Updated: February 9, 2018

Responsive Table

sap.m.Table

Intro

The responsive table is the default table in SAP Fiori. It contains a set of line items and is fully responsive. Depending on the scenario, users can also navigate from the line items to further details.

A line item contains several data points sorted into columns. A data point refers to a unit of information, such as a number, a text, a unit of measurement, and so on, which can be used to form the content of a tableform or other control. One data point is usually displayed by a control, such as a text, object status, or input field. A control can display more than one data point, for example, by concatenating text.

In contrast to traditional tables, a “cell” of the responsive table is not limited to displaying only one control, and therefore a single cell can present far more than one data point.

Responsive table
Responsive table

Usage

Use the responsive table if:

  • You need a table. The responsive table is the default table in SAP Fiori.
  • You need to use various controls inside a line item, such as micro charts. By contrast, the analytical table supports only a very limited set of controls.
  • The focus is on line items, not on cells. The responsive table is optimized for viewing complete items on all devices.
  • Selecting one or more items is a main use case and details are needed to choose the correct item.
  • Line items are independent of each other and no operation across columns is needed.
  • You want to have only one implementation for all devices. As the name suggests, the responsive table is responsive.

Do not use the responsive table if:

  • The main use case is to select one item from a very small number of items, without viewing additional details. In this case, a select or combo box might be more appropriate.
  • The main use case is to select one item from several items, with the possibility of viewing only a few details per item. In this case, a list might be more appropriate. Pay attention to the layout of the list item to ensure that it has a pleasant appearance. The master list is a good example of a list use case.
  • The cell level and the spatial relationship between cells is more important than the line item. In this case, use the analytical table or grid table. Examples include spreadsheet analyses and waterfall charts. Note that neither the analytical table nor the grid table are fully responsive. Both are only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.
  • You are working on more than 1,000 rows. Try using the analytical table or grid table instead; they are easier to handle, perform better, and are optimized for handling large numbers of items. Note that neither the analytical table nor the grid table are fully responsive. Both are only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.
  • Comparing items is a major use case. In this case, the analytical table or grid table might be more appropriate because each cell contains only one data point. By contrast, the responsive table offers greater flexibility within line items, including the ability to add more data points per cell and the pop-in function. Both make comparisons more difficult. Note that neither the analytical table nor the grid table are fully responsive. Both are only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.
  • Data needs to be structured in a hierarchical manner. In this case, a tree table might be more appropriate. Although the analytical table can have several grouping levels, it is not as flexible when nodes at several levels contain child nodes. Note that neither the analytical table nor the grid table are fully responsive. Both are only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.
  • You need an overview of a large amount of data. In this case, use a chart.
  • You just need it for layout reasons. In this case, use a layout container such as a horizontal layout or a vertical layout instead.
  • You need read-only or editable field-value pairs. In this case, use a form instead. The responsive table is not optimized for form-like input navigation.
Don't
Don't: Do not use a responsive table as a form
Don't: Do not use a responsive table as a form

See the table overview to decide which SAP Fiori table is most suitable for your needs.

Responsiveness

The responsiveness of a responsive table is optimized for viewing one line item at a time with no or only vertical scrolling, irrespective of the display width.

On smartphones, only the most important data remains in the one-column or two-column table, while all other data is moved to the space between two item rows, known as the “pop-in area”. In this area, data of the corresponding cell is provided as a label, or value pair, which is defined by the column header. The pop-in area itself is responsive, so labels can be shown next to or above the corresponding data.

The responsive table displayed on a smartphone (size S)
The responsive table displayed on a smartphone (size S)
The responsive table displayed on a tablet (size M)
The responsive table displayed on a tablet (size M)
The responsive table displayed in compact mode on a desktop computer (size L)
The responsive table displayed in compact mode on a desktop computer (size L)

To ensure responsiveness, you must configure each column. Depending on the screen width (in pixels), the column needs to know which of the following responses is required:

  • Stay in the table layout.
  • Move to the pop-in (sap.m.Column, with the properties: demandPopin, minScreenWidth, popinHAlign, popinDisplay).
  • Hide.

