DEV Community

Cover image for An easy way to create a customize dynamic table in react js
Abdul Basit
Abdul Basit

Posted on • Edited on

An easy way to create a customize dynamic table in react js

#beginners #react #javascript #reacttable

In this article I will try to teach how to create a dynamic table in react.
Ya I know its quite simple, but this tutorial is for beginners and a beginner should know how to get this kind of stuff done.

I am assuming you know how to create a project and how javascript classes work. If you dont't, read this article first.

Lets begin
We have data in the form of array of objects just like APIs. You can use API too.

Lets create a simple component and store the data in the state.



import React, { Component } from 'react'

class Table extends Component {
   constructor(props) {
      super(props) //since we are extending class Table so we have to use super in order to override Component class constructor
      this.state = { //state is by default an object
         students: [
            { id: 1, name: 'Wasif', age: 21, email: 'wasif@email.com' },
            { id: 2, name: 'Ali', age: 19, email: 'ali@email.com' },
            { id: 3, name: 'Saad', age: 16, email: 'saad@email.com' },
            { id: 4, name: 'Asad', age: 25, email: 'asad@email.com' }
         ]
      }
   }

   render() { //Whenever our class runs, render method will be called automatically, it may have already defined in the constructor behind the scene.
      return (
         <div>
            <h1>React Dynamic Table</h1>
         </div>
      )
   }
}

export default Table //exporting a component make it reusable and this is the beauty of react
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We have 4 students with id, name, age and email address. Since our table will be dynamic so it doesn't matter if we have 4 or 100 students.

For Table Data

Now we want to print out students data in the Dom. We often use map function in react to itearate over array.
Lets write a separate function for table data and calling it in our render method. This approach will make our code cleaner and easier to read.



   renderTableData() {
      return this.state.students.map((student, index) => {
         const { id, name, age, email } = student //destructuring
         return (
            <tr key={id}>
               <td>{id}</td>
               <td>{name}</td>
               <td>{age}</td>
               <td>{email}</td>
            </tr>
         )
      })
   }

   render() {
      return (
         <div>
            <h1 id='title'>React Dynamic Table</h1>
            <table id='students'>
               <tbody>
                  {this.renderTableData()}
               </tbody>
            </table>
         </div>
      )
   }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You may have noticed our renderTableData method only returns tr not the tr inside table. Since tr alone can not be a child of div so we have to wrap tr inside table and tbody in our render method.

table header

We are done with table data, a table should have a header too. Lets work on header.

For Table Header

Now we will write another method for table header.



   renderTableHeader() {
      let header = Object.keys(this.state.students[0])
      return header.map((key, index) => {
         return <th key={index}>{key.toUpperCase()}</th>
      })
   }

   render() {
      return (
         <div>
            <h1 id='title'>React Dynamic Table</h1>
            <table id='students'>
               <tbody>
                  <tr>{this.renderTableHeader()}</tr>
                  {this.renderTableData()}
               </tbody>
            </table>
         </div>
      )
   }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Object.Keys gives us all the keys of students in the form of array and we stored it in a variable header. So we can iterate the header (array) using map method.
You may think why we don't use forEach, it does the same. The reason is when we want to return something as result we use map method, while forEach doesn't return anything, it just iterates over array's elements.

Styling

Lets add little bit styling in our table to make it look good



#title {
  text-align: center;
  font-family: arial, sans-serif;
}

#students {
  text-align: center;
  font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  border-collapse: collapse;
  border: 3px solid #ddd;
  width: 100%;
}

#students td, #students th {
  border: 1px solid #ddd;
  padding: 8px;
}

#students tr:nth-child(even){background-color: #f2f2f2;}

#students tr:hover {background-color: #ddd;}

#students th {
  padding-top: 12px;
  padding-bottom: 12px;
  text-align: center;
  background-color: #4CAF50;
  color: white;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

table header

That's all, we are done with our basic table. In next article we will add some features in table, like sorting, adding and removing data. Here is the codepen link of the project.

Here you can read How To Create An Editable Text Field In Table Using ReactJS.

Top comments (78)

Collapse
 
femi_akinyemi profile image
Femi Akinyemi •

Nice Post But how do someone Put this type of Object in a Table ? {
Australia: 1
Burma: 2
Canada: 3
China: 1
Cyprus: 1
Egypt: 3
France: 2
Greece: 1
Iran (Persia): 1
Isle of Man: 1
Japan: 1
Norway: 1
Russia: 4
Singapore: 1
Somalia: 1
Thailand: 4
Turkey: 2
United Arab Emirates: 1
United Kingdom: 8
United States: 28}

Collapse
 
shahirdev profile image
Shahir Hussaini •

Object.keys(yourObject).map(obj => (


{obj}
{yourObject[obj]}

))

use this method it will solve your problem.

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

You can do two things.

