Adaptable Column

When AdapTable is being initialised it dynamically creates a collection of AdaptableColumn objects.

There is one Adaptable Column for every column in the Grid, and they can be of 3 types:

• Based on the ColDef provided in the columnDefs property of GridOptions

• Created for each Special Column provided to AdapTable (of which there are 3 types):

  • Action Columns
  • Calculated Column
  • FreeText Columns

• Matching columns that are dynamically created by AG Grid - these include:

  • Row Grouped Columns
  • Pivot Result Columns
  • Tree Grid Key Columns
  • Selection Column

AdapTable Column Properties

Adaptable Columns are defined using the AdaptableColumn object which contains a large number of properties.

These properties are evaluated by AdapTable when the Application starts.

However, these properties fall into 4 broad groups which makes them easier to reason about.

Identity Props

The "Identity Props" define who the Column is.

They are probably the most important, and frequently used, properties and include:

columnId

The columnId property is the primary way of referring to the Column, and what is generally used in Initial Adaptable State.

It is the stable key for the Column throughout AdapTable and maps directly to the AG Grid colId.

As AG Grid derives colId from the field property when one is not explicitly provided, the columnId will usually match the Column's field.

friendlyName

The friendlyName property sets how the Column is referred to throughout the AdapTable UI.

This includes the Expression Editor and all panels in the Settings Panel.

It is usually derived automatically from the headerName property in the AG Grid Column definition, but it can be provided explicitly in the columnFriendlyName function property in Column Options.

dataType

The dataType important property determines whether the Column is a number, string, date, boolean etc.

This influences many things in AdapTable e.g. what Column Filters are available.

AdapTable derives the value of the DataType, in the first instance by using the Cell Data Type of the AG Grid Column Definition if provided.

columnTypes

The columnTypes property is based off the types property of the AG Grid Column Definition.

AdapTable will add additional values to this prop in some use cases (as detailed in this tutorial).

Capability flags

These properties define what a User is allowed to do with the Column: sortable, filterable, groupable, pivotable, aggregatable, queryable, exportable, moveable, hideable, readOnly.

Column-kind flags

These properties define what sort of Column it is: isCalculatedColumn, isFreeTextColumn, isActionColumn, isPivotTotalColumn, isGeneratedRowGroupColumn, isGeneratedSelectionColumn, isGeneratedPivotResultColumn, isSparkline

Live grid-state

These properties define the Column's current state in the Grid: visible, pinned, width, flex, isGrouped, isFixed

Types of AdapTable Columns

It is worth dividing up AdapTable Columns into 3 groups.

Regular Columns

Regular columns are those which are defined initially in AG Grid GridOptions object.

AdapTable will work out the values for that Column's properties in AdapTable Column in 2 ways:

• using the values provided in the AG Grid Column Definition

• reading some properties provided in Adaptable Options, for example:
  • exportable - derived from the isColumnExportable property in Export Options
  • queryable - derived from isColumnQueryable property Expression Options

Special Columns

AdapTable can create 3 'Special Columns' which are not defined in Grid Options but through AdapTable itself:

• Calculated Columns
• FreeText Columns
• Action Columns

In these cases AdapTable uses a combination of:

• properties provided in the object definitions in Initial Adaptable State
• sensible defaults for the Column (e.g. Action Columns have readOnly set to true)

Derived Columns

There are various use cases where AG Grid will create a create a Column that is not provided by the developer in ColumnDefs. These include:

• Row Grouped Columns
• Pivot Result Columns
• Tree Grid Key Columns
• Selection Column

Using AdapTable Columns

Run-time users leverage AdapTable Columns continuously but indirectly through AG Grid.

The overwhelming majority of users of AdapTable will not need to be aware of the existence of AdapTable Columns.

Developers will frequently access AdapTable Columns since they are often contained in Context objects supplied to functions, and used elsewhere in AdapTable (e.g. in the Column Menu).

Most commonly you retrieve a Column through the Column API using its columnId and then read its properties:

// get a single Column and inspect it
const priceColumn = adaptableApi.columnApi.getColumnWithColumnId('price');

if (priceColumn) {
  console.log(priceColumn.friendlyName); // e.g. 'Bid Price'
  console.log(priceColumn.dataType); // e.g. 'number'
  console.log(priceColumn.queryable); // capability flag
}

You can use the column-kind flags to work out what sort of Column you are dealing with:

const column = adaptableApi.columnApi.getColumnWithColumnId('rating');

if (column?.isCalculatedColumn) {
  // handle Calculated Columns differently to regular Columns
}

If you are working with AG Grid directly and have a ColDef (for example inside an AG Grid callback), you can get straight to the matching AdapTable Column:

// map an AG Grid ColDef to its AdapTable Column
const abColumn = adaptableApi.columnApi.getColumnForColDef(colDef);

Reference

Column Options

The ColumnOptions section of Adaptable Options contains properties for managing Adaptable Columns.

This includes an option to show a warning if it cannot find a provided Column.

// Do not show Error Messages in Console for missing Columns
const adaptableOptions: AdaptableOptions = {
  columnOptions: {
    showMissingColumnsWarning: false,
  },
};

Column Options Properties

Column API

AdapTable provides the Column API class in Adaptable API to enable programmatic access to all the AdapTable Columns which have been created.

This includes a plethora of methods giving full access to the full range of properties in each Column: