A grid table contains a set of data that is structured in rows and columns. It allows the user to scroll in both directions and can handle large numbers of items and columns.

Usage

Use the grid table if:

• The cell level and the spatial relationship between cells are more important than the line item. Examples include spreadsheet analyses and waterfall charts. Note that a grid table is not fully responsive. It is only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.

• You have to work on more than 1,000 rows. In this case, the grid table is easier to handle. In contrast to the responsive table, the architecture of the grid table is optimized for handling large numbers of items. Note that a grid table is not fully responsive. It is only available for desktop 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, a grid table might be more appropriate than a responsive table. In the grid table, each cell contains only one data point. In contrast, the responsive table is more flexible regarding line items, including the ability to add more data points per cell and also the pop-in function. Both make comparisons more difficult. Note that a grid table is not fully responsive. It is 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 analytical table, but you cannot provide an analytical binding on the technical side. In this case, a grid table will do the work. Note that the grid table provides only one level of grouping, no aggregation options, and is also not fully responsive. It is only available for desktops and tablets, so you will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones.

Do not use the grid table if:

• You need a table. The responsive table is the default table in SAP Fiori. Additional use cases where you might need the responsive table include:
  • The focus is on working on line items, not on cells. The responsive table is optimized for displaying complete items on all devices, such as file browsing and a list of documents you want to act on, like purchase orders and purchase requisitions.
  • Selecting one or several items is the 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.

• The main use case is choosing one item from a very small number of items with no additional details. A select or combo box might be more appropriate.
• The main use case is choosing one out of several items with only a few details per item. A list might be more appropriate. Pay attention to the layout of the list item to ensure that it has a pleasant appearance.
• Data needs to be structured in a hierarchical manner. Use a tree table instead. Note that neither the tree table nor the grid table are responsive. You will need to take an adaptive approach by offering an additional UI for smartphones and tablets.
• You need an overview of a large amount of data. In this case, use charts.
• You just need it for layout reasons. In this case, use a layout container such as HBox or VBox.
• You need read-only or editable field-value pairs. Use a form instead. The grid table is not optimized for form-like input navigation.

Responsiveness

A grid 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 a grid table, note that you have to implement a fallback solution for small screens. This fallback solution does not need to support all use cases.

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

Layout

Components

A grid table does not consist of other elements. However, it is common to use a toolbar above the grid 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 view switches in the form of a segmented button, and buttons for Add, Edit, and other actions.

Behavior and Interaction

A grid table is quite restricted in terms of its content.

Table Level

Scroll

Select

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

• Row: An item is selected by clicking the checkbox or the row. Use this for multiselection grid 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 the checkboxes in the selector cells. Use this for single-selection grid tables if clicking a row is not used for something else, such as navigation.

Compact, Cozy, and Condensed

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

For a desktop, you can also display even more rows on the same screen height by adding the condensed mode in addition to the compact mode. This renders less white space for each item.

Note that the condensed content density has always to be set in addition to compact. Do not use condensed on its own. Do not mix condensed with cozy. Doing so could lead to unpredictable and / or unwanted results, e.g. cozy sized controls in condensed sized containers, missing padings, etc.

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

Furthermore, condensed mode is not available for Internet Explorer 9. If condensed mode is to be used, please provide a fallback.

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

Column Header

Column Header Menu

Sort

Filter

Group

Freeze Columns

Line Item Level

Drag and Drop

Context Menu

Cell Level

Guidelines

Data Density vs. Complexity

The grid table can be used to display large amounts of data. Unfortunately, the grid 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. Try the following instead:

• 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 can implement the table title by using a title control in a toolbar.

Use a table title if the title of a grid table is not indicated in the surrounding area. Do not use a table title if it simply repeats text that is already above the grid table, for example, if a pricing conditions grid 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.

You can add an item count to the table title. If you do so, use the following format:

Items (345)

Text as well as text and an item count can both be combined with variant management.

The count of items in the table title displays all visible items which the user can reach via scrolling or expanding groups. Group headers do not count in.

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

Loading Data

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.

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

Right-align numbers (except IDs).

This ensures 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

Key Identifier

Use a bold label or an emphasized link as the key identifier of an item. In the default delivery, show the key identifier in the first column.

For strings with IDs, use one of the following:

• Show the ID in brackets after the corresponding string. Use this formatting 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.Column, 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.