  1. Write the logic that changes this object into array or array of objects.
  2. If you have hard coded data then write it in this way countries : [ { country : 'US', id: 1, } ] Something like this
Collapse
 
femi_akinyemi profile image
Femi Akinyemi •

I think I will go with the first option. But will I be able to add the unique name and ID then

Thread Thread
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

Yes you can further spread the object or array. Read about spread operator

Thread Thread
 
femi_akinyemi profile image
Femi Akinyemi •

Alright Thanks

Collapse
 
femi_akinyemi profile image
Femi Akinyemi •

Can someone please help me with this

Collapse
 
harishchandrajr profile image
Harishchandra • • Edited

After looking at your code it looks easy to me now 😀, I am trying to create table too, but I don't have table data, what I have is row no and column no and based on them I am tring to generate empty table for input, the problem which I am facing is creating header, do you have any suggestions for that ??, I really need some help

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

You mean let's say you want to generate 3×4 table?
I am not really sure but you can store rows and columns numbers into variable and based on that generate the table.

Collapse
 
harishchandrajr profile image
Harishchandra • • Edited

Yes, I am able to generate rows, but facing issue with creation of headers and then storing tables value in to variable in form of list of dictionary,
Below is the part which is I am trying to build.
codesandbox.io/s/issue-with-header...

Collapse
 
aashiqincode profile image
Aashiq Ahmed M •

Hey im glad to start the discussion once again, I want to edit the row field may be by one time click on the row or having a separate button ,Can you explain to make it happen.

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

It depends on your approach. How do you want to edit? Do you have input fields for edit row data? I mean the same input fields which will be used to add and edit data, and the second approach is to convert the same row's td into input field

Collapse
 
aashiqincode profile image
Aashiq Ahmed M •

Yes , in the same implementation of you, can you just start the basics

Thread Thread
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

this repo may help github.com/AbdulBasit313/React-Typ... instead of tr I am using list here.

Thread Thread
 
aashiqincode profile image
Aashiq Ahmed M •

It's cool btw, but my case is to just edit the tr on a button click and update the state

Thread Thread
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

What do you want to happen on clicking button? where do you want to write edit data?

Thread Thread
 
aashiqincode profile image
Aashiq Ahmed M •

In the td itself

Collapse
 
diraskreact profile image
Dirask-React • • Edited

Hello 👋
Thanks for sharing! 👍
Recently I created a solution for dynamic table using functional components, so if you are interested you can go and check it. 😊
dev.to/dirask/react-how-to-create-...

Collapse
 
vrma_shubham profile image
shubham •

how to create a table like

| Name | 1/1/2020 | 2/1/2020 | 3/1/2020 | 4/1/2020 | ........... (can be any number of dates)header

| Raj | RajData | RajData | RajData | RajData | ............(data as per date for this name)body

| . | X Data | X Data | X Data | X Data | ............(data as per date for this name)body

.
.

names are dynamic too so please help me to solve this type of table structure in reactjs
please help i have no clue for this kind of table as i am beginner

Collapse
 
arsalan1998 profile image
De_Codr •

u can go with MUI Data Tables they are easy to implement and more flexible to handle bulk data

Collapse
 
swaminathan0706 profile image
Swaminathan.V.B •

Hi Abdul, Thanks for the tutorial appreciated your work..I am having an issue to be resolved let me know how will you destruct and array of objects which are having key values with space in between for example

const {Stock symbol,Stock name,No of share,Buy price,Current price,Profit Loss}= a;
its throwing error like identified expected
the example u have used all are single words for key like id,name,age,email...
also explain for two words like first name?

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit • 
let student = {
  "roll no" : 654321,
  "first name" : "John" 
  } 

const {"roll no":  id,  "first name": name} = student

console.log(id, name)

Let me know if it helps...

Collapse
 
meisam25970 profile image
MeiSaM Valizadeh •

hello please help me for this error

import React, { useState } from "react";

import "./AddUser.css";
import {
validate,
validatorRequire,
validatorNumber,
} from "../../shared/util/validator";
import { Link } from "react-router-dom";
import * as userService from "./service";

const AddUser = () => {
const [formState, setFormaState] = useState({
errors: [],
users: [],
});
// class addUser extends Component {
// componentDidMount() {
// userService
// .getUsers()
// .then((response) => this.setFormaState({ users: response.data }));
// }
// }
// componentDidMount() {

// }
const addUserSubmitHandler = (event) => {
event.preventDefault();
const errors = validateForm();

if (errors.length) {
  alert("gikhare sag");
  setFormaState({ ...formState, errors });
  return;
}
userService.addUser(formState.user);
setFormaState({ errors: [], users: userService.getUsers() });

