= table_helper

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

== Resources

API

* http://api.pluginaweek.org/table_helper

Wiki

* http://wiki.pluginaweek.org/Table_helper

Announcement

* http://www.pluginaweek.org/

Source

* http://svn.pluginaweek.org/trunk/plugins/action_pack/table_helper

Development

* http://dev.pluginaweek.org/browser/trunk/plugins/action_pack/table_helper

== 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.

== Example

  <%
    collection_table(@posts, {}, :id => 'posts', :class => 'summary') do |header, body|
      header.column :title
      header.column :category
      header.column :author
      header.column :publish_date, 'Date<br \>Published'
      header.column :num_comments, '# Comments'
      header.column :num_trackbacks, '# Trackbacks'
      
      body.alternate = true
      body.build do |row, post, index|
        row.category       post.category.name
        row.author         post.author.name
        row.publish_date   time_ago_in_words(post.published_on)
        row.num_comments   post.comments.empty? ? '-' : post.comments.size
        row.num_trackbacks post.trackbacks.empty? ? '-' : post.trackbacks.size
      end
    end
  %>

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

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

== Usage

See the API for more information on syntax and options.  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 output several of these types of summary tables.  If this
is not the case, you may want to stick to using actual html.

== Dependencies

This plugin depends on the presence of the following plugins:
* set_or_append - http://wiki.pluginaweek.org/Set_or_append