Extension jwtools2 - Receive e-mail with new extension versions

Yes, hello Wolfgang Wagner here and welcome to this new video. This time it's about the jwtools2 extension and a very special feature of this extension. The extension itself is a kind of toolbox. It comes with many small tools that you can activate as required.

I would recommend taking a look at the manual here. Everything is actually explained quite well. But what I would like to show in this video is a new function that came out with the last update of this extension, version 5.4.0, and in version 5.4.1 a small improvement has been added.

This is the function that allows you to be notified by e-mail when updates are available for installed extensions. So if a new version of an extension is available or has been released, you can now be notified directly by e-mail. And I think this is a feature that many people have wanted for a very long time. Personally, for example, I have wanted this option for many years. And now it's finally possible.

We can also see that this extension is currently available for TYPO3 9 and 10. There is also an older version for TYPO3 8, but of course it no longer has any of these new functions. The extension can be installed as normal either via Composer or the classic method in the backend via the Extension Manager.

I have now set up a demo installation here. This is basically our normal sample project for TYPO3 10, but I have deliberately chosen a version in which outdated extensions are also installed. We can also take a look at that here.

I go to the extension manager. And here I can see that updates are now available for some extensions, here for example for the container extension or here for the news, so they should be updated. And until now, I always had to look in the backend to check whether there were new versions or I had to keep an eye on the development of the extensions in the extension repository, for example, in order to be informed. And now I can save myself this step. I have already installed and activated the jwtools extension here.

We can see that here. And the configuration of this extension is done here via the Install Tool in the Settings area. Let's go in there now. And go to the Extension configuration area. And here we find an area for jwtools2.

I can also activate all the other features here. I'll refer you to the documentation again, where everything is explained very well. What interests us now is the Reports area. Here I can activate this so-called provider for the Reports extension, the Reports extension.

We can also see that here. This is a system extension. It must therefore be installed and activated in the TYPO3 system. This is normally the case. It may be that it is not activated or not installed in your installation, in which case you would have to do it at this point.

Otherwise, I can activate this checkbox and I can now set how the notification should run. The whole thing works via a so-called planner task or scheduler task. I can also have the TYPO3 status report generated regularly via such a scheduler task.

And there are basically two levels here, let's say Info and Warning. So warning. Warnings are usually points that you should work on, that you should pay attention to. And info are notes that you should pay attention to or work on when the opportunity arises.

Now the e-mail notification about the updateable extensions also works via this scheduler task. I can also have an e-mail sent to me with the results of this status report when it is executed. And in the settings of this task, as we'll see in a moment, I can decide whether an e-mail is only sent if a warning appears in the report. If I select this, I won't receive an email every day, but only for certain events that have the warning level, let's say. And that's where this comes in. What do I set here?

If I leave Info as the default setting here, then I have to activate a checkbox in the planner task so that a notification email is always sent to me, even if there are no warnings. However, I would recommend that you actually switch to warning here.

Then these update-capable extensions or the notification about update-capable extensions will also be classified as a warning and I can then only have an e-mail sent to me if necessary when there is actually a new version. I have to save the whole thing once.

I can then close it here again. And now we go to the planner or scheduler, which is also a system extension. Of course, this must also be activated in the system. And here I basically need two so-called tasks. We can go to the Information area here.

Then we see the task Update extension list at the bottom, which must also be set up so that TYPO3 is aware of whether there are new versions of extensions. Incidentally, this is also necessary for Composer-based installations. Although I can then update the extensions via Composer, this list still needs to be updated.

Otherwise, the TYPO3 system itself will not know that there are new versions. We now have to create this task. Type should be recurring so that it is executed automatically at regular intervals. I'll set the frequency to 86400 seconds.

That would be once a day. And here I can still set it. At what time should this be executed? And since it is usually recommended that you do this perhaps once at night or early in the morning before you start work.

I can set this to 5 o'clock in the morning, for example. I don't have to set anything else here, I can save it and close it. And now this task would be executed every morning at 5 o'clock. Another note In addition, a so-called cron job must of course be created in the hosting settings.

