An analytical table contains a set of data that is structured in rows and columns. It provides several powerful possibilities for working with the data, including advanced grouping and aggregations.

In contrast to other tables, the analytical data binding used by the analytical table allows an aggregated number to be shown automatically in a cell. This means that a number in such a summarized cell is a total sum of several lines in the database.

Usage

Responsiveness

The analytical table is available for desktops and tablets, but not in smartphone sizes. It supports touch devices, but is not optimized for small screens.

If you use an analytical table for desktop use cases, note that you must implement a fallback solution for mobile and touch devices. This fallback solution does not need to support all use cases.

You could create a fallback by using a responsive table. However, a completely different solution, such as showing charts in a read-only case, might be more suitable.

Components

An analytical table does not consist of other elements. However, it is common to use a toolbar above the analytical table.

The toolbar can contain entry points for the view settings dialog and the table personalization dialog or for the p13n dialog, as well as for view switches in the form of a segmented button, and buttons for Add, Edit, and other actions.

Behavior and Interaction

An analytical table is quite restricted in terms of its content, although it provides powerful features for working with the content.

Table Level

Single: One item in the analytical table can be selected. A row selector column is shown.

• Multi Toggle: A multiselection mode that allows users to select one or more items. For this, the grid table provides a column with checkboxes on the left-hand side. Clicking a checkbox toggles the state of the corresponding row from deselected to selected and back. Set the property collapseRecursive to “false” in order to keep the selection in groups even after collapsing and expanding the groups.

• Select All: Works via a checkbox on the left of the column header (sap.ui.table.Table, property: enableSelectAll). Using the Select All checkbox selects or deselects all items the user can reach via scrolling. Use Select All only if it makes sense. Note that selecting a lot of data also takes time and might not be appropriate for all use cases. For example, a delete operation on two million database entries might not be very helpful in many cases.

You can also use the keyboard keys Shift and Ctrl for multiselection.

An item can be selected in different ways, depending on the configuration of the analytical table (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: selectionBehavior):

• Row: An item is selected by clicking the checkbox or the row. Use this for multiselection analytical tables if clicking a row is not used for something else.
• RowSelector: An item is selected only by clicking the checkbox in the selector cell. Use this if you need to click the row for something else, such as navigation.
• RowOnly: An item is selected only by clicking the row, and not the checkboxes in the selector cells. Use this for single-selection analytical tables if clicking a row is not used for something else, such as navigation.

Compact, Cozy, and Condensed

Like all SAP Fiori controls, the analytical table is shown in compact mode on a desktop and in cozy mode on tablets.

For desktop devices, you can fit even more rows onto the screen by using the condensed mode together with the compact mode. This renders less white space for each item.

Note that the condensed content density must always be set in addition to the compact mode. Do not use the condensed mode on its own. Do not mix condensed with cozy. Doing so could lead to unpredictable or unwanted results, such as cozy-sized controls in condensed-sized containers, missing padding, and so on.

Note that neither compact mode nor condensed mode support touch interaction. Even on a desktop with a touch screen, users will have difficulty selecting rows or using controls inside the cells with their fingers.

For more information on cozy and compact modes, see content density.

Column Header

The column header provides the label for the corresponding column and access to the column header menu.

Columns are resized as follows:

• Mouse interaction: The user drags the separator line between two columns (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: Resizable). Double-clicking the line optimizes the column according to the length of the data currently visible and the label of the column header (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: Autoresizable).
• Touch interaction: The user clicks or taps the column header to reveal two buttons: one to show the column header menu and one for resizing. The user drags the latter to resize the column.

When the user resizes a column, the adaptation of the column width depends on how the column widths are set:

• If column widths are set in pixel-based units (px, em, rem), the resized column is adapted and subsequent columns are moved accordingly. The width of all other columns is not affected.
  If all the columns together do not use up the full width of the table control, empty space is added. If all the columns together exceed the width of the table control, a scrollbar appears.
• If all column widths are set as percentages or “auto”, resizing one column automatically resizes one or more other columns. Resizing can also affect the position of the resized column. This option utilizes the full width of the table and ensures that no white space is added. A scrollbar appears only if all or most of the columns become to narrow. To avoid the side effect of undersized columns, you can set a minimum width per column. However, this minimum width is only taken into account if columns are resized automatically. End users can still reduce the column width to below the defined minimum (sap.ui.table.Column, properties: width, minWidth).

