Conversion of activewidget grid

jop007

Hi,

We are looking for a datatable coming from activewidget.com
Anyone experience with it.

We need a datatable with:
- row selection (also multiple row selection)
- drag and drop rows
- sort rows by column headers
- delete row
- add row
- search and filter the grid (filter is doing a request @ the server)
- contextmenu

I am also considering YUI as a possible way to go.

Thanks for help,
John

allan

Hi John,

I don't have any experience with the activewidget.com libraries, but I can say what DataTables does:

> - row selection (also multiple row selection)

TableTools has a row selection API: http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools - our you can use a couple of lines of jQuery to add / remove classes like in some of my examples.

> - drag and drop rows

DataTables doesn't have built in drag and drop controls, but it is possible to add by using plug-ins - for example: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/331986/Table-Row-Drag-and-Drop-in-ASP-NET-MVC-JQuery-Data . However, I'm curious how that would work with:

> - sort rows by column headers

Yes - this is a default feature of DataTables (relating to the drag and drop though, wouldn't the drag and drop override the sort ordering?).

[quote]
- delete row
- add row
[/quote]

The API methods fnAddData and fnDeleteRow are available. If you want an entire editing package then Editor is available: http://editor.datatables.net

> - search and filter the grid (filter is doing a request @ the server)

Filtering is enabled by default in DataTables. DataTables has two processing modes - server-side and client-side. In server-side processing (good for large tables) the server will do all of the filtering, while with client-side processing it is all done client-side.

> - contextmenu

This isn't built into DataTables, nor do I believe that it necessarily should be - what would it provide for the table? DataTables comes in at 70KB at the moment, and I'd like to keep it that way :-). If a context menu is required, there are tons of very capable jQuery plug-ins that will provide that functionality.

Allan

jop007

Thanks for your detailed answer. So almost everything is there. Building my own contextmenu was hard so I was thinking of using one with some library javascript help.

The contextmenu will hold the various actions on a row

(edit => navigate to a detailed page based on the selected wor),
delete,
search/filter
print the details of the selected row
drag and drop is changing the order of the rows
we also have a complex dialogue where we move rows to another table

What is the best starting point? In YUI I started with some complex example and trying to combine examples.
Preferably I like to extend on the software using inheritance. An example of this would be great.
So you don't know activewidget. This was an excellent table but not for free anymore.
I can not find anyone who converted activewidget to YUI/dojo or jQuery.

John

allan

Hi John,

Absolutely - building a context menu would be a non-trial exercise. The thing with jQuery is that there isn't (currently - they are working on it) a central repository of plug-ins, like YUI has. There are however tonnes of plug-ins out there, a quick Google search is my normal approach - for example, this was one of my first hits: http://speckyboy.com/2011/07/04/15-fresh-jquery-menu-plugins-and-tutorials/ .

> What is the best starting point?

As with YUI I'd just dive in. Start with a base and then built it up. Probably the same for any software!

> An example of this would be great.

Certainly - if you could give me a little bit more detail about what you are looking for, I'll give you a quote based on the DataTables support rates ( http://datatables.net/support ) for the work involved in putting an example together.

Regards,
Allan