Columns in Vue Grid component

13 Apr 202324 minutes to read

The column definitions are used as the dataSource schema in the Grid.This plays a vital role in rendering column values in the required format.The grid operations such as sorting, filtering and grouping etc. are performed based on column definitions. The field property of the columns is necessary to map the data source values in Grid columns.

  1. If the column with field is not specified in the dataSource, then the column values will be empty.
  2. If the field name contains “dot” operator, it is considered as complex binding.

Column types

Column type can be specified using the columns.type property. It specifies the type of data the column binds.

If the format is defined for a column, the column uses type to select the appropriate format option (number or date).

Grid column supports the following types:

  • string
  • number
  • boolean
  • date
  • datetime

If the type is not defined, then it will be determined from the first record of the dataSource.

Incase if the first record of the dataSource is null/blank value for a column then it is necessary to define the type for that column.

ValueAccessor

The valueAccessor is used to access/manipulate the value of display data. You can achieve custom value formatting by using valueAccessor.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' height='315'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=100></e-column>
                <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' :valueAccessor='currencyFormatter' width=80></e-column>
                <e-column field='ShipCity' headerText='Ship City' width=130 :valueAccessor='valueAccess' ></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  },
  methods: {
    currencyFormatter: function(field, data, column) {
        return '€' + data['Freight'];
    },
    valueAccess: function (field, data, column) {
        return data[field] + '-' + data['ShipRegion'];
    }
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Display array type columns

You can bind an Array of Objects in a column by using valueAccessor property.
In this example, The Name field has an array of two objects FirstName and LastName. These two objects are joined and bind to a column using valueAccessor.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' height='315'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='EmployeeID' headerText='Employee ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
                <e-column field='Name' headerText='Full Name' :valueAccessor= 'valueAccess' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Title' headerText='Title' width=150></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  },
  methods: {
    valueAccess: function(field, data, column) {
        return data[field].map((s) => { return s.LastName || s.FirstName; }).join(' ');
    }
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Expression column

You can achieve the expression column by using valueAccessor property.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' :height='315'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='FoodName' headerText='Food Name' width=150></e-column>
                <e-column field='Protein' headerText='Protein' textAlign='Right' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Fat' headerText='Fat' textAlign='Right' width=80></e-column>
                <e-column field='Carbohydrate' headerText='Carbohydrate' textAlign='Right' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column headerText='Calories Intake' textAlign='Right' :valueAccessor='totalCalories' width=150></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  },
  methods: {
    totalCalories: function(field, data, column) {
        return data.Protein * 4 + data.Fat * 9 + data.Carbohydrate * 4;
    }
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Format

To format cell values based on specific culture, use the columns.format property. The grid uses Internalization library to format number and date values.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource="data"  height='315px'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' textAlign='Right' format='yMd' type='date' width=120></e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

By default, the number and date values are formatted in en-US locale.

Number formatting

The number or integer values can be formatted using the below format strings.

Format Description Remarks
N Denotes numeric type. The numeric format is followed by integer value as N2, N3. etc which denotes the number of precision to be allowed.
C Denotes currency type. The currency format is followed by integer value as C2, C3. etc which denotes the number of precision to be allowed.
P Denotes percentage type The percentage format expects the input value to be in the range of 0 to 100. For example the cell value 0.2 is formatted as 20%. The percentage format is followed by integer value as P2, P3. etc which denotes the number of precision to be allowed.

Date formatting

You can format date values either using built-in date format string or custom format string.

For built-in date format you can specify columns.format property as string (Example: yMd).

You can also use custom format string to format the date values. Some of the custom formats and the formatted date values are given in the below table.

