> Greg, the single-row edit model would work technically, but would be
> very inconvenient for users. Image order items displayed in a
> TableView...Users often need to change data in vertical manner, for
> example, to cancel some rows, or to set shipping fee to zero for some
> rows. In the single-row edit model, users would have to activate each
> row before editing, and would end up clicking twice as much.
Understood. However, a user can still only edit a single row at a time. Making
them all editable at once is not going to be very efficient, as it will require
creating an actual component for each cell that is currently painted by a
renderer. As you noted, it is also more complicated to do.
Note that double-clicking a row is not the only way to edit it - it is just the
default. You can programmatically edit a row based on other events. For
example, you could have the up/down arrow keys trigger an edit of the
previous/next row. You also don't need to animate the transition that opens and
closes the editor. You could turn it off to improve efficiency if that makes
sense for your app.
> Just for your information, in JSF, I'm doing something like this:
>
> <h:dataTable value="#{orderBean.lines}" var="line">
> <h:column>
> <f:facet name="header"><h:outputText value="Item Name"/></f:facet>
> <h:inputText id="itemName" value="#{line.itemName}" readonly="true"/>
> <h:commandButton value="Search Item" onclick="..."/>
> </h:column>
> <h:column>
> <f:facet name="header"><h:outputText value="Quantity"/></f:facet>
> <h:inputText id="quantity" value="#{line.quantity}"/>
> </h:column>
> <h:column>
> <f:facet name="header"><h:outputText value="Unit Price"/></f:facet>
> <h:inputText id="unitPrice" value="#{line.unitPrice}"/>
> </h:column>
> <h:column>
> <f:facet name="header"><h:outputText value="Delivery Date"/></f:facet>
> <t:inputDate value="#{line.deliveryDate}"/>
> </h:column>
> <h:column>
> <f:facet name="header"><h:outputText value="Cancel"/></f:facet>
> <h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{line.cancelFlag}"/>
> </h:column>
> ..
> </h:dataTable>
>
> Above JSF code will render order lines in table rows, with Item Name,
> Quantity, Unit Price, Delivery Date and Cancel in columns, and all the
> rows show buttons, input fields and checkboxes.
You could potentially accomplish something like this by creating a custom,
data-driven subclass of TablePane. Rather than defining cell renderers, like
TableView, it could allow the caller to specify Components that would be used
as the cell editors. It would automatically respond to changes in the model by
adding or removing rows.
This wouldn't be difficult to build. However, it doesn't seem like a very
elegant solution - it reminds me of an early HTML app, before DHTML/JavaScript.
But that's just my opinion. :-)
G