Since you have to define this for each column, you can also handle more than one column at a single breakpoint, such as moving three columns to the pop-in area at once.

Each of the three device types has a predefined value for the screen width. However, you will get better results if you offer more breakpoints by using pixel values instead of the predefined values.

For the smallest screen width, keep the following information in the table layout:

  • The identifier of the line item
  • The key attribute

The examples in the following tables help to illustrate this:

A typical responsive table.

A typical responsive table
A typical responsive table

Hide the information column for a screen width smaller than 570 px.

Hiding the information column
Hiding the information column

Move the column “vendor” to the pop-in area for a screen width smaller than 460 px (sap.m.Column, properties: demandPopin, minScreenWidth).

Moving the vendor column to the pop-in area
Moving the vendor column to the pop-in area

Move the column “limit” to the pop-in for a screen width smaller than 350 px (sap.m.Column, properties: demandPopin, minScreenWidth).

Moving the limit column to the pop-in area
Moving the limit column to the pop-in area

Move the column “price” to the pop-in area for a screen width smaller than 270 px (sap.m.Column, properties: demandPopin, minScreenWidth).

Moving the price column to the pop-in area
Moving the price column to the pop-in area

If you still need to support smaller screens, values can be moved below the corresponding labels inside the pop-in area. In these examples, this happens for a screen width smaller than 220 px (sap.m.Column, property: popinDisplay).

Pop-in area: moving the data below the labels
Pop-in area: moving the data below the labels

Layout

The optional title bar consists of the title of the responsive table, an item counter, variant management, and the toolbar.

The filter info bar appears when the responsive table is filtered, and shows information on the filter settings.

The column header shows the label for each column.

The collection of items, or rows, occupies the main part of the responsive table.

You can add aggregation information (such as totals) on the table footer.

A More button can be shown if you do not want all items to be loaded at the start (known as “lazy loading”). Ideally, you should use scrolling to load more items instead of choosing the More button.

Schematic visualization of the responsive table
Schematic visualization of the responsive table

Components

The title bar contains the title of the responsive table, an item counter, variant management, and the toolbar.
The toolbar can contain entry points for the view settings dialog and the table personalization dialog, as well as view switches in the form of a segmented button, and buttons for AddEdit, and other actions.
Beneath the toolbar, display a filter info bar (which itself is a special toolbar) if the responsive table is filtered.
To format within items, apply the guidelines for formatting data. Controls commonly used inside items are the object identifier and the object number. For more information about these controls, see object display components.
You can use the table footer to display additional static information relating to the table content.
The More button loads more items to the front end if not all items have yet been loaded.
Components of the responsive table
Components of the responsive table

Behavior and Interaction

The responsive table is quite flexible with regard to its content.

Table Level

Scroll

The height of the table is defined by the numbers of items it contains. It does not have a scroll container on its own, but is scrolled together with the app (in contrast to the grid table and the analytical table).

If the table works in a “growing” mode, it only loads a few items at first. Additional items are only loaded (and rendered) on request. The “request” can either be done via scrolling (preferred), or by clicking the More button.

Same table, different number of items
Same table, different number of items

Merge Duplicates

To simulate the behavior of row spanning, you can merge cells of consecutive rows inside one or more columns automatically if they contain the same value (sap.m.Column, properties: mergeDuplicates, mergeFunctionName).

Use the merge feature if you expect the column to contain duplicate entries, and it makes sense to group them. In the example screenshot, the Supplier, Product, and Dimensions columns reflect a hierarchical structure: Suppliers have products, which in turn have dimensions. Because suppliers typically have multiple products, merging duplicate entries for the supplier column makes the table easier to read. Note, however, that when the user sorts the table by another field, the hierarchy changes and the merged items are regrouped accordingly.

Do not use the merge feature if duplicate entries are not part of the design. If consecutive table rows happen to have the same values at runtime, this alone isn’t a valid reason to group them.