Format Formatted value
{ type:’date’, format:’dd/MM/yyyy’ } 04/07/1996
{ type:’date’, format:’dd.MM.yyyy’ } 04.07.1996
{ type:’date’, skeleton:’short’ } 7/4/96
{ type: ‘dateTime’, format: ‘dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm a’ } 04/07/1996 12:00 AM
{ type: ‘dateTime’, format: ‘MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss a’ } 07/04/1996 12:00:00 AM 
<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource="data"  height='315px'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' textAlign='Right' :format='formatOptions' type='date' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Ship Date' textAlign='Right' :format='shipFormat' type='date' width=180></e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data,
      formatOptions: {type:'date', format:'dd/MM/yyyy'},
      shipFormat: { type: 'dateTime', format: 'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm a' }
    };
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Render boolean value as checkbox

To render boolean values as checkbox in columns, you need to set displayAsCheckBox property as true.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' height='315'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=100></e-column>
                <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign= 'Right' width=120 format= 'C2'></e-column>
                <e-column field='ShipCountry' headerText='Ship Country' width=150></e-column>
                <e-column field='ShippedDate' headerText='Shipped Date' width=150></e-column>
                <e-column field='Verified' headerText='Verified' displayAsCheckBox='true' width=150></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin, Page } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data,
    };
  },
  provide: {
    grid: [Page]
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Visibility

You can hide any particular column in Grid before rendering by defining visible property as false. In the below sample ShipCity column is defined as visible false.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource="data"  height='315px'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipCity' :visible=false headerText='Ship City' width=120></e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Lock columns

You can lock columns by using column.lockColumn property. The locked columns will be moved to the first position. Also you can’t reorder its position.

In the below example, Ship City column is locked and its reordering functionality is disabled.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource="data" :allowReordering='true' :allowSelection='false' height='315px'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipCity' width=90 :lockColumn='true' :customAttributes="customAttributes"></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipName' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipPostalCode' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipRegion' width=120></e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin, Reorder } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data,
      customAttributes : {class: 'customcss'}
    };
  },
  provide: {
      grid: [Reorder]
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
 .e-grid .e-rowcell.customcss{
  background-color: #ecedee;
}
.e-grid .e-headercell.customcss{
  background-color: #ecedee;
}
</style>

Controlling Grid actions

You can enable or disable grid action for a particular column by setting the allowFiltering, allowGrouping,allowReordering, allowEditing and allowSorting properties.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' :allowReordering="true" :editSettings='editSettings' :allowSorting="true" :allowFiltering="true" :allowGrouping="true" height="220px">
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90 :allowGrouping="false" :allowReordering="false"></e-column>
                <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' :allowEditing="false" width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90 :allowFiltering="false"></e-column>
                <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' textAlign='Right' type='date' format='yMd' width=120 :allowSorting="false"></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin, Sort, Group, Filter, Reorder, Edit } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data,
      editSettings: { allowEditing: true, allowAdding: true, allowDeleting: true },
    };
  },
  provide: {
      grid: [Sort, Group, Filter, Reorder, Edit]
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Show or hide columns by external button

You can show or hide the grid columns dynamically through external buttons by invoking the showColumns/hideColumns methods.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-button @click.native="show"> Show </ejs-button>
        <ejs-button @click.native="hide"> Hide </ejs-button>
        <ejs-grid ref='grid' :dataSource='data' :height='280'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
                <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90></e-column>
                <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' textAlign='Right' format='yMd' width=120 type='date'></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { ButtonPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-buttons";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);
Vue.use(ButtonPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  },
  methods: {
    show: function() {
        this.$refs.grid.showColumns(['Customer ID', 'Ship Name']); // show by HeaderText
    },
    hide: function() {
        this.$refs.grid.hideColumns(['Customer ID', 'Ship Name']); // hide by HeaderText
    }

  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Customize column styles

You can customize the appearance of header and content of the particular column using the customAttributes property.

To customize the grid column, follow the given steps:

Step 1: Create a css class with custom style to override the default style for rowcell and headercell.

.e-grid .e-rowcell.customcss{
    background-color: #ecedee;
    color: 'red';
    font-family: 'Bell MT';
    font-size: 20px;
}

.e-grid .e-headercell.customcss{
    background-color: #2382c3;
    color: white;
    font-family: 'Bell MT';
    font-size: 20px;
}

Step 2: Add the custom css class to particular column by using customAttributes property.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource='data' height='315px'>
            <e-columns>
                <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
                <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' :customAttributes="customAttributes" width=120></e-column>
                <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90></e-column>
                <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' textAlign='Right' type='date' format='yMd' width=120></e-column>
            </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data,
       customAttributes : {class: 'customcss'}
    };
  }
}
</script>
<style>
  @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
  .e-grid .e-rowcell.customcss{
    background-color: #ecedee;
    color: 'red';
    font-family: 'Bell MT';
    font-size: 20px;
}

.e-grid .e-headercell.customcss{
    background-color: #2382c3;
    color: white;
    font-family: 'Bell MT';
    font-size: 20px;
}
</style>

Display custom tooltip for columns

To display a custom ToolTip EJ2 Tooltip, you can render the Grid control inside the Tooltip component and set the target as .e-rowcell. The tooltip is displayed when hovering the grid cells.

