TYPO3 Core

In order to allow admins to configure an extension via the Extension Manager, file ext_conf_template.txt can be used. This TypoScript template file may include keywords such as:

# cat=basic/enable; type=string; label=Enter description here...

As documented (currently for TYPO3 4.7):
http://typo3.org/documentation/document-library/core-documentation/doc_core_ts/4.7.0/view/1/3/#id449667

Some extensions use "type=string" (which is correct), others use "type=input" (which worked fine up to TYPO3 version 4.7.x). Extensions such as "tt_news" (version 3.3.0) or "nagios" (version 1.2.4) use "type=input".

In TYPO3 version 6.0.0 beta2, the Extension Manager does not show an input field but open/close brackets () instead, see attached screenshot. So, extensions which have "type=input" can not be configured properly.

Due to the fact that "type=input" is officially not defined, this is a bug in the extensions, not in TYPO3 nor the extension manager. However, I suspect it would become a bigger problem if a lot of extensions can not be configured any more (e.g. after an update to TYPO3 v6); even if the extensions use the v6 API (the deprecation log does not show any hints).

Please note: "type=input" worked in the past (I assume it falls back to the default type "string") and I wonder if removing this mechanism was intended.