DHTMLX Docs & Samples Explorer

Creating Editable Excells

The editable excells use the same approach, but with a few additional methods. Lets analyze the simplest case:

  function eXcell_button(cell){                             //excell name is defined here
      if (cell){                                                     //default pattern, just copy it
          this.cell = cell;
          this.grid = this.cell.parentNode.grid;
          eXcell_ed.call(this);                                //use methods of "ed" excell
      }
      this.setValue=function(val){
          this.setCValue("<input type='button' value='"+val+"'>",val);  
      }
      this.getValue=function(){
         return this.cell.firstChild.value; // get button label
      }
  }
  eXcell_button.prototype = new eXcell;    // nest all other methods from base class

As result - 3 new methods were added:

  • getValue - returns the current cell value; it may be used by normal API, and it is necessary for normal edit operation;
  • edit - ( not declared explictly, nested from ed excell ) called when the grid is switched to the edit state;
  • detach - ( not declared explictly, nested from ed excell ) called when the grid is switched back to the normal state.

In spite of the fact that we have twice as much rows in this example as we had for read-only excell creation, basically we have only one row which needs to be customized. Both edit and detach events are fully reused from the already existing excell.

Editable button creation is pretty useless use case, so lets change it into something more usable:

  function eXcell_myprice(cell){                                    //excell name is defined here
      if (cell){                                                     //default pattern, just copy it
          this.cell = cell;
          this.grid = this.cell.parentNode.grid;
          eXcell_ed.call(this);                                //use methods of "ed" excell
      }
      this.setValue=function(val){
          this.setCValue("<span>"+val+"</span><span> USD</span>",val);                                     
      }
      this.getValue=function(){
         return this.cell.childNodes[0].innerHTML; // get value
      }
  }
  eXcell_myprice.prototype = new eXcell;    // nest all other methods from base class

As you can see, only the text marked in bold was changed, and now, instead of a useless button we have the value formated with some postfix. This value can be correctly editable as Integer value.

In the most complex cases you may need to create an excell with custom editor. In such situation lets see the sample code of excell which can be used for hour selecting, instead of the simple text input. In addition to the default input, cell editor will have an additional time selector:

  function eXcell_mytime(cell){                                    //excell name is defined here
      if (cell){                                                     //default pattern, just copy it
          this.cell = cell;
          this.grid = this.cell.parentNode.grid;
      }
      this.setValue=function(val){
          this.setCValue(val);                                     
      }
      this.getValue=function(){
         return this.cell.innerHTML; // get value
      }
      this.edit=function(){
          this.val = this.getValue(); //save current value
          this.cell.innerHTML="<input type='text' style='width:50px;'><select style='width:50px;'><option value='AM'>AM<option value='PM'>PM</select>"; // editor's html
          this.cell.firstChild.value=parseInt(val); //set the first part of data
          if (val.indexOf("PM")!=-1) this.cell.childNodes[1].value="PM";
 
 
 
            this.cell.childNodes[0].onclick=function(e){ (e||event).cancelBubble=true; } //block onclick event
            this.cell.childNodes[1].onclick=function(e){ (e||event).cancelBubble=true; } //block onclick event
      }
      this.detach=function(){
          this.setValue(this.cell.childNodes[0].value+" "+this.cell.childNodes[1].value); //set the new value
          return this.val!=this.getValue();    // compare the new and the old values
      }
  }
  eXcell_mytime.prototype = new eXcell;    // nest all other methods from base class

As you can see this sample contains some additional code, but there is still nothing really complex.
HTML code of editor is defined inside “edit” method, thus the editor is filled with current values.
Values from the editor are combined to get a new cell value inside “detach” method.