Supplier column merges duplicates in consecutive rows
Supplier column merges duplicates in consecutive rows
Merged columns with multiselection
Merged columns with multiselection

Select

A responsive table can have one of the following selection types (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, property: mode):

  • None: Items cannot be selected (sap.m.ListMode.None).
    Beware: Line items can, nevertheless, use the sap.m.ListType “navigation” which allows click handling on specific line items. This should only be used when the click triggers a navigation to a corresponding line item details page.
  • Single select master: One item of the responsive table can be selected. To select an item, the whole row can be clicked. Single select master does not add any visual indication (such as checkboxes or radio buttons) and can therefore not be differentiated from none-selection tables. It only provides a selected state as a light blue background. For single selection, this it the preferred mode (sap.m.ListMode.SingleSelectMaster).
  • Single select left: One item of the responsive table can be selected. For this, the responsive table provides radio buttons on the left side of each line item. Use this selection mode only if clicking on the row shoud trigger something else, such as navigation. Ideally, always keep one item selected, even in initial state (sap.m.ListMode.SingleSelectLeft).
  • Multi-select: Allows the selection of one or more items. For this, the responsive table provides checkboxes on the left side of each line item. Select All works via a checkbox on the left of the column header. Select All (de-)selects all items which the user can reach via scrolling (sap.m.ListMode.MultiSelect). With multiselection, responsive tables avoid having checkboxes in the first column.
Responsive table without selectable items
Responsive table without selectable items
Single-selection master
Single-selection master
SIngle-selection left with radio buttons. Use only if row clicks are used for something else, such as for navigation.
SIngle-selection left with radio buttons. Use only if row clicks are used for something else, such as for navigation.
Multiselection
Multiselection

Group

For grouping items, a group header is displayed (sap.m.GroupHeaderLisItem). The group header is not interactive.

Group headers
Group headers

Show Aggregations

Show aggregations (such as totals) on the table footer (sap.m.Column, aggregation: footer).

Do not show aggregations in “growing” mode. It is not clear, if an aggregation will only aggregate the items loaded into the front end, or all items.

Table footer displays aggregated total
Table footer displays aggregated total

Load Items

To show more than 200 items, use the “growing” mode (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, properties: growing, growingThreshold, growingScrollToLoad, growingTriggerText). The growing mode allows the user to load only the first few items. Additional items are only loaded (and rendered) on request, which improves performance. The “request” can either be done via scrolling (preferred), or by clicking the More button.

If using the More button, show the number of items already loaded and the total number items below the text More, if possible.

Do not show more than 1,000 items overall, even in growing mode. Use the grid table instead.

Do not show aggregations in growing mode. Also, do not display an item count on the table toolbar if growing mode is used. Use the count on the More button instead.

Load on scroll
Load on scroll

Line Item Level

Delete Single Item Rows

To delete single item rows, use the table in the mode “delete” (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.Delete). This adds Delete buttons to each line item. Clicking this button triggers the deletion of the corresponding line item.

Do not use this mode if deleting multiple lines at once is the preferred use case.

Delete is a mode of the responsive table and therefore cannot be used together with single selection or multiselection.

Responsive table in
Responsive table in "delete" mode

Navigate

Because the controls inside line items are handled by the corresponding control behaviors, clicking on an interactive control within a line item does not trigger the navigation event.

To allow navigation from a line item, set sap.m.ListType to “navigation” within the corresponding item (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Navigation). This creates an indicator at the end of the line (“>”) and the entire line item becomes clickable. Clicking on the line triggers the navigation event. Use this to navigate to a new page containing line item details. In rare cases, you can also use the navigation mode for category navigation without navigating to another page.

If no navigation is possible, set sap.m.ListType to “inactive”.

Navigation is a list item type and therefore cannot be used together with “edit”, or in combination with click events for the entire item (“active”).

Navigation indicator
Navigation indicator

Edit Line Items

To allow editing for a line item, set sap.m.ListType to “detail” within the corresponding item (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Detail or sap.m.ListType.DetailAndActive). This will create an Edit button at the end of the line. Clicking the button triggers the edit event. Use this event to switch the corresponding line item to edit mode.

