PageTitle API

In order to keep setting the titles in control, you can use the PageTitle API. The API uses PageTitleProviders to define the page title based on page record and the content on the page.

Based on the priority of the providers, the PageTitleProviderManager will check the providers if a title is given by the provider. It will start with the highest priority PageTitleProviders and will end with the lowest in priority.

By default, the core ships two providers. If you have installed the system extension SEO, the provider with the (by default) highest priority will be the SeoTitlePageTitleProvider. When an editor has set a value for the SEO title in the page properties of the page, this provider will provide that title to the PageTitleProviderManager. If you have not installed the SEO system extension, this fields and provider are not available.

The fallback provider with the lowest priority is the RecordPageTitleProvider. When no other title is set by a provider, this provider will return the title of the page.

Besides the providers shipped by core, you can add own providers. An integrator can define the priority of the providers for his project.

Create Your Own PageTitleProvider

Extension developers may want to have an own provider for page titles. For example if you have an extension with records and a detail view, the title of the page record will not be the correct title. To make sure to display the correct page title, you have to create your own PageTitleProvider. It is quite easy to create one.

First of all create a PHP class in your extension that implements the PageTitleProviderInterface, for example by extending AbstractPageTitleProvider. This will force you to have at least the getTitle() method in your class. Within this method you can create your own logic to define the correct title.

namespace Vendor\Extension\PageTitle;

use TYPO3\CMS\Core\PageTitle\AbstractPageTitleProvider;

class MyOwnPageTitleProvider extends AbstractPageTitleProvider
{
    /**
     * @param string $title
     */
    public function setTitle(string $title)
    {
        $this->title = $title;
    }
}

Usage example e.g. in an Extbase controller:

$titleProvider = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(MyOwnPageTitleProvider::class);
$titleProvider->setTitle(‘Title from controller action’);

Define Priority of PageTitleProviders

The priority of the providers are set by the TypoScript property config.pageTitleProviders. This way an integrator is able to set the priorities for his project and can even have conditions in place.

By default, the core has the following setup:

config.pageTitleProviders {
     record {
         provider = TYPO3\CMS\Core\PageTitle\RecordPageTitleProvider
     }
}

The ordering of the providers is based on the before and after parameters. If you want a provider to be handled before a specific other provider, just set that provider in the before, do the same with after.

If you have installed the system extension SEO, you will also get a second provider. The configuration will be:

config.pageTitleProviders {
   record {
      provider = TYPO3\CMS\Core\PageTitle\RecordPageTitleProvider
   }
   seo {
      provider = TYPO3\CMS\Seo\PageTitle\SeoTitlePageTitleProvider
      before = record
   }
}

First the SeoTitlePageTitleProvider (because it will be handled before record) and if this providers didn't provide a title, the RecordPageTitleProvider will be checked.

You can override these settings within your own installation. You can add as many providers as you want. Be aware that if a provider returns a non-empty value, all provider with a lower priority won't be checked.