Users can rearrange columns by dragging the column header to another position (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: enableColumnReordering).

Column Header Menu

For each column, a menu can contain the following menu items (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumnMenu, property: Visible):

• Sort Ascending/Descending (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: showSortMenuEntries)
• Free text filter (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: showFilterMenuEntries)
• Group
• Totals
• Freeze from the first to the last specified column (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: enableColumnFreeze)

For each column, the menu can be replaced by an app-specific menu.

Sort

The column header menu can provide two sort options (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: sortProperty, showSortMenuEntry):

• Sort Ascending
• Sort Descending

The user selects one of these options to sort the corresponding column accordingly (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: sorted, sortOrder, sortProperty).

Filter

The column header menu can provide a search field for entering free text (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: filterProperty, showFilterMenuEntries).

If the user enters a term in the input field and triggers the search by pressing ENTER when the focus is on the filter input field, the analytical table is filtered by the corresponding column and value (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, properties: filtered, filterProperty, filterValue, filterOperator, sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: filterType).

Note that the filter may return zero results, in which case, the table might be empty.

General recommendations for filtering:

• If filtering is a main use case, choose the filter bar or any other filtering UI over the built-in free text filter.
• Only use the free text filter if filtering is a secondary use case and if the filter bar is too heavy.

Group

The column header menu can provide the option to group by this column (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: sortProperty).

One group collects all items with the same value within the corresponding column.

If line items are grouped in a column, every group is provided with a collapsible or expandable group header (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: grouped). The header text consists of the column name and the value for the corresponding group (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: groupHeaderFormatter). Several grouping levels are possible.

The corresponding column can be hidden to avoid duplicates (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: showIfGrouped). Exercise caution when using this option since hiding the column changes the table layout and may lead to confusion.

Aggregation

The column header menu can provide the option to show or hide aggregation totals for this column.

Intermediate aggregations are shown at group level for the corresponding columns if the group contains more than one line item (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: summed).

The overall aggregation is shown at the bottom of the analytical table.

Freeze Columns

The column header menu can provide the option to freeze columns (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: enableColumnFreeze). Selecting Freeze freezes all columns up to the one in which the operation was triggered (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: fixedColumnCount).

When Freeze is triggered, the menu item changes to Unfreeze for the corresponding column.

Line Item Level

A line item contains a set of cells and provides options for selecting the item.

To prevent adverse side effects when scrolling vertically, all line items must have the same height.

(sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: rowHeight)

Drag and Drop

One or several items can be moved to other UI elements using drag and drop operations (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, aggregation: dragDropConfig). While being dragged, the items are shown as ghost elements on the mouse cursor.

Drop targets can be on items, between items, or both (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropPosition). On a drop target, the mouse cursor changes to either a “copy”, “link”, “move”, or “none” cursor. “None” indicates that the dragged item cannot be dropped in the current position (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropEffect).

Drag and drop is only available on supporting browsers.

Cell Level

A cell provides one data point.

It can contain one of the following controls to display this data point:

• Text
• Label
• Object status
• Icon
• Button
• Input
• Date picker
• Select
• Combo box
• Multi-combo box
• Checkbox
• Link
• Currency
• Rating indicator
• Progress indicator

While it is technically possible to also use other controls, doing so could lead to issues with alignment, condensed mode, screen reader support, and keyboard support.

If you use text, use only single-line text to keep the same row height. Truncate if necessary as this prevents adverse side effects when scrolling vertically (sap.m.Text, property: wrapping, value: false).

Cells can provide a context menu that allows the corresponding column to be filtered by the value provided by the specific cell (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: enableCellFilter).

This menu is only shown on non-touch devices.

Guidelines

Data Density vs. Complexity

The analytical table can be used to display and work with large amounts of data. Unfortunately, the analytical table has a high data density and therefore conveys an immediate feeling of complexity.

Only show tables with a lot of data as a last resort. To make the data easier to read, you should instead try the following:

• Break down the data into manageable chunks and allow the user to navigate or drill down between them.
• Use charts with drilldown functionality until the amount of data is more manageable.

Try to avoid horizontal scrolling in the default delivery.

Try to minimize the number of columns, especially if there is a large number of rows.

Table Title

You implement the table title by using a title control in a toolbar.