Edit is a list item type and therefore cannot be used together with “navigation” or in combination with click events for the entire item (“active”).

Edit button
Edit button

Click an Item

Items as a whole can be clickable. An event is fired by clicking on the item (anywhere where there is no interactive control inside the item). Apps can react on the event, for example, by opening a dialog (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Active or sap.m.ListType.DetailAndActive).

Active elements do not have a visual indication and can therefore not be differentiated from non-active elements.

Active is a list item type and can therefore not be used together with “navigation” or “edit”. In addition, “active” uses the whole item as a clickable area and therefore cannot be used together with a single-selection table.

Active element
Active element

Cell Level

Showing Information

In contrast to traditional tables (such as the analytical table or the tree table), a cell can contain more than just one line of text.

Several lines of text within one cell
Several lines of text within one cell

Add controls

Alongside textual elements, you can also add any control to a table cell, such as input fields, microcharts, buttons, and so on.

Controls inside cells
Controls inside cells
Any control can be placed inside cells
Any control can be placed inside cells

A cell can contain more than one control and more than one data point.

With the View Settings dialog, users can sort, filter, and group by each of these data points.

Several controls per cell
Several controls per cell

You can also have different controls in different rows in the same column. This could be the case if one item is locked, but another item is in edit mode, for example.

Different controls per column
Different controls per column

Guidelines

Table Title

Implement the table title by using a toolbar control.

Use a table title if the title of a responsive table is not indicated in the surrounding area. Do not use a table title if it would just repeat text that is already above the responsive table.

Use a table title if you need the table toolbar. To avoid repeating text, feel free to use generic text as a table title, such as Items.

The item count in the table title displays all visible items which the user can reach via scrolling. Group headers are not counted.

Remove the item count in the table title if there are zero items.

If you use a table title, be sure to include one of the following:

Table title
Table title
  • Or an item count using the following format: Items (Number of Items). For example, Items (2). You can combine an item count with variant management.
  • Do not use an item count together with “growing mode”.
Table title with item count
Table title with item count

Loading Data

To indicate that the table is currently loading items, use the busy state. (sap.m.Table, property: busy). Do not show any items or text. As soon as the data is loaded, remove the busy state and show all items.

Table in busy state while loading data
Table in busy state while loading data

Columns – Best Practices

Minimize the number of columns:

  • On a smartphone, use only one or two columns, depending on the content.
  • On a tablet or desktop, use up to three columns if the responsive table is shown in the details area of a split-screen layout. Use about eight columns if using the full screen width, depending on the content.

If the responsive table does not fit on the screen width:

  • Hide columns to reduce the width of the table.
  • Use pop-in areas to show the whole content by increasing the height of the line items (sap.m.Column, properties: demandPopin, minScreenWidth).

At the smallest size, keep the following information in the table layout:

  • The column that identifies the line item.
  • The column that contains the key attribute.

If both of these do not fit on the respective screen width, keep just the column with the line item identifier in the tabular layout.

The responsive table assigns the same width to each column by default. It is recommended that you overwrite this default to provide optimal space for your content (sap.m.Column, property: width).

Optimize column width for its initial content (sap.m.Column, property: width). If the content is dynamic, optimize column width for typical content.

If you need more columns than those that fit on a tablet screen (usually five) to fulfill 80% of your main use cases, offer an option to add, remove, and rearrange columns via the table personalization dialog. Before doing so, try to reduce the number of columns, for example, by using several lines per column or by utilizing the pop-in function. See the cheat sheet for an example.

Column Headers – Best Practices

Within the column header, provide a label for each column (sap.m.Column, aggregation: header). The column header label is reused as a label in the pop-in area.

Exception: If the column does not pop in, no column header label is needed as long as at least one column still has a column header label.

Use controls that wrap, such as text (with wrapping enabled). Do not use controls that truncate, such as labels.

Do
Do: wrap column headers
Do: wrap column headers
Don't
Do not: truncate column headers
Do not: truncate column headers

Column headers (sap.m.Column, aggregation: header) usually contain links or text-based controls.

