[Feature Request] Ability to fix columns interactively

[jeffijoe]

I always use itables as the default table viewer for quickly exploring data, rather than customizing via itables.show (takes longer to type 😅 )

Often times, I'm exploring wide tables, and I find myself needing to fix 1 or 2 columns. It would be really neat if I could Cmd+Click/Ctrl+Click/Alt+Click on a column to quickly fix/unfix it. I wouldn't expect it to persist between cell reruns, so it wouldn't need to be concerned about persistence (unless thats easy to do?)

What do you think?

[mwouts]

Hey @jeffijoe , thank you for your kind words, I'm glad that you like itables!

When you mention fixing columns, I guess you mean as in the Fixed Columns extension?

@AllanJard, the author of datatables.net, would know if it's possible to fix some columns like you suggest, however it seems that the fixed columns need to be either on the left or on the right?

Maybe the recent Column Control could be a way to achieve the extra interactivity that you are looking for.

Re persistence we have the state_save option. I've used it in Dash applications and it works well, in Jupyter I am not sure how well it works with a cell rerun, maybe we would need to use a fixed table id.

[AllanJard]

As Marc says, you can use FixedColums to pin the first / last columns (or multiple columns) to the sides of the table. That can be dynamically controlled with the API. You could also use ColReorder to move a column from the middle of the table to the side so that can be pinned.

There isn't a UI to do that built in at the moment, but it is all possible through the API and it is something I can look at adding to ColumnControl.

[jeffijoe]

Yeah I was specifically looking for a quick way to mark a column as fixed without having to explicitly use the API. I thought using a modifier key + a click on a column would be a neat way to do this without having to add any additional UI to the table.