README

Introduction

This TYPO3 extension adds recurring, time-based visibility windows to content elements. Unlike TYPO3's built-in start/endtime (which is a one-time date range), in2frequently uses cron-style expressions to define repeating visibility patterns — for example: show this content element every month from the 1st to the 15th, or show it every Friday afternoon until Monday morning.

The extension is built on natural language cron expressions and integrates transparently into the existing TYPO3 access palette in the backend.

Example integration in backend

How it works

Each content element can optionally be extended with three fields in the Recurring Visibility palette:

Field	Description
Active	Enables recurring visibility control for this element
Visible from (date expression)	Cron expression defining when the visibility window opens
Visible until (date expression)	Cron expression defining when the visibility window closes

At render time, the extension compares the current timestamp against the most recent and next occurrence of both expressions:

The content element is visible if the last start event is more recent than the last stop event (i.e. a window was opened and has not yet been closed)
The content element is hidden otherwise

Both fields accept natural language expressions (see Expression Syntax below). Leaving a field empty disables that side of the restriction.

Installation

composer req in2code/in2frequently

No further configuration is required. The extension registers its event listeners and middleware automatically via Services.yaml and RequestMiddlewares.php.

Backend Integration

The Recurring Visibility palette is injected into the access tab of every content element type automatically. It appears directly after the standard TYPO3 access palette.

Enable the toggle to reveal the two expression fields. A preview wizard shows the next three upcoming dates for each expression as you type, along with the resolved cron string — making it easy to verify the expression before saving.

Expression Syntax

Expressions follow the natural language format provided by bentools/natural-cron-expression. The following patterns are supported:

Expression	Meaning
`every day`	Daily at midnight (00:00)
`every day at 3 AM`	Daily at 03:00
`every 1st`	1st of every month at midnight
`every 15th`	15th of every month at midnight
`every 27th`	27th of every month at midnight
`every 27th midnight`	27th of every month at 00:00
`every 1st at 8am`	1st of every month at 08:00
`every 15th at 8am`	15th of every month at 08:00
`every friday at 17:00`	Every Friday at 17:00

Standard cron syntax (e.g. 0 8 1 * *) is also accepted.

Example: monthly content from 1st to 15th

Field	Value
Visible from	`every 1st`
Visible until	`every 15th`

Example: weekly content from Friday evening to Monday morning

Field	Value
Visible from	`every friday at 17:00`
Visible until	`every monday`

Cache Integration

The extension ships a PSR-15 middleware (FrequentlyCacheMiddleware) that restricts the frontend page cache lifetime to the timestamp of the next visibility change. This ensures that content transitions (element appearing or disappearing) are reflected on the live site without manual cache clearing.

The middleware runs after staticfilecache/generate, so lochmueller/staticfilecache is fully supported. When staticfilecache is installed, it is recommended to require it:

composer req lochmueller/staticfilecache

Changelog

Version	Date	State	Description
1.0.0	2026-02	Task	Initial release

in2code / in2frequently

Maintainers

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