Column headers can also contain other kinds of SAP Fiori controls. However, the column header cannot be aligned vertically, making it difficult to use many controls in the column header. Using other kinds of controls also creates problems with pop-in behavior and could thus lead to accessibility issues. Therefore, exercise caution when using them in a column header.

Accepted: Link as column header text (used rarely)
Accepted: Link as column header text (used rarely)
Accepted if responsiveness is taken into account: Text plus search field
Accepted if responsiveness is taken into account: Text plus search field

If a column cell contains several fields, use an umbrella term in the column header (such as Address for fields like Street, ZIP Code, and City).

For text and ID fields, use a generic label (for example, Employee for Name and ID).

If none of these are possible, separate the labels with “/” (for example, Name / Status).

For boolean values, such as checkboxes, find a descriptive text for the column header.

Content Alignment

For alignment of cell content, follow the guidelines below (sap.m.Column, properties: halgin, valign, sap.m.ColumnListItem, property: VAlign). Align the column header horizontally according to the content of the cell.

Left-align: text, IDs, phone numbers, URLs, passwords, and email addresses.

Left-alignment of text
Left-alignment of text

Right-align: numbers and amounts, except IDs, to ensure comparability of such figures.

Right-alignment of numbers
Right-alignment of numbers

Right-align: dates and times (to ensure comparability for most formats and locales).

Right-alignment of dates
Right-alignment of dates

In general, center one-word status information and icons:

If there is an icon and text, or if the status contains more than two words in the English language, left-align the entire status column.

Center-alignment of one-word texts
Center-alignment of one-word texts

Vertical alignment:

Top-align where possible to facilitate reading the content on one line.

Do not use top-alignment if it results in a peculiar layout. This usually happens when controls that need more vertical space are combined with text-only controls, such as input fields. In this case, try center-alignment instead and fine tune it until the layout fits.

Do
Do: use top-alignment where possible
Do: use top-alignment where possible
Don't
Do not: rigidly use top alignment if it does not make sense
Do not: rigidly use top alignment if it does not make sense

Content Formatting

The responsive table provides flexibility, including multiline cells, by enabling every control to be put into a cell.

As a key identifier of an item, use an object identifier. Show the key identifier in the first column. For more information, see object display components.

If the screen width is small, do not hide this column or move it to the pop-in area.

Object identifier
Object identifier

Strings with IDs: If the responsive table contains more single-line data, show the ID in brackets after the corresponding string.

This minimizes the line height.

For items with a small line height, place the ID in brackets after the corresponding string
For items with a small line height, place the ID in brackets after the corresponding string

Strings with IDs: If line height is already large, show the ID below the corresponding string. Use the object identifier to do so.

For items with a large line height, place the ID below the corresponding string
For items with a large line height, place the ID below the corresponding string

For status information, use semantic colors on the foreground elements.

For status information on text: If the status is actionable, add a transparent icon button next to the text.

Semantic colors on text
Semantic colors on text

Avoid truncation. Use controls that wrap the text.

For example, use text instead of a label.

Do
Do: wrap text
Do: wrap text
Don't
Do not: truncate text
Do not: truncate text

For editable content, use input fields and other interactive controls within the table cells. If you need to offer edit mode, change your text controls (labels, text, and links, to input fields or other appropriate controls) as soon as you switch to edit mode, but not before.

You can do this by changing the control or, in more complex cases, by exchanging the whole responsive table.

Interactive controls – In line
Interactive controls – In line

If there is no value for a cell, leave it blank. Do not display text as N/A.

Leave empty fields blank
Leave empty fields blank

Numbering items:

  • If the item number has four digits/letters or less and is equally important as the corresponding description, concatenate the item number with the description and show it in one column.
  • If the item number has five digits/letters or more, or if it is more important than the corresponding description, for example, when no description is available, use a separate column for the item number.
  • If the item number is more like an ID in regards to its description, use ID formatting, like Description (ID).
For short numbers, add the item number to the description
For short numbers, add the item number to the description

Try not to display an empty responsive table. If there is no way around this, provide instructions on how to fill the table with data (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, properties: showNoData, noDataText).