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 grid tables. If necessary, provide instructions on how to fill the grid table with data (sap.ui.table.Table, properties: noDataText, showNoData).

Examples:

• If a table is initially empty, provide at least a basic text:
  No items available.
  Overwrite this whenever a hint can be provided on how to fill the table with data.
• If a table is used together with a filter bar (as in the list report), and is initially empty, use the following text:
  No filters set. To start, enter your search and filter settings and run the search.
• If a table is used together with a filter bar and the filter does not return results, use the following text:
  No items found. Check the search and filter settings.

Overwrite the standard texts above if:

• The standard text is not precise enough for your use case (for example, no search is offered, only the search is offered).
• You are using the live search (no Go button in the filter bar). In this case, leave out “run the search”.
• The standard text is misleading (for example, if the data is filled based on a master-detail pattern instead of search and filter settings).

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

Invalid State

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

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

Item States

To show that a modified item contains an error, for example, within the global edit flow, add the string Contains errors in the Editing Status column and highlight the row accordingly. 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:

Number and Unit in Same Cell

The number and the 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.

Number and Unit in Separate Columns

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

If you offer drag and drop for rearranging items within the table, use drop targets that are between items (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropPosition.Between). This provides better feedback on where the item will be inserted. Show the “move” mouse cursor (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropEffect.Move).

Do not combine rearranging items and sorting. If you really need to do so, make sure that there is a dedicated sort criterion for the user-defined sort order, and only offer options for rearranging items if this sort order is set.

Drag and drop is “invisible” on the UI: users can’t see where dragging is available and where it isn’t. In addition, it 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. For example, offer (toolbar) buttons for moving or for copying and pasting items.

When combining rearranging items with grouping, be aware that 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. If this is not wanted, do not allow users to rearrange items in grouped tables.

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. If changing the value doesn’t make sense make sense, only allow users to rearrange the items within the same group, or don’t allow rearranging at all.

Context Menu

Use the context menu only as a quick way of accessing functions that are already available elsewhere (for example, as buttons in the toolbar). Don’t just offer actions in the context menu itself, as users might not realize that these actions are available at all.

The context menu can be triggered for the table, row, or cell. However, we do not recommend using context menus for cells: because the content of a cell is a different touch target than the cell itself, opening a cell context menu via touch is quite hard, even in cozy mode.

Do not combine context menus with condensed mode: editable controls fill the entire space inside a cell. Because of this, context menus cannot be opened at all with touch or mouse interaction.

Actions

Multiple Items

To trigger actions on multiple items, use a mutliselection grid table (sap.ui.table.Table, 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 grid table.

Single Item

To trigger actions on a single item (sap.ui.table. Table, 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

To trigger 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 (e.g. ‘Add’ or ‘Create’).

In general new items always appear as the first item of the table.

Editable Content

View Settings

Sort

Filter

Group

In general, offer reasonable grouping by default if appropriate. Enable the user to ungroup via the view settings dialog or via the table personalization dialog.

Personalization

Only 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.

Persist the column layout. When a user reopens the app, show the grid 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 to 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

To freeze columns, offer the setting in the column header menu (sap.ui.table.Table, property: enableColumnFreeze). Selecing 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.

Tables in Object Pages

In the object page, we advise against using the analytical, grid, and tree tables. Instead, use a responsive table and offer navigation to a list report with the table types mentioned above.

For more information on the use of tables within the object page, see the Tables section of the Object Page article.

Properties

sap.ui.table.Table

The following additional properties are available for the grid table:

• The property: width defines the width of the grid table.
• The property: rowHeight defines the height of each row in the grid table. Since the height required is calculated automatically by the grid 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 grid 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: visibleRowCount defines the height of the grid table. Show as many rows as fit on the screen.
• The property: visibleRowCountMode defines whether the height of the grid 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: minAutoRowCount 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 grid table. The grid table is scrolled accordingly.
• The property: allowColumnReordering is deprecated. Do not use it. Use the property: enableColumnReordering instead.
• The property: editable does not have a visible effect. Do not use it.
• The property: enableGrouping turns the experimental grouping on or off. Handle with care.
• The property: enableCustomFilter changes the filter entry in the column header menu from an edit box to Filter…. Selecting this entry throws an event to which apps can react, 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 grid table. Do not use this. 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 grid 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.Column

The following additional properties are available for the column:

• 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. 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. Do not use this property.
• The property: Tooltip does not have an effect. 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.