HTML table with writable cells?

Question

Hello,

I've been trying to build a simple GAE app and to be able to manipulate the position of the text on the screen. I asked the same question on several forums; so far with no solution. I apologize if my question has not been clear.

Now I thought of achieving the same functionality with a grid, like a spreadsheet. Do you know how I can simulate a spreadsheet-like table in GAE? Or an html table where you can enter a string in each cell?

I feel like I am trying to re-invent the wheel. There must be a simple way to achieve this functionality. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Here are the links to previous questions:

Stackoverflow

comp.lang.python

Hacker News

Hacker News

Thank you!

Answer 1

There is a jquery plugin called UI Table Edit. That may be a good place to start. Dig around for already implemented grid tools or plugins in javascript that have done most of the work for you. I think Yahoo! has released a nice data grid that allows for editing as well.

Answer 2

What you are looking for is a data grid -- if you're fine with a client-side solution, and you're up for using jQuery then you might try DataTables. Here is an example of datatables with a pair of plugins to simulate a spreadsheet.

Answer 3

AbsolutePanel and LayoutPanel are part of GWT and allow you to place any element at arbitrary x- and y-coordinates. I recommend some client-side solution like GWT for any serious application where javascript will be available.

If you want to solve this with just GAE and no code on the client side, you could use CSS positioning to achieve your effect. Just generate a top: and left: attribute with position:fixed and you can cause the text to appear anywhere.

I'm not sure what you mean by "manipulate the position of text," but I don't think a table will be a good solution if you want pixel-level control.