Remove the item count in the table title if there are zero items.

Provide meaningful instructions
Provide meaningful instructions

Item States

To show that an item is unread, use the corresponding flag (sap.m.Table, property: showUnread, sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: unread). This shows most of the content in bold font.

An unread item
An unread item

To show that an item has been modified, for example, within the global edit flow, add the string (Modified) at the bottom of the column that identifies the line item.

A modified item
A modified item

To show that a modified item has an error, for example, within the global edit flow, add the string (Contains errors) at the bottom of the column that identifies the line item. Use an object status control with the error state for it (sap.m.ObjectStatus, property: state, value: sap.ui.core.ValueState.Error).

A modified item with an error
A modified item with an error

To show that an item is locked, use a transparent button with the corresponding icon and the text Locked by [Name] at the bottom of the identifying column. The user can click or tap the button to open a quick view of the person.

A locked item
A locked item

To show that an item is in a draft state, use a transparent-style button with the text Draft at the bottom of the identifying column. The user can click or tap the button to open a popover showing the timestamp of the last change.

Item in draft state
Item in draft state

Show only one state at any one time.

Highlight Items

To show that an item needs attention, a highlight indicator can be shown in front of the item. The highlight indicator can be used to show:

  • A semantic state, such as red or orange for an error or warning.
  • A neutral highlight, such as blue to highlight newly added items.

(Property: highlight)

Highlighted items
Highlighted items

Numbers and Units

Show the unit of measurement together with the number within the item rows.

Do not put the unit in the column header. Do not use an additional column to show the unit of measurement. This is also valid for prices.

Unit of mesaurement – In line
Unit of mesaurement – In line

For numbers with units, show the correct formatting by using the object number control.

Object number
Object number

For the most important number with its unit, show the correct formatting by using the object number control and the emphasized flag.
Exception: If all numbers are of equal importance, emphasize none of them.

If the screen width is small, do not hide this column or move it to the pop-in area.
Exception: If the column containing the object identifier and the column containing the key attribute do not fit together on the screen, move the column containing the key attribute to the pop-in area.

Object number (emphasized)
Object number (emphasized)

Actions

To trigger actions on multiple items, use a multiselection table (sap.m.Table, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.MultiSelect):

  • Offer the corresponding actions in the footer toolbar if the responsive table is the only area on the screen where actions can be applied. The advantage is that actions on the footer toolbar are fixed on the screen and cannot be scrolled away.
  • In all other cases, show the actions on the table toolbar.

Do not offer action triggering on multiple items if the table is expected to have fewer than 10 items in most cases.

To trigger actions on a single item only (sap.m.Table, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.SingleSelectMaster):

  • Offer the corresponding actions in the footer toolbar if the responsive table is the only area on the screen to which actions can be applied. This has the advantage that the actions on the footer toolbar are fixed on the screen and cannot be scrolled away.
  • In other cases, show the actions on the table toolbar.
  • In rare cases, show the actions within the line item. One example would be an Add to Cart button in a shopping application. Since these actions are repeated in every line and thus use a lot of screen real estate, only do this for one or two actions at most. In this case, show the action trigger near the content to which it belongs. Do not add a specific column for actions. An exception to this is if the action trigger belongs to a link.
Inline actions
Inline actions
Do: Place actions near to the objects to which they belong
Do: Place actions near to the objects to which they belong

The following actions on single items must always be in-line:

Delete: Use “Delete” table mode (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.Delete). This places a Delete button at the end of each row.

Delete button
Delete button

Navigation: Use the “Navigation” column list item type (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Navigation). This places a Navigation indicator at the end of each row.

Use this to navigate to a new page containing line item details. In rare cases, you can also use this for navigation within the table without navigating to another page.

Navigation indicator
Navigation indicator

Edit: Use the “Detail” column list item type (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Detail). This places an Edit icon at the end of each row.

Edit button
Edit button

From these three actions (delete, navigation, and edit), you can combine delete and edit, or delete and navigation.

Edit and navigation cannot be combined.

