean type.

And that's it - for now. It is likely that further improvements will be made before we can make the next release of Flux, so make sure you read the final release notes as well so you don't miss out.

Cheers,
Claus, for The FluidTYPO3 Team