Edit Table Plugin

Edit TWiki tables in place, using edit fields and drop down boxes, without having to edit the complete topic.

Simply add an [ Edit table ] button to an existing table by writing %EDITTABLE{}% directly above the table. This can be added to tables that are formatted with TablePlugin: add the EDITTABLE variable just above or below the TABLE tag. It can also be used without any TABLE tag.

Customize entry fields by specifying the format: use a text field, a drop down box, a date field, radio buttons or checkboxes.

Multiple tables per topic are editable, but only one at a time can be edited.

Per Table Settings

Add a %EDITTABLE{...}% variable just before an existing table to make it editable, or add the variable anywhere in a topic to start a new table.

• Supported attributes:

  Attribute	Comment	Default
  header	Specify the header format of a new table like "|*Food*|*Drink*|". Useful to start a table with only a button	(no header)
  format	The format of one column when editing the table. A cell can be a text input field, or any of these edit field types: • Text input field (1 line):   | text, <size>, <initial value> | • Textarea input field:   | textarea, <rows>x<columns>, <initial value> | • Drop down box:   | select, <size>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc* |   * only one item can be selected • Radio buttons:   | radio, <size*>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc |   * size indicates the number of buttons per line in edit mode • Checkboxes:   | checkbox, <size*>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc |   * size indicates the number of checkboxes per line in edit mode • Fixed label:   | label, 0, <label text> | • Row number:   | row, <offset> | • Date:   | date, <size>, <initial value>, <DHTML date format> | (see Date Field Type)	"text, 16" for all cells
  changerows	Rows can be added and removed if "on" Rows can be added but not removed if "add" Rows cannot be added or removed if "off"	CHANGEROWS Plugin setting
  quietsave	Quiet Save button is shown if "on", hidden if "off"	QUIETSAVE Plugin setting
  include	Other topic defining the EDITTABLE parameters. The first %EDITTABLE% in the topic is used. This is useful if you have many topics with the same table format and you want to update the format in one place.	(none)
  helptopic	Topic name containing help text shown below the table when editing a table. The %STARTINCLUDE% and %STOPINCLUDE% variables can be used in the topic to specify what is shown.	(no help text)
  headerislabel	Table header cells are read-only (labels) if "on"; header cells can be edited if "off" or "0"	"on"
  editbutton	Set edit button text, e.g. "Edit this table"; set button image with alt text, e.g. "Edit table, %PUBURL%/%TWIKIWEB%/TWikiDocGraphics/edittopic.gif"; hide edit button at the end of the table with "hide" (Note: Button is automatically hidden if an edit button is present in a cell)	EDITBUTTON Plugin setting

Using TWiki Variables in the Format Parameter

TWiki variables like %Y% in <initial value> (of text input field) and <label text> (of fixed label) will get expanded when a new row is added.

This is useful to write variables like dates into the table.

For example:

%EDITTABLE{ format="| label, 0, %SERVERTIME{"$day $mon $year $hour:$min"}% |" }%

... will get expanded to 22 Nov 2024 11:57 when the new row is created.

To prevent variable expansion: escape the format variable with formatting tokens (particularly $percnt).

For example:

%EDITTABLE{ format="| text, 20, $percntY$percnt |" }%

... will create a new row with $percntY$percnt. In view mode this is temporarily translated to %Y% and subsequent rendered as .

Date Field Type

The date field type allows one to choose a date with a popup calendar. Popup calendar works with all modern browsers. The date picker button is inactive if the browser cannot support the popup calendar or if javascript is disabled.

Per Cell Settings

An individual edit field type can be defined for each table cell. Place an %EDITCELL{ "type, ..." }% variable at the end of the cell content. This is useful to override the per column %EDITTABLE{ format="..." }% settings, or to create tables with key/value rows. All edit field types of the format="..." parameter are supported. For example, to define a text field, type: | cell content %EDITCELL{ "text, 20" }% |

It is also possible to place the edit button inside a cell instead of default location below the table. Type | %EDITCELL{ "editbutton, 1, Edit this table" }% | to show a button, or | %EDITCELL{ "editbutton, 1, Edit table, Image-URL" }% | to show a button image with alternate text.