To trigger actions that are independent of the selection, show the actions on the table toolbar. Examples of such actions are add, edit (in the sense of changing the whole table to edit mode), sort, filter, group (or view settings), and table personalization.

To trigger a default action on the whole line item, use the “Active” or “DetailAndActive” column list item type (sap.m.ColumnListItem/ sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Active).

Active items trigger an event when clicked, which can be handled by apps, for example, to open a dialog. Clicks on interactive controls within the item do not trigger the event, but are handled by the interactive control.

Do not use this for navigation, to switch the line item to an edit state, or to delete the item.

Active can be combined with edit and delete, but not with navigation. Do not combine active with single selection.

Add Items

Place the Add button on the table toolbar. It can be displayed as an icon ( ) or text (for example, Add or Create).

In general, new items always appear as the first item of the table and contain a visual highlight at the beginning of the row.

After pressing the Add button, there are three possibilities for adding an item, which should be considered in the following priority:

  1. Add the item inline. Create an empty, editable row as the first item of the table. Show the Save button on the table toolbar. This option is recommended for simple scenarios with about ten columns.
  2. Open a dialog for larger tables with more than ten columns. Save the new item at the dialog level.
  3. Navigate to a new page. This behavior should only be used for very complex scenarios (for example, when a dialog cannot handle the amount of content anymore). After pressing the Save button in the footer toolbar on the create page, navigate back to the table.

There are three different states of a new item:

  1. New: The item was just created and is in edit mode. It is highlighted with a visual indicator.
  2. Recent: The item was saved, but is still highlighted and displayed as the first item of the table. Current filter, sort and group criteria are ignored since the item should remain visible.
  3. As soon as the responsive table is sorted, filtered, or grouped again, the new item is handled accordingly and looses the visual highlight, but not before.

In the context of the draft handling new items are not saved on table level, but rather with the entire draft.

Add button in table toolbar
Add button in table toolbar
New item as first row in edit mode
New item as first row in edit mode
Saved new item still with highlight and as first item
Saved new item still with highlight and as first item

Editable Content

For editable content, use input fields and any other interactive controls within the table cells that meet your input needs.

All SAPUI5 controls can be used.

If you need edit mode, change your text controls, such as label, text, and link, to input fields, or other appropriate controls as soon as you switch to edit mode, but not before.

You can do this by exchanging the control or, in more complex cases, by exchanging the entire responsive table.

For mass editing items:

  • Provide multiselection (sap.m.Table/ sap.m.ListBase, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.MultiSelect).
  • Provide an Edit button.
  • If several items are selected, choosing the Edit button opens a dialog in which the user edits the corresponding fields for all selected items.

This is similar to mass editing in the split screen app.

View Settings: Sort, Filter, and Group

Sort, filter, and/or group settings are handled in the view settings dialog. This dialog can provide any combination of these three settings, including just one setting, such as sort only.

  • If sorting, filtering, and/or grouping are a common use case in your app, offer one, two, or all three of the corresponding features in one or more view settings dialogs. Note: Do not offer these features if the table is expected to have only a small number of entries (up to 20 in most cases).
  • If filtering is a main use case, do not offer filtering in the view settings dialog. Use the filter bar instead.

To trigger the view settings dialog, provide several buttons, one for each of these view settings. Each button opens a view settings dialog that contains only the relevant page.

You should always use only the view settings you really need. For example, do not offer grouping if it does not support your use case well.

Using the view settings dialog allows you to define several sort, filter, and/or group settings per column. Therefore, you can sort, filter, and/or group a column with several data points independently by each data point.

Several triggers for the different view settings (sort, filter, group)
Several triggers for the different view settings (sort, filter, group)

To display the current filter state, use the info bar below the table title. Clicking or tapping the info bar opens the view settings dialog on the filter page.

Show the info bar only if the filter settings are not shown somewhere else. For example, do not show the info bar for settings taken in the filter bar or in a select placed in the table toolbar.

If the info bar is shown, provide an option to reset all corresponding filters on the info bar.

Filtered table
Filtered table

To display the current group state, group headers are shown.

