Ice and PackageBuilder and Boilerplates, Oh my!

So, I was just browsing github, and stumbled on TYPO3.Ice (ICE=Interface Construction Environment). Looking around, there's also a project on forge, and a git.typo3.org repo. I wanted to make sure it wasn't a previous effort to build TYPO3.FluidBuilder (my GSOC proposal), so I asked Rens on IRC what Ice was all about.

TYPO3.PackageBuilder

Apparently, it's part of the effort to create a TYPO3.PackageBuilder (see the github project, the forge project, and the git.typo3.org repo). PackageBuilder is like the next generation of the ExtensionBuilder that we know and love from TYPO3 CMS. It'll have a domain building UI, so that you can graphically create your domain objects and link them all together. I'm very excited to see someone working on the PackageBuilder.

TYPO3.Ice in TYPO3.PackageBuilder

PackageBuilder needs a UI similar to TYPO3.FormBuilder, so some of that interface was abstracted out, so that they could be reused in multiple packages. That common UI lives in TYPO3.Ice.

TYPO3.FluidBuilder

The best part of that? I'll probably be able to use TYPO3.Ice when I create TYPO3.FluidBuilder for a GSOC project. Maybe it'll be possible for me to create the UI portion in FluidBuilder after all, since it's mostly built for me already.

Boilerplates in TYPO3.PackageBuilder

Plus, looking through PackageBuilder's code, it looks like PackageBuilder could use the Boilerplate concept as well. Right now, there's Resources/Private/CodeTemplates. They've got both TYPO3 CMS and Flow templates, which could be put in separate boilerplate packages, so that you don't have to update the whole PackageBuilder package every time one of the boilerplates gets updated. Plus, then other organizations could create their own Flow Package Boilerplates, and use PackageBuilder to create packages with them.

Resources/Private/Generator could become Boilerplate packages in SiteKickstarter and Kickstart. Resources/Private/NewFormTemplates in FormBuilder could also be a Boilerplate, though one yaml file might not warrant it, so it could be treated like a virtual boilerplate. Potentially, other people could create Form boilerplates, though.

I'm very glad that I found out about Ice and PackageBuilder. It looks like my GSOC project will be very useful indeed (who wants their work to die and rot unused in the backroom?!). I hope that the Boilerplate concept, and the FluidBuilder will help more people to start using Flow and get involved with Neos.