Edit Table Plugin

This plugin allows you to edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes. Tables have an [ Edit table ] button if preceeded by an %EDITTABLE{...}% variable. Each column can be a text field, a drop down box or a row number. Multiple tables per topic can be editable, but only one at a time canbe edited.

EditTablePlugin Global Settings

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

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

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

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. Parameters:

Note: By default, variables in <initial value> (of text input field) and <label text> (of fixed label) get expanded when a new row is added. This can be used for example to add a timestamp to a label. You can escape characters if you do not want that:

Examples

Line before table: %EDITTABLE{ header="|*Nr*|*Text field sandbox*|*Drop down sandbox*|*Timestamp*|" format="| row, -1 | text, 20, init | select, 1, one, two, three, four | label, 0, %SERVERTIME{"$day $mon $year $hour:$min"}% |" changerows="on" }%

If this plugin is installed you will see an [ Edit table ] button above; when you click on it you get this form:

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.
• The Plugin fails if the table is at the very end of the topic (without a new line) Always ensure there is a newline after the table
• Variables like %ATTACHURL% get expanded unless they are in a label.
• Warning: This plugin uses undocumented functions to read, save and lock a topic. The plugin will likely break in a future TWiki release.
• 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 , say for instance:
  select,1,%<nop>X%,%<nop>Y%
• date field type for the format parameter adds a button popping a javascript calendar to choose the date on browsers supporting it. It uses the nice Mishoo DHTML calendar at http://dynarch.com/mishoo/calendar.epl, that should be included in Cairo release, or see TWiki:Codev/JavaScriptDatePickerForForm for installing it on Beijing Release

Plugin Installation Instructions

• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip EditTablePlugin.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/EditTablePlugin.txt	Plugin topic
  data/TWiki/EditTablePlugin.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/EditTablePlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module

• 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.
• 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

Plugin Info

Related Topics: TWikiPreferences, TWikiPlugins

-- PeterThoeny - 08 Nov 2002
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