This is a tool, so to speak, that calls up this scheduler. It doesn't do anything on its own. It has to be triggered externally, so to speak, and this is done by a so-called cron job. In Cloud Hosting, this item in the customer menu is called scheduled tasks in Classic Hosting you can actually find it under Cron Job. How to set up a cron job and what you need to enter to run the scheduler. We already have separate video instructions for this on our website. Well, that's one point now. Now we need a second task. To do this, I'll go back to the information section here.

And here we see Updating the system status. This is the second task we need. You can only see it if the Reports extension is activated. This should also be recurring. I would now set the time a little later, like updating the extension list.

This can be a few minutes later, but I can also say okay, it should just run an hour later at 6 o'clock. That's usually enough. I would also set the frequency here to 86400.

And the important thing here is "Email addresses for notification", one per line. This means that I can now have the result of this report sent to one or more e-mail addresses. I'll just enter my e-mail address here. And at the bottom here we have this checkbox to always send notifications by email and not just for errors and warnings. And this is exactly the point I mentioned earlier in the jwtools2 settings. I don't always want to receive a notification email in this case.

Maybe there is nothing to complain about, but only in case of errors and warnings. That's why I've said in the settings that I want to be notified from the Warning level. This means that I can now leave this checkbox unchecked in this case.

Save this and close it. And now this task is also executed here at 6 a.m. We can now simulate the whole thing, I can also start it manually. It has now been executed and now I should have received an email, so I'll take a look here and here I can already see the system status report for the page, which is then here in the page title. We can then take a look and here I can see that one or more problems have been detected. There is not really a problem, but this is simply the standard text of this e-mail and I now see here level warning in the case of update-capable extensions.

And all the extensions that are available in a new version are listed here. For example, I can see that version 1.2.0 is currently installed for the container extension, but version 1.3.1 is currently available, as is the news extension and so on.

And the next step would be to either log in to the backend and carry out these updates via the Extension Manager. Or if I use Composer, I can of course also do the whole thing via Composer. Here's a little tip. Even with such small updates here, if they are only so-called minor updates here from 8.5.0 to 8.5.2, for example, I would always check the documentation of the extensions. Sometimes there are important changes, so-called breaking changes, where manual adjustments may also be necessary, for example if something changes in the templates and I have customized templates of my own in use.

So just have another look at the documentation. It usually explains what changes from version to version and what may need to be adjusted manually. I switch to the backend again because we actually see this report here in the reports module.

So this is also from the Reports extension here. And here I can also look at this status report again in real time, so to speak, which is then regenerated when I call it up, we can ignore all the notes above for now.

This is just a local demo installation here. That's why it doesn't bother me at the moment. It's this below that's relevant. On the one hand, I think this is a hint that a security update is available for the yoast_seo extension, for example.

So this is also an important point. But at the bottom I have the update-capable extensions. This is basically the same text that I just saw in the email. I can see my 4 outdated extensions here, so I can also see them here and could then go to the extension manager here in my case.

I could then update the extensions directly here and also see a note about the container extension. I am now using TYPO3 10.4.18 here. In any case, an update of the container extension to version 1.3.1 is necessary, because earlier versions of the extensions have a small problem with TYPO3 10.4.18. There is an error in the backend when I call up a page with a container element. This update would definitely be necessary! And of course the update of the yoast_seo extension. We also see that it is marked in red here. That means there is a security update I should definitely do.

Yes, the new feature of the extension jwtools2, for me personally a real highlight of this extension. And that alone would be reason enough to use this extension in every project now, because I find it extremely practical to be notified directly by e-mail when such extension updates are made.

You no longer have to worry about keeping an eye on the information somehow on the website, via Twitter, Facebook or other channels. You are simply notified directly. Very cool thing and many thanks to my colleague Stefan Frömken, who has now implemented this feature and it's finally working after so many years.

I think that's super cool. Yes, that brings us to the end of the video. I wish you lots of fun and success with it and I'll see you in one of the following videos! See you then.