Use a table title if the title of an analytical table is not indicated in the surrounding area. Do not use a table title if it simply repeats text that is already above the analytical table, for example, if a pricing conditions analytical table is the only control placed on a tab labeled Pricing Conditions.

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.

Selection

In multiple selection mode (multi toggle), do not show checkboxes in the first data column in the default delivery to avoid confusion.

Offer the Select All checkbox for (de)selecting all items the user can reach by scrolling. If items are grouped, also select all items in collapsed groups.

Loading Data

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

Columns – Best Practices

Minimize the number of columns. Avoid the need to scroll horizontally in the default delivery.

Optimize column width for its initial visible content, including the column header texts.

Maintain a constant column width and avoid automatically adjusting it based on content changes.

Column Headers – Best Practices

Provide a label for each column in the column header. In the default delivery, do not truncate the column header texts.

Content Alignment

For alignment of cell content, follow the guidelines below.

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

Right-align amounts with currencies to the cell and align them in terms of their respective decimal points.

This ensures that amounts with different currencies are shown correctly, whether these currencies have 0, 2, or 3 decimals.

For aligning to the decimal point, use the sap.ui.uinified.Currency control.

Right-align dates and times.

This ensures comparability for most formats and locales.

Left-align status information.

Center-align icons.

Content Formatting

For strings with IDs, use one of the following:

• Show the ID in brackets after the corresponding string. Use this format if sorting, grouping, or filtering is only needed on the string, but not on the ID.
• Show the ID in a separate column. Use this format if sorting, grouping, or filtering on the string and the ID is needed.

Truncation

Avoid truncation of typical content in the default delivery (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: width). However, since the columns are resizable, do not worry too much if truncation occurs as columns can still be enlarged if necessary.

To prevent adverse side effects when scrolling vertically, all line items must also have the same height. If you need to decide between truncation and different row heights, choose truncation.

Number of Links

Are there too many links? Use subtle links to avoid a wall of links. Standard links are also emphasized more if they are surrounded by subtle links.

For example, a financial table consists of several columns with summarized cells. A summarized cell shows the total sum of several database entries. Each sum should be a link to a report that shows details about which database entries produce the total sum. The line item identifier should also be a link that provides more detail about the line item itself. Use a standard or emphasized link for the item identifier, and subtle links for the summarized cells.

Missing Value

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

Numbering Items

In terms of numbering items:

• If the item number is more like an ID with regard to its description, use ID formatting as described above.
• In all other cases, use a separate column for the item number.

Status

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

For status information on text, use an object status.

Empty Tables

Avoid empty analytical tables. If necessary, provide instructions on how to fill the analytical table with data (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, properties: noDataText, showNoData).

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

Invalid State

To show an invalid state of the analytical table within the list report floorplan, show an overlay on the analytical table and the corresponding toolbar (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: showOverlay). The overlay prevents user interactions.

Use this within the list report floorplan if filter settings have been changed but the analytical table has not yet been updated.

Item States

To show that a modified item has an error, for example, within the global edit flow, add the string (Contains errors) in the Editing Status column. This string replaces the (Modified) string.

To show that an item is locked, add a transparent-style button with the corresponding icon and the text Locked by [name] in the Editing Status column.

To show that an item is in draft state, add a transparent-style button with the text Draft in the Editing Status column.

Show only one state at a time.

Numbers and Units

Show the unit of measurement in one of the following ways:

The number and unit are in the same cell. Do this if sorting, filtering, or grouping by the unit of measurement are not needed.

Use a currency control to display the concatenated string.

The number and unit are in separate columns. Do this if sorting, filtering, or grouping by the unit of measurement are a common use case.

Note that this column can be hidden or moved independently of the column containing the corresponding number. Therefore, be sure to have clear labels for both columns to communicate the dependency.

Do not put the unit of measurement in the column header.

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop is “invisible” on the UI: users can’t see where dragging is available and where it isn’t. In addition, drag and drop is not accessible, since there is no generic keyboard interaction. Drag and drop is also not available on all browsers. For these reasons, provide it only in addition to existing (and visible) UI elements that fulfill the same purpose, such as (toolbar) buttons.

Do not use drag and drop for rearranging items in the analytical table. The analytical table is mainly used for grouping items and for calculating the totals per group and column. Moving items to another group also means that a value of the dropped item changes: because grouping is based on values in a column, the dropped item needs to take on the value of the target group for the corresponding column.