On the group header, show the following text (sap.m.GroupHeaderListItem, property: title):

[Label of the grouped column]: [Grouping Value]

Do not use several values on the group header.

Grouped table
Grouped table

Persist the view settings. When a user reopens the app, show the responsive table with the same sort, filter, and group settings as last defined by this user.

Personalization

To add, remove, or rearrange columns, use the table personalization dialog. Trigger the dialog via a button in the table toolbar.

Offer personalization if you need more columns than those that fit on a tablet screen, which is usually five, to fulfill 80% of your main use cases. Before doing so, try to reduce the number of columns, for example, by using several lines per column or by utilizing the pop-in function. See the cheat sheet for an example.

View settings and table personalization icons
View settings and table personalization icons

Persist the column layout settings. When a user reopens the app, show the responsive table with the same column layout as last defined by this user.

Properties

sap.m.Table

The following additional properties are available for the responsive table:

  • The property: fixedLayout defines the algorithm the control uses to define column width. Setting it to “false” would perform automatic calculations for the column width, based on the longest non-breakable content. You should always set it to “true” for performance reasons. Exceptions are permissible if the table has only a few columns on a large screen width and fewer than 10 rows are displayed.
  • The property: backgroundDesign defines the background on which items are rendered. Use the default value.
  • The property: showOverlay provides an overlay on the whole table, which prevents use of the responsive table. This is used within the list report floorplan to mark the table as outdated after filter settings have been changed but the new filter settings have not yet been applied. Do not use it in other cases.
  • The property: insert adds a margin on all sides of the responsive table.
  • The property: headerText is a simple way to set the table title if you just need a title. However, do not use any of the following:
    • A separate toolbar
    • variantManagement
    • headerToolbar aggregation
  • The property: headerDesign affects the appearance of the header if the theme supports it. Leave the default value as it is.
  • The property: footerText adds a small additional row below the table footer or last item. This row can contain text only. Do not use this property.
  • The property: width defines the width of the whole table.
  • The property: includeItemInSelection uses a click on the whole line item to select the corresponding item if the responsive table is in a selection mode. This competes with other settings like “Navigation” or “Active” and should therefore not be used.
  • The property: enableBusyIndicator automatically shows a busy indicator while data is loaded. (In contrast to the property: busy, where the application can control when the table is set to busy state)
  • The property: modeAnimationOn does not have any effect. Do not use it.
  • The property: showSeparators allows you to show all, none, or some separators. The default setting, which is to show all separators, is to be used.
  • The property: swipeDirection allows you to define the direction in which to swipe if additional actions are hidden behind a table row. This works only on touch devices. Do not use this property.
  • The property: rememberSelections leaves items selected even if they are not currently visible, for example, through filtering. If this behavior is not wanted, set the flag to “false”, but you should do so only in exceptional cases.
  • The property: busy sets the table to a busy state. While in busy state, the whole table cannot be used and items cannot be read due to an overlay.
  • The property: busyIndicatorDelay defines the time after which a busy state is shown after the responsive table has been set to this state. Use the default value.
  • The property: visible shows the table (“true”) or hides it (“false”).
  • The property: tooltip does not have an effect. Do not use it.

sap.m.Column

The following additional properties are available for sap.m.Column:

  • The property: width defines the width of the column in all units allowed by HTML, such as em, rem, %, and px.
  • The property: styleClass is used if you need to change the visual design of a column. Do not use this, but use the default style instead.
  • The property: visible shows or hides the column.
  • The property: tooltip does not have an effect. Do not use it.

sap.m.ColumnListItem

The following additional properties are available for sap.m.ColumnListItem:

  • The property: selected allows an item to be selected programmatically.
  • The property: counter does not have any effect. Do not use it.
  • Do not use the property: busy.
  • Do not use the property: busyIndicatorDelay.
  • The property: visible shows or hides the item.
  • The property: tooltip adds a tooltip to a whole row. The tooltip is only shown on mouse interaction. It will not work on tablets or smartphones. Do not use it.

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.

Elements and Controls

Implementation