Getting Started FAQ

FAQ

General Information

Do you have bigger demos where I can see AdapTable in action, rather than just seeing one feature? The demos on this site are deliberately small to concentrate on the particular feature being discussed. However we do have integrated demos that show a few features together, and we plan to add more examples in the coming months.

How performant is AdapTable? Very. We are confident that it is the fastest fully-featured HTML5 grid on the market. See the Performance Demos which demonstrate that even with a very large data set and hundreds of thousands of Flashing Alerts and data updates a second, AdapTable is still completely reactive and all styles and searches still work.

We are not a financial company but would still like the functionality you offer. Are you only suitable for trading? You can use AdapTable in any profession or industry. AdapTable is a first class tool for managing large amounts of data, irrespective of what that data is. So while it is very popular with traders, sales and other financial users, particularly because of our first-class support for FDC3, AdapTable is widely used in other sectors as well.

Can I restrict who can do what in AdapTable? Yes. AdapTable includes Entitlements functionality which allows you to set different permissions for each user.

Can I use AdapTable to match trades? This is a good example of a very specific use case where it does not make sense for AdapTable to provide a full solution out of the box in its core functionality. However by combining an Action Column, the Selection Changed Events and the Adaptable API, it is something that is trivial for developers using AdapTable to do in just a few minutes.

Who is the target audience of AdapTable? Anyone who manages large, or important, data sets benefits from the searching, styling, editing, exporting & other data-related functions AdapTable offers. Although we initially targeted financial services in our marketing, AdapTable is being used across all industries.

We don't have the internal resources or knowledge to implement AdapTable? AdapTable provides a consultancy service called Grid Gurus which is designed for precisely this purpose. They are here to help you with implementation and any others issues, both for AdapTable and AG Grid.

Data Requirements

Is there a particular asset class or type of data for which AdapTable is most suitable? Can we use AdapTable for FX? AdapTable works with any data set, and is not restricted to one particular asset class; indeed the data in AdapTable doesn't have to be financial. Any 'tabular' data that fits neatly into rows and columns is suitable for AdapTable. So you can use the tool with any data that you want - we have users across mutliple sectors including legal, pharmaceutical and media.

Does AdapTable know about particular asset classes? No, it doesn't. AdapTable is completely data agnostic and has no knowledge of any asset classes or financial instruments.

Does AdapTable help me to gather my data? No. AdapTable does not get involved in procuring your data or in getting your data into the grid, nor what happens to your data after you edit it in the grid. The sole focus of AdapTable is to ensure that while the data is in front of you, you are able to search, edit, style, export, and manage your data in exciting, powerful and intuitive ways not previously possible.

Where does the data AdapTable can display come from? Anywhere that you decide. It can be streamed, or come from a database, middle tier, the cloud, read from files or anything else you want. So long your data is suitable to act as the datasource in AG Grid, AdapTable will be able to use the data.

Do you store any user's data or grid data? No AdapTable is purely a UI tool with no storage mechanism. Any data that is displayed in AdapTable is not accessible to the AdapTable Tools team in any way. Likewise we have no visibility on anything that users do in AdapTable.

Can I have multiple AdapTable instances all looking at the same data source? Yes, this is something that we support, particularly with our integrations with OpenFin and interop.io.

AG Grid

Do I still have access to AG Grid if I use AdapTable? Yes AdapTable doesn't hide AG Grid in any way. So you have full access to the full AG Grid Api, and you can code against it just as if AdapTable was not being used.

Do you include licenses for AG Grid? No, we don't - you must pay for your AG Grid Enterprise Licenses separately.

Which AG Grid version do you support? We always support the most recent major version of AG Grid.

Do you support all the functionality in AG Grid e.g. grouping? Yes, everything available in AG Grid works fully in AdapTable. AdapTable will typically add extra features e.g. for Master Detail, Row Grouping or Tree Data.

AG Grid is not instantiating even though I passed in Grid Options? Make sure that you also provide AG Grid Modules; since AG Grid v.30 they are mandatory for AG Grid to instantiate.

Libraries and Frameworks

What JavaScript libraries or framework do you use? We use React to build our own screens, and Redux to maintain our internal state.

