More features for tables

[jnnkB]

I think the following features really would improve the handling of tables:

• sorting of columns
• easier addition and deletion of columns
• ability to add a row at every position in the table and not just in the end (for example by allowing Shift + Enter to add a row after the current one)
• support for cell merging (rowspan and colspan)

[anthonyjb]

@jnnkB I actual would like all of these elements too. Shouldn't be to hard to implement them either. With the following caveats (open for discussion).

• Sorting is hard, the data in the table is a string, so 11 comes before 3 for example. Simply sorting a table by strings in a column isn't hard, starting to support anything beyond that is a step too far. Most of the time tables added and managed through the editor are pretty short and manually dragging rows in to the correct order is a simple and quick task. Open to discuss further though.

• Easier way to add and delete columns, I agree it would be nice but as a general rule I don't add UI to the page, UI floats above it, so I wouldn't want that to be done through plus and minus buttons at corners of the tables unless we can find a nice way to do this that doesn't risk conflicting with someone else's table styles. (So we just need to figure out a nice way to do this.)

[kriskenyon]

Anthony I am a very longtime user of datatables.net and they offer sort via a hidden column (useful when it is generated data not sure that is the best solution in an editor) perhaps a datatag override for sort on specific columns would work for those people that want it. It is also usefull for US formatted dates (My number one use of the hidden column)

[jnnkB]

Sorting is hard, the data in the table is a string, so 11 comes before 3 for example.

I think one could maybe use something like natsort – if you want to use other packages.

Easier way to add and delete columns, I agree it would be nice but as a general rule I don't add UI to the page, UI floats above it, so I wouldn't want that to be done through plus and minus buttons at corners of the tables unless we can find a nice way to do this that doesn't risk conflicting with someone else's table styles. (So we just need to figure out a nice way to do this.)

I think the easiest way to do this would be to add something like a dropdown menu to the tables tool where you can insert and delete columns and rows.

But I think the easiest or most intuitive way for the end user might be something like this:

But this seems rather unrealistic if you don't want to add UI to the page.

Another feature I think would be neat is manual sorting of columns.