Change the tooltip content for the grid cells by using the following code in the beforeRender event.

beforeRender(args) {
  if (args.target.closest("td")) {
  // event triggered before render the tooltip on target element.
    this.$refs.tooltip.content = args.target.innerText;
  }
}
<template>
    <div id="app">
    <ejs-tooltip ref="tooltip" target=".e-rowcell" :beforeRender="beforeRender">
      <ejs-grid ref="grid" :dataSource="data" height="315px">
        <e-columns>
          <e-column field="OrderID" headerText="Order ID" textAlign="Right" width="90"></e-column>
          <e-column field="CustomerID" headerText="Customer ID" width="120"></e-column>
          <e-column field="Freight" headerText="Freight" textAlign="Right" format="C2" width="90"></e-column>
          <e-column field="ShipName" headerText="Ship Name" width="120"></e-column>
        </e-columns>
      </ejs-grid>
    </ejs-tooltip>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';
import { TooltipPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-popups";

Vue.use(TooltipPlugin);
Vue.use(GridPlugin);

  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        data: data
      };
    },
    methods: {
      beforeRender: function (args) {
        if (args.target.closest("td")) {
           this.$refs.tooltip.content = args.target.innerText;
        }
      }
    }
  }
</script>
<style>
@import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

Align the text of Grid content and header

For aligning the text of Grid content and header part, kindly use textAlign and headerTextAlign properties.

Grid column supports the following alignments:

  • Left
  • Right
  • Center
  • Justify
<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid :dataSource="data" height='315px'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' type='number' textAlign='Right'  headerTextAlign='Right' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' type='string' textAlign='Left' headerTextAlign='Left' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='OrderDate' headerText='Order Date' type='date' textAlign='Center' headerTextAlign='Center' format='yMd' width=140></e-column>
            <e-column field='ShipCountry' headerText='Ship Country' type='string' textAlign='Justify' headerTextAlign='Justify' width=120></e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { sdata } from './datasource.js';

Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: sdata
    };
  }
}
</script>
<style>
 @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

How to prevent checkbox in the blank row

By default, cells in the grid will be blank if the corresponding column values in the data source are null or undefined. The grid also has the option to prevent the rendering of checkboxes in such cases, even if the displayAsCheckBox property is set to true for that column, by using the rowDataBound event of the Grid.

In the following sample, the rowDataBound event of the Grid is used to set the innerHTML of the checkbox element to empty.

<template>
    <div id="app">
        <ejs-grid id="grid" :dataSource="data" :rowDataBound='rowDataBound'>
          <e-columns>
            <e-column field='OrderID' headerText='Order ID' textAlign='Right' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='CustomerID' headerText='Customer ID' width=120></e-column>
            <e-column field='Freight' headerText='Freight' textAlign='Right' format='C2' width=90></e-column>
            <e-column field='Verified' headerText='Verified' displayAsCheckBox='true' width=120> </e-column>
          </e-columns>
        </ejs-grid>
    </div>
</template>
<script>
import Vue from "vue";
import { GridPlugin } from "@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids";
import { data } from './datasource.js';
Vue.use(GridPlugin);

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      data: data
    };
  },
  methods: {
      rowDataBound(args){
          let grid = document.getElementById('grid').ej2_instances[0];
          let count = 0;
          let keys = Object.keys(args.data);
          for (let i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
              if ( args.data[keys[i]] == null || args.data[keys[i]] == '' || args.data[keys[i]] == undefined) {
                  count++;
              }
          }
          if (count == keys.length) {
              for (let i = 0; i < grid.columns.length; i++) {
                  if (grid.columns[i].displayAsCheckBox) {
                      args.row.children[i].innerHTML = '';
                  }
              }
          }
      }
  }
}
</script>
<style>
  @import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-vue-grids/styles/material.css";
</style>

See Also