};

const validators = {
code: [validatorRequire(), validatorNumber()],
fname: [validatorRequire()],
lname: [validatorRequire()],
phone: [validatorRequire(), validatorNumber()],
fee: [validatorRequire(), validatorNumber()],
};

const farsiNames = {
code: "کد",
fname: "نام",
lname: "نام خانوادگی",
phone: "شماره تماس",
fee: "دستمزد",
};

const changeHandler = (e) => {
const user = {};
const name = e.target.name;
const value = e.target.value;
user[name] = value;
const errors = validate(value, validators[name], farsiNames[name]);
setFormaState({
...formState,
user: { ...formState.user, ...user },
errors,
});
};
const validateForm = () => {
let errors = [];
const fields = Object.keys(farsiNames);
for (let field of fields) {
const fieldErrors = validate(
formState.user ? formState.user[field] : undefined,
validators[field],
farsiNames[field]
);
errors = errors.concat(fieldErrors);
}

return errors;

};

return (


{formState.errors.map((error, index) => (

{error}

))}

element="input"
type="text"
id="code"
name="code"
className="code form-control m-2 col-md-1 d-block"
placeholder="کد"
onChange={changeHandler}
/> 
    <input
      element="input"
      type="text"
      id="fname"
      name="fname"
      className="fname form-control m-2 col-md-2 d-block"
      placeholder="نام"
      onChange={changeHandler}
    />
    <input
      element="input"
      type="text"
      id="lname"
      name="lname"
      className="lname form-control m-2 col-md-2 "
      placeholder="نام خانوادگی"
      onChange={changeHandler}
    />
    <input
      element="input"
      type="text"
      id="phone"
      name="phone"
      className="phone form-control m-2 col-md-3"
      placeholder="شماره تماس"
      onChange={changeHandler}
    />
    <input
      element="input"
      type="text"
      id="fee"
      name="fee"
      className="fee form-control col-md-3 m-2 p-3"
      placeholder="دستمزد"
      validators={[validatorRequire]}
      onChange={changeHandler}
    />
  </div>

  <button className="btn btn-success mx-auto d-block mt-5">
    اضافه کردن
  </button>

  <div className="container mt-5">
    <table className="table table-striped">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th scope="col">ردیف</th>
          <th scope="col">{farsiNames.code}</th>
          <th scope="col">{farsiNames.fname}</th>
          <th scope="col">{farsiNames.lname}</th>
          <th scope="col">{farsiNames.phone}</th>
          <th scope="col">{farsiNames.fee}</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>

      <tbody>
        {formState.users.map((user, index) => {
          return (
            <tr key={index}>
              <th scope="row">{index + 1}</th>
              <td>{user.code}</td>
              <td>{user.fname}</td>
              <td>{user.lname}</td>
              <td>{user.phone}</td>
              <td>{user.fee}</td>
              <td>
                <Link to={"/userfee/" + user.code}>
                  <span role="button" className="btn btn-primary btn-sm">
                    Edit
                  </span>
                </Link>
              </td>
            </tr>
          );
        })}
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </div>
</form>

);
};
export default AddUser;

error = react-dom.development.js:11102 Uncaught TypeError: formState.users.map is not a function
at AddUser (AddUser.js:157)

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

Please ask this question on stackoverflow

Collapse
 
datmt profile image
Mạnh Đạt •

Thanks for the tutorial. I'm a react beginner.

My question is, what if the number of column is unknown too?

Thanks again

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit • • Edited

Here you go... you just need to change renderTableData function with below code. Let me know if it helps...

   renderTableData() {
      return this.state.students.map((student, index) => {
         let col = Object.keys(student)
         return (
            <tr key={student.id}>
               {col.map((val, index) => {
                  return <td key={index}>{student[col[index]]}</td>
               })}
            </tr>
         )
      })
   }
Collapse
 
datmt profile image
Mạnh Đạt •

Thank you!

Collapse
 
ronaldoperes profile image
Ronaldo Peres •

Thank you,

How can I hide the first column?

Collapse
 
hirupiyumika profile image
hirupiyumika •

Thank you very much...!! It is very helpful.

Collapse
 
nkartik01 profile image
Kartik Narang •

can you please share an api implementation of this using axios.

Collapse
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

I am almost done with a draft, will publish in a day or two...

Collapse
 
nkartik01 profile image
Kartik Narang •

Still Waiting

Thread Thread
 
abdulbasit313 profile image
Abdul Basit •

dev.to/abdulbasit313/learn-how-to-...

Collapse
 
salimeh1364 profile image
Salimeh1364 •

hi abdul ,
in advance thanks for your clear code, i have a question
i have one array that include fore example 10 field that each field has many information , i want to show each field in one table ,it means if i have 10 field in array show in 10 table saparately . thanks alot

View full discussion (78 comments)

Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.

Read next

wteja profile image

การเขียนเทสเพื่อทดสอบโปรเจคแบบ React + Firebase

Weerayut Teja -

muhammadawaisshaikh profile image

Angular Version 19: New Features and Updates

Muhammad Awais -

anhchienvu profile image

Working with GitHub OAuth Authentication

AnhChienVu -

kasir-barati profile image

Module declaration in TS

Mohammad Jawad (Kasir) Barati -