Should I use your Redux store or my own? It is recommended that you use your own Redux store. Although generally the advice is that one store per application is preferred, the best practice when you are using an external component (like AdapTable) is to have separate stores. You do of course have access to our store to listen, and react, to changes in our state.

Can we listen to state changes in your Redux store? Yes, in therory you can subscribe to our Redux store, and react to changes as appropriate. However, in practice, we strongly recommend that you use the Adaptable State Changed Event - this will give you the same information, and more, but in a more structured and safe way.

Which JavaScript frameworks are you compatible with? AdapTable is compatible with any library or framework. Although it uses React and Redux internally to build its own screens, it works with any other library. We have users who use Angular, Ember, JQuery and many other libraries in the 'hosting' application.

Do you provide framework-friendly wrappers? We currently offer AdapTable React, AdapTable Angular and AdapTable Vue to be followed at a later date with wrappers for Ember and others.

Troubleshooting

How can I see logging messages from AdapTable? AdapTable ensures that all critical messages are always visible in the console. Other messages are only visible if you set logging on - see Logging for more info.

Why do I have 'multiple versions of React' message? AdapTable uses React internally and has a minimum required version. If you are using other imports / libraries which require a lower version of React than this, then you will get this message, as npm will install a separate version of React for AdapTable (this happens if you have node_modules/@adaptabletools/adaptable/node_modules/react present). You can also figure out why React is installed by running the npm ls react command.

I am using stencil and cannot see AdapTable? Stencil uses a shadow dom, so you need to specify the agGridContainer and adaptableContainer in adaptableOptions.containerOptions as elements, not as strings If you have scoped: true then use:

this.el.shadowRoot.querySelector(...)

to retrieve references to your vendor grid & adaptable container elements.

If you have scoped: false you should use:

this.el.querySelector(...)

Why are the edit and delete buttons disabled for some objects in the Setttings Panel? This is likely because the Module Entitlement is ReadOnly. If so, users can access existing Adaptable Objects but cannot edit or delete them or create new ones. It might also be the case that the item in question can never be deleted (e.g. if it is the only Layout in State).

Why are some rows missing from my grid? Check that there are no Column Filters applied, or that the Grid Filter is not active.

Why can I not see some toolbars in my Dashboard that other user have? First check that they've not been closed; you can see available toolbars in the Dashboard section of the Settings Panel. If the toolbar is not listed there then the Module might be marked as Hidden in your Entitlements which means you don't have access to see it.

Why is AdapTable not showing up in my browser? I'm using Internet Explorer AdapTable no longer supports Internet Explorer. It is guaranteed to work in Chromium browsers (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Opera etc.) AdapTable is compatible with other browsers like Firefox, Safari etc. but we cannot provide a guarantee that every part of every feature will definitely be fully available to the same extent as in Chromium browsers.

Why I am seeing a warning in my console that AdapTable does not know the type of the column? This happens because AG Grid has no means of setting the DataType of the column, so AdapTable has to guess it by looking at the first row in the grid. You can avoid this by setting by providing each Column with a Cell Data Type property when configuring GridOptions

Can I remove the Loading Screen popup I see when AdapTable starts? Yes, set showLoadingScreen to false in loadingScreenOptions section of User Interface Options

Why is my AG Grid ValueSetter not working? Check that you have not created a Validation Alert for that column. This will create an AG Grid Value Setter for the column in question, and will replace an existing Value Setter for the Column if one was set in GridOptions.

Why is AG Grid slowing down?

• Check if you are using Custom Cell Components (previously known as Cell Renderers) - these are the main culprit in slow scrolling performance

• Make sure that you are not re-filtering too often on ticking data. By default AdapTable will only re-filter on user edits but you might have set this in Column Filter Options to also update when data ticks.

• If you have multiple Value Getters consider using AG Grid's Value Cache

  Hint

  This is worth trying also if you have multiple Calculated Columns that reference each other

Why is my grid starting up slowly? Ensure that your Initial Adaptable State is up to date. If you are using outdated Initial State (e.g. for Calculated Columns), then AdapTable will automatically update it to the correct syntax which can take time as it will cause the grid to re-render.