Contao news

Contao version 4.3.0 is available. The feature release includes more flexible custom layout sections, a "save and duplicate" button, an image service and the possibility to exchange the form template. Additionally, the back end theme and the HTTP/2 support have been improved.

Custom layout sections

Custom layout sections are no longer limited to one position. Instead, they can be freely assigned to the existing positions and optionally be configured to use a custom template.

Save and duplicate

The "save and duplicate" button saves the current element, duplicates it and then opens the duplicate for editing. To keep the buttons area clear, the buttons have been converted to split buttons.

Running events

So far, running events were always shown in the event list. In Contao 4.3, you can define whether or not to show running events in the module configuration.

Form template

It is now possible to assign a custom template to not only the form fields but also the form itself. To accomplish this, the form.html5 template had to be renamed to form_wrapper.html5.

Image meta data

So far, there has been a "title" field in the meta wizard, which was however used as alt attribute. In Contao 4.3 there are now both the "title" field and the "alternate text" field.

HTTP/2 support

Combining the .css and .js files to one big file is counterproductive when using HTTP/2, therefore there is now an option to disable the combiner in the page layout.

Show unpublished elements

The "show unpublished elements" function in the front end preview will only show unpublished elements instead of unpublished and protected elements from now on. To view protected elements, you have to open the front end preview with the respective member.

Keyboard navigation

All wizards (e.g. the table wizard or module wizard) can now be fully navigated with the keyboard. So far, the wizards could not be sorted via keyboard.

CSS classes for image sizes

You can now add one or more CSS classes to image sizes.

Template loader

After the class loader having been deprecated since Contao 4.0, we have also deprecated the template loader now. The Symfony resource finder will find the templates automatically and store the result in the cache.

Image service

Contao 4.3 provides an image service, which takes over all existing image operations and also supports Imagick and Gmagick in addition to the GDlib. The service supports the classic image formats as well as SVG images.

Symfony migration

We are now using Doctrine schemas to update the database structure in the install tool, therefore we are compatible to both Doctrine ORM database updates and Doctrine migrations.

Also, you can now define localconfig.php settings in your Symfony configuration by adding them under the contao.localconfig namespace.

Updaten notes

As of Contao 4.3, the standard edition uses the new Symfony 3 file structure.

Also see: GitHub tickets | GitHub compare view | Contao change log | Release overview