table_helper

table_helper adds a helper method for generating HTML tables from collections.

Resources

API

• api.pluginaweek.org/table_helper

Bugs

• pluginaweek.lighthouseapp.com/projects/13290-table_helper

Development

• github.com/pluginaweek/table_helper

Source

• git://github.com/pluginaweek/table_helper.git

Description

Tables of summary data for ActiveRecord models are often formatted in the same way by creating a header indicating the attribute and a body containing the data from each record in separate rows. table_helper makes it easier to create these types of tables by DRYing much of the html being generated.

Usage

Basic Example

  <%= collection_table Person.find(:all) %>

…is compiled to (formatted here for the sake of sanity):

  <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="people ui-collection">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th class="person-first_name" scope="col">First Name</th>
      <th class="person-last_name" scope="col">Last Name</th>
      <th class="person-company_id" scope="col">Company</th>
      <th class="person-role" scope="col">Role</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr class="person ui-collection-result">
      <td class="person-first_name">John</td>
      <td class="person-last_name">Doe</td>
      <td class="person-company_id">1</td>
      <td class="person-role">President</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="person ui-collection-result">
      <td class="person-first_name">Jane</td>
      <td class="person-last_name">Doe</td>
      <td class="person-company_id">1</td>
      <td class="person-role">Vice-President</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
  <table>

Advanced Example

  <%=
    collection_table(@posts, :id => 'posts', :class => 'summary') do |t|
      t.header :title
      t.header :category
      t.header :author
      t.header :publish_date, 'Date<br \>Published'
      t.header :num_comments, '# Comments'
      t.header :num_trackbacks, '# Trackbacks'

      t.rows.alternate = :odd
      t.rows.each do |row, post, index|
        # Notice there's no need to explicitly define the title
        row.category       post.category.name
        row.author         post.author.name
        row.publish_date   time_ago_in_words(post.published_at)
        row.num_comments   post.comments.empty? ? '-' : post.comments.size
        row.num_trackbacks post.trackbacks.empty? ? '-' : post.trackbacks.size
      end

      t.footer :num_comments, @posts.inject(0) {|sum, post| sum += post.comments.size}
      t.footer :num_trackbacks, @posts.inject(0) {|sum, post| sum += post.trackbacks.size}
    end
  %>

…is compiled to (formatted here for the sake of sanity):

  <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="summary posts ui-collection" id="posts">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th class="post-title" scope="col">Title</th>
      <th class="post-category" scope="col">Category</th>
      <th class="post-author" scope="col">Author</th>
      <th class="post-publish_date" scope="col">Date<br \>Published</th>
      <th class="post-num_comments" scope="col"># Comments</th>
      <th class="post-num_trackbacks" scope="col"># Trackbacks</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr class="post ui-collection-result">
      <td class="post-title">Open-source projects: The good, the bad, and the ugly</td>
      <td class="post-category">General</td>
      <td class="post-author">John Doe</td>
      <td class="post-publish_date">23 days</td>
      <td class="post-num_comments">-</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks">-</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="post ui-collection-result ui-state-alternate">
      <td class="post-title">5 reasons you should care about Rails</td>
      <td class="post-category">Rails</td>
      <td class="post-author">John Q. PUblic</td>
      <td class="post-publish_date">21 days</td>
      <td class="post-num_comments">-</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks">-</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="post ui-collection-result">
      <td class="post-title">Deprecation: Stop digging yourself a hole</td>
      <td class="post-category">Rails</td>
      <td class="post-author">Jane Doe</td>
      <td class="post-publish_date">17 days</td>
      <td class="post-num_comments">-</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks">-</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="post ui-collection-result ui-state-alternate">
      <td class="post-title">Jumpstart your Rails career at RailsConf 2007</td>
      <td class="post-category">Conferences</td>
      <td class="post-author">Jane Doe</td>
      <td class="post-publish_date">4 days</td>
      <td class="post-num_comments">-</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks">-</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="post ui-collection-result">
      <td class="post-title">Getting some REST</td>
      <td class="post-category">Rails</td>
      <td class="post-author">John Doe</td>
      <td class="post-publish_date">about 18 hours</td>
      <td class="post-num_comments">-</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks">-</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
  <tfoot>
    <tr>
      <td class="post-num_comments">0</td>
      <td class="post-num_trackbacks" colspan="5">0</td>
    </tr>
  </tfoot>
  </table>

Caveat Emptor

See the API for more information on syntax, options, and examples. You should only use table_helper if it fits the needs of your application. Remember one of the key principles of Rails, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). table_helper works really well when you need to quickly output several of these types of summary tables. If this is not the case, you may want to stick to using actual html.

Testing

Before you can run any tests, the following gem must be installed:

• plugin_test_helper

To run against a specific version of Rails:

  rake test RAILS_FRAMEWORK_ROOT=/path/to/rails

Dependencies

• Rails 2.0 or later