Example:
A table is grouped by availability. An item is moved from the group “Not Available” to the group “In Stock”. In this case, the moved item needs to change its availability to “In Stock” to match the target group. Because changing the value in this way doesn’t make sense, rearranging items is not permitted in analytical tables.

Actions

Multiple Items

To trigger actions on multiple items, use a multiselection analytical table (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: selectionMode, value: MultiToggle). Offer the corresponding actions in the table toolbar.

Do not offer action triggering on multiple items if the table is generally expected to have fewer than 10 items. In this case, try to use the responsive table instead of the analytical table.

Single Item

To trigger actions on a single item (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: selectionMode, value: Single):

• 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, do this only for a maximum of one or two actions. Provide a separate column per action. Use a button, unless the action trigger belongs to a link.

To trigger navigation on line item level choose one of the following options:

• Use a link for the attribute that identifies the row. Clicking the link triggers the navigation.
• Add the RowActions column and show the navigation indicator (  ) at the end of the row. The navigation arrow triggers the navigation.

Use the RowActions column only for one or both of the following actions:

• Navigate to details page ( )
• Delete ( )

The RowActions column does not provide a column header text. It is fixed and will not scroll away. Users also cannot personalize this column.

Single Cell

For triggering actions on a single cell, create the corresponding click event. Do not use the cell click event if the cell contains interactive controls, such as links.

Add Items

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

New items always appear as the first item in the table.

For more details, please check the guidelines for managing objects (including subarticles).

Editable Content

View Settings

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

Sort

To display the current sort state, an icon is shown in the column header of the last sorted column. This icon indicates the sort direction (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: sorted, sortOrder, sortProperty).

For the default sort setting, sort by the column that identifies the row, which is usually the first column in default delivery. Use a meaningful sort order, such as alphabetical order for text, numeric order for numbers, or chronological order for dates.

Filter

To display the current filter state, an icon is shown in the column header of the filtered column (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: filtered, filterProperty, filterValue, filterOperator, defaultFilterOperator, filterType).

Group

To display the current group state, group headers are shown. Show the following text in the group header (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, properties: grouped, showIfGrouped, groupHeaderFormatter):

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

Set the property collapseRecursive to “false” to keep subgroups expanded even after collapsing and expanding the parent group.

On non-touch devices, right-clicking a group header opens the group header menu. On touch devices, the same menu is opened by using the menu icon on the right side of a group header.

The group header menu provides several options:

• Show/Hide: Shows or hides the column in the table layout, although it is grouped.
• Ungroup: When the user ungroups a column, the corresponding group headers disappear. If the column was hidden, it is shown again as a separate column.
• Ungroup All: The columns are shown again.
• Move Up: Rearranges the grouping levels hierarchy by moving the selected group above the group that is one level higher up in the hierarchy.
• Move Down: Rearranges the grouping levels hierarchy by moving the selected group below the group that is one level lower down in the hierarchy.
• Collapse Level: Collapses all groups on the corresponding grouping level.
• Collapse All: All groups are collapsed.

In general:

• Offer grouping on objects and attributes.
• Do not offer grouping on measures.
• If appropriate, offer reasonable grouping by default, but do not exaggerate. As a rule of thumb, use up to three group levels.
• Provide more space for the first column. Grouping needs an indent per group level. Extra space in the first column prevents truncated text.

Aggregate

To display the current aggregation state, the total sum of the corresponding column is shown at the bottom of the table.

If items are grouped, an intermediate sum is shown:

• At the bottom of each group if the group is expanded.
• In the group header if the group is collapsed.

(sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn, property: summed)

For aggregating numbers with different units of measurements, show an asterisk (*) in the aggregation rows.

In general:

• Offer aggregation on measures, but not on objects or attributes.
• Avoid aggregations on the first three columns for the default delivery. As soon as grouping is used together with aggregations, collapsing a group shows the aggregation on the group header. This conflicts with the group name.
• Where appropriate, offer reasonable aggregation by default.

Personalization

Only offer personalization if you need more columns than a tablet screen can display at any one time, which is usually five.

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

Add, Remove, and Rearrange Columns

To add, remove, or rearrange columns, use one of the following:

• The table personalization dialog: It offers some simple settings for column layout. Use this if you have only a few columns to choose from and/or you use the view settings dialog.
• The p13n dialog: Besides various complex view settings, it also provides settings for column layout. Use this if you have a large number of columns to choose from and/or you use this dialog anyway for view settings.

