Nested Table Alternatives?
11 Jun 2009 - 6:03pm
5 replies
756 reads
Chris Heckler
2007
Does anyone have any good examples of alternatives to nested tables or
decent implementations of nested tables?
My problem table is made of rows of thingies and there are 3-4
property columns for the thingies. Now each thingy has multiple
widgets with 3 or 4 properties that can be added to the thingy. All
of the cells are editable because the user builds the table by adding
a thingy and then its associated widgets.
Currently we have a solution that involves the thingy row being
exandable/collapsible to show the widget table.
Any more elegant ideas?
Get the feed
Comments
Hi Chris,
Couple of questions...
What technology(s) are you working with?
Can the user only edit one thingy at a time?
Did you mean that all of a thingy's property cells are editable? Or
all of the thingy rows are editable?
Cheers. Marcus.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42773
Presuming you're working in XHTML, I'd have to ask "why use tables
in the first place?" You might be able to simply nest your widgets
inside divs.
Nesting tables certainly adds complexity, and, if you're working in
XHTML, your implementation may cause web browser rendering
performance problems.
Eric Meyer has created several elegant table-less solutions using
CSS. http://www.ericmeyeroncss.com/
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42773
Hi Marcus,
We're working with WPF/Visual Studio 2008. The user can edit only
one thingy at a time a time and they are able to edit all cells of
the table.
Hi Chris,
In the instance of this table, I'm looking at how the data is
displayed which is tablular rather than how the code is formatted. I
should have stated we're working in a non-web app since I know to
most of us "table" brings up html layout issues. Your response
reminds me of my web designer friend's who looked alarmingly at me
last night, like "You're still using tables instead of divs!?"
when I was trying to explain the same problem. I promise you both to
never use tables for html layout. :)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42773
Chris,
Sorry, nothing elegant for you.
>From a interface behaviour point of view, I think your solution of
the row expanding to expose more functionality and data is a good
one, especially if most of the properties defined in the cells are
simple numeric or text values.
If you're not happy with the default look of the row, then
investigating custom cell/row renderers might be something to look
at.
If you're working with a limited number of thingies (
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42773
(hmmm... post was cut off)
... less than 5), you could possibly work with column for each thingy
going across your interface with the associated details running down
the interface. No expanding required.
Cheers. Marcus.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42773