Productive Analysis for Your Next TYPO3 Upgrade
Thanks a lot to Sanjay from NITSAN for sharing!
At the most recent Developer Days 2018 and the TYPO3 Conference 2018, I spoke about TYPO3 Upgrades, looking at the process from different perspectives. I also showed how one of our most popular TYPO3 solutions, the TYPO3 Extensions Compatibility Report, EXT:ns_ext_compatibility, makes it easier to plan and execute upgrades. And I was glad to receive great applause and appreciation from the community!
Slides from my talks:
The challenge of TYPO3 Upgrades
“The TYPO3 core update always rocks - yet it’s the extension compatibility that causes problems.”
That’s why we built the extension TYPO3 Extensions Compatibility Report to make this easier.
What does the extension do?
Before upgrading a TYPO3 project to a major version (e.g., v7 to v9), we must conduct an in-depth technical analysis by checking compatibility and dependencies (with the TYPO3 core) of all installed extensions.
To do so, you must manually prepare a 3rd party TYPO3 extension compatibility report. This is a bit of a time-consuming task; you have to prepare a list of installed extensions and check each compatibility version one-by-one extension at the TYPO3 Extension Repository (TER) etc..
To save time and energy for the project planning and estimation, our team at NITSAN decided to develop a cool tool to generate an automatic extension compatibility report, and the result is wonderful - EXT:ns_ext_compatibility TYPO3 extension. The extension has more than 2000+ downloads from the TER and Packagist.
Major features of EXT:ns_ext_compatibility TYPO3 extension
TYPO3 system information
Statistical report of TYPO3 extensions
Server compatibility for your targeted TYPO3 version
TYPO3 extension’s compatibility report
Export/Download report
Automatic email notification of a new update of TYPO3 Core and extensions
Compatibility from TYPO3 4.x to 8.x
Supports composer
Did you know?
“TYPO3 is the only open source content management system with a vendor-level warranty.”
Overview
Extension Key | ns_ext_compatibility |
Extension URL | https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/ns_ext_compatibility/ |
Documentation | https://www.nitsan.in/blog/post/t3ext-day-typo3-extensions-compatibility-report/ |
Support | https://github.com/nitsan-technologies/ns_ext_compatibility/issues |
Version | 1.1.4 |
Category | Backend Module |
TYPO3 version | 4.5.0 - 8.7.24 |
Let’s install it quickly!
With Composer
composer require nitsan/ns_ext_compatibility
With TER
Download and install through the Extension Manager from https://extensions.typo3.org/extension/ns_ext_compatibility/
How to generate a compatibility report?
Step 1: Once you have installed and configured the extension, Extensions Report will be added below the Admin tools module menu in your TYPO3 installation.
Step 2: Select the targeted TYPO3 version from the top-right corner dropdown. This should be the TYPO3 version to which you want to upgrade e.g. TYPO3 9.x.
Report 1: TYPO3 System Information
The report shows general information about your installed and configured TYPO3 core version like the current version, number of languages, pages, domains, etc.
Report 2: Extensions Statistics
In this chart, you can see interesting facts and figures about TYPO3 extensions e.g. how many extensions are installed and not-installed and the total number of extensions compatible with a particular TYPO3 version.
Report 3: Server Compatibility
Before upgrading, you should always check if the server holds all the compatibilities for your targeted TYPO3 version. In this report, the comparison of server’s compatibility between current and targeted TYPO3 version would be shown, i.e. if you want to upgrade TYPO3 v9, then you should have PHP 7.2.
Report 4: TYPO3 Extension Compatibility
The main report displays a matrix of TYPO3 extensions. This table shows if a particular extension is compatible or not, the state of extension, current and latest version information, type of extension e.g., from TER or custom etc.
Icon/Number | Action | Description |
1 | Compatible or Installed | The particular extension is compatible (or installed) with a particular TYPO3 version. |
2 | Non-Compatible or Not-Installed | The particular extension is not-compatible (or not-installed) with a particular TYPO3 version. |
3 | Extension Details | Open popup with detailed information about a particular extension (from TER) like description, last updated comment, last updated date, etc. |
4 | Extension Version Details | Open popup to display a version history. |
5 | Documentation | Open documentation mentioned at TER. |
6 | TER Extension | Open extension details at https://extensions.typo3.org |
Report 5: Export/Download Report
It is a good practice to send a cool office-doc report to your customer instead of requiring them to catch up on it in the TYPO3 backend. You can also download a complete report in Excel format by clicking on the Export Report button at the top-right corner.
Update Extension Repository
Basically, this extension receives detailed data from the TYPO3 core’s Extension Module. So, you can grab all the extensions from TER with the following steps:
Step 1: Go to the Extension Manager.
Step 2: Select Get Extensions from the dropdown.
Step 3: Click on the Update now button.
Note:
It’s not compulsory to update this - If you don’t want to see the history and other details, just avoid this step.
Get automatic email updates for new versions
Do you want to receive automatic updates for new versions of TYPO3?
You may configure the following schedule so the system will send you an email whenever a particular new version will launch for TYPO3 core as well as TYPO3 extensions.
Step 1: Go to SYSTEM > Scheduler > Create a new scheduler with an update extension list.
Step 2: Also, setup new scheduler with TYPO3 Extensions Compatibility Report via email notification.
Now the system will automatically send you an email whenever a new version of TYPO3 or installed extensions becomes available.
Planning for a next major release v2.0
Our team is planning for and excited to release the next TYPO3 major version with the following features:
Check if a particular extension is used or not
Attach the excel sheet report to an email
API Integration with TYPO3 core’s scanner (errors, deprecations, logs, etc.,)
Generate a graphical report
Provide PHP information
UI/UX Improvements
Adding Support link at action column
Report: generates a list of basic security issues
Report: code review (PHP, TypoScript, Fluid)
Report: extension’s health (problems/issues)
Support and Feedback
We hope you like this extension that will definitely save you time and energy when you initialize your TYPO3 upgrade projects.
Are you facing any difficulties (or questions) analyzing or upgrading a TYPO3 project? We are happy to help you out - Just consult us!
We would be glad to receive your feedback, new feature requests, suggestions or bugs to improve EXT:ns_ext_compatibility at https://github.com/nitsan-technologies/ns_ext_compatibility/issues
Have a happy TYPO3 upgrade! :)
Comments
Thanks for the guide.
This is exactly what you need for upgrade analysis and I use it too. Does what it says, displays the TYPO3 version compatibility for each extension on your site. It's easy to view the version info. Helped me with my client's TYPO3 upgrade project analysis. Cheers Sanjay
Hey!
Thanks for your feedback and correction, I've already told an editor/publisher to correct that typo-mistake ;)
Cheers!
Nice article and the extension. There's a typo in composer requires nitsan/ns_ext_compatibility,
should be composer *require* nitsan/ns_ext_compatibility ;)