In both cases, trigger the dialog via the settings button in the table toolbar.

You can also use drag and drop to rearrange columns (sap.ui.table.Table, property: enableColumnReordering). If you allow rearranging via drag and drop as well as via a dialog, keep both places in sync.

Resize Columns

Resizing columns works differently on touch and non-touch devices.

• Non-touch devices: Drag and drop the column separator on the right side of the column. Double-clicking the column separator optimizes the width of the column for the data currently loaded into the front end, which is usually about 100 rows.
• Touch devices: Clicking the column header reveals two buttons: one for opening the column header menu, another one for resizing the column. Drag and drop this second button to resize the column.

Freeze Columns

For freezing columns, offer the setting in the column header menu (sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable, property: enableColumnFreeze).

Selecting Freeze on a column freezes all columns from the first one to the one where Freeze is selected. On this column, the menu entry changes from Freeze to Unfreeze.

Properties

sap.ui.table.AnalyticalTable

The following additional properties are available for the analytical table:

• The property: width defines the width of the analytical table.
• The property: rowHeight defines the height of each row in the analytical table. Since the height required is calculated automatically by the analytical table, this property is only needed rarely.
• The property: columnHeaderHeight defines the height of the column headers. Since the height required is calculated automatically by the analytical table, this property is only needed rarely.
• The property: columnHeaderVisible can be used to hide the column headers. Always show the column headers.
• The property: showColumnVisibilityMenu provides an additional entry in the column header menu that allows columns to be shown or hidden. In SAP Fiori, columns are shown and hidden via the table personalization dialog or via the table personalization dialog. Do not use this property.
• The property: columnVisibilityMenuSorter is used for sorting the columns inside the column header menu if showing and hiding columns is provided in the menu. In SAP Fiori, columns are shown and hidden via the table personalization dialog or via the table personalization dialog. Do not use this property.
• The property: visibleRowCount defines the height of the analytical table. Show as many rows as fit on the screen.
• The property: visibleRowCountMode defines whether the height of the analytical table is fixed or automatically calculated based on the space provided by the underlying container. For automatic calculation, make sure that all rows have the same height.
• The property: minimumAutoRowCount defines the minimum number of rows that must be shown if the property: visibleRowCountMode is set to “auto”. Show at least three to five rows.
• The property: firstVisibleRow defines the first row shown in the visible area of the analytical table. The analytical table is scrolled accordingly.
• The property: allowColumnReordering is deprecated. Use the property: enableColumnReordering instead.
• The property: editable does not have a visible effect. Please do not use it.
• The property: threshold is used for optimizing lazy loading of items. In most cases, the default value is appropriate.
• The property: enableGrouping is experimental and does not have a meaningful effect on the analytical table. Do not use it.
• The property: sumOnTop shows additional aggregation values on the group header, even if the group is expanded. Do not use it.
• The property: enableCustomFilter changes the filter entry in the column header menu from an edit box to Filter…. Selecting this entry throws an event that apps can react to, for example, by opening a dialog. In general, you should choose the built-in filter over your own implementation. Specifically, keep filtering via the column header menu simple, while offering more advanced options via the table personalization dialog.
• The property: enableBusyIndicator has not yet been fully implemented. Do not use it.
• The property: title adds a line of text on top of the analytical table. Do not use it. To add a title to the table, use a toolbar.
• The property: footer adds a short text at the bottom of the table.
• The property: Busy sets the analytical table to busy state. While in busy state, the whole table cannot be used and items cannot be read due to an overlay.
• The property: Tooltip does not have an effect. Do not use it.
• The property: alternateRowColors displays the rows with alternating background colors (“banded rows”). Do not use it.

sap.ui.table.AnalyticalColumn

The following additional properties are available for the analytical column:

• The property: leadingProperty is used for data binding.
• The property: inResult is used for data binding.
• The property: visible defines whether a column is shown or hidden.
• The property: name defines the name shown in the column header menu for showing and hiding columns. In SAP Fiori, columns are shown and hidden via the table personalization dialog or via the table personalization dialog. Please do not use this property.
• The property: headerSpan defines whether one column header is used for one or several columns. To prevent adverse side effects, always use one column header for only one single column. Please do not use this property.
• The property: Tooltip does not have an effect. Please 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.