Note: The %EDITCELL{ }%=variable cannot be used by itself; place an =%EDITTABLE{ }%=variable at the beginning of a table where you want to use =%EDITCELL{ }% variables.

Table Buttons

Examples

Line before table: %EDITTABLE{ format="| row, -1 | text, 20, init | select, 1, one, two, three, four | radio, 3,:-),:-I,:-( | label, 0, %SERVERTIME{"$day $mon $year $hour:$min"}% |" changerows="on" }%

Nr	Text field	Drop down	Mood	Timestamp
1	hello table	one		26 Jun 2002 12:30
2		two		27 Jun 2002 12:40

Note: Please do not save this example table! Use TWiki:Sandbox.EditTablePluginTesting if you want to try out this Plugin

If this plugin is installed you will see an [ Edit table ] button above; if you were to click on it (please don't, use TWiki:Sandbox.EditTablePluginTesting for testing) you get this form:

Nr	Text field	Drop down	Mood	Timestamp
1		one two three four		26 Jun 2002 12:30
2		one two three four		27 Jun 2002 12:40

The following example shows a simple table with key/value rows. The default edit field type for the value column is a text field. This is overloaded by a selector for the Gender, and a date picker for the DOB. This is typically used by TWiki applications where new topics with tables are created based on a template topic.

You type:	You get:	Table in edit mode:
%EDITTABLE{ format="| label | text, 40 |" changerows="off" }% |*Key*|*Value*| | Name: | John Smith | | Gender: | M %EDITCELL{select, 1, , F, M}% | | DOB: | 1999/12/31 %EDITCELL{date, 10}% | | City: | New York |

Plugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, for example, %EDITTABLEPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes

• Set DEBUG to 1 to get debug messages in data/debug.txt. Default: 0
  • Set DEBUG = 0

• Set JAVASCRIPTINTERFACE to 1 to be able to directly move and delete row without page refresh.
  • Set JAVASCRIPTINTERFACE = 1

• Default for change rows flag: on, off, add
  • Set CHANGEROWS = on

• Default flag for quiet save option: on to show the Quiet Save button, off to hide
  • Set QUIETSAVE = on

• Default edit button: Specify button text, or specify alternate text, image URL. Note: Texts inside %MAKETEXT{}% are translated into other languages.
  • #Set EDIT_BUTTON = Edit table
  • Set EDIT_BUTTON = Edit this table,
  • Set SAVE_BUTTON = Save table
  • Set QUIET_SAVE_BUTTON = Quiet save
  • Set ADD_ROW_BUTTON = Add row
  • Set DELETE_LAST_ROW_BUTTON = Delete last row
  • Set CANCEL_BUTTON = Cancel

• Default help texts
  • Set INCLUDED_TOPIC_DOES_NOT_EXIST = Warning: 'include' topic does not exist!

Note: The Plugin uses base settings like date format, language and style from the JSCalendarContrib.

Limitations and Known Issues

• This Plugin does not support TWiki table formatting like Multi-span cells (e.g. | ... ||) and cell justification (e.g. |  centered  |   right |)
• There is a performance issue when editing a large table, say, with more then 50 rows
• Variables like %ATTACHURL% get expanded unless they are in a label
• You cannot put two %EDITTABLE{}% statements on the same line in the source
• You can include %-vars now in select values, by quoting them with <nop>, as in %<nop>X% for %X%, say for instance:
  select,1,%<nop>X%,%<nop>Y%

Installation Instructions

• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip EditTablePlugin.zip in your ($TWIKI_ROOT) directory.
• Alternatively,
  • Manually resolve the dependencies listed below. None
• The Plugin depends on the viewauth script to authenticate the user. As described in TWikiAccessControl, copy the view script to viewauth (or better, create a symbolic link) and add viewauth to the list of authenticated scripts in the .htaccess file.
• (Dakar) Visit configure in your TWiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.
• Test if the Plugin is correctly installed:
  • Check above example if there is an [ Edit table ] button below the table in above example
  • Click on [ Edit table ], make changes and save the table

License

• The Edit Table Plugin is released under the GPL

Plugin Info

Related Topics: VarEDITTABLE, TWikiPreferences, TWikiPlugins

-- TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny - 07 Oct 2007