Library Core

This section will help you to understand how the whole library works

The table instances

In ZT each html table is linked to a javascript ZeroTable.TableInstance object.

The TableInstance wraps :

• A configuration for the table
• Some plugins that allow the table to act as you want
• A data source that allows to find/search/order row datas

Plugins and data source may be shared between many TableInstances, and that's something you have to keep in mind when you write your one plugins. They are loosly coupled and a same plugin instance must be able to answer many tables at same time, and so goes for the data source. Most of the communication between them is made by listening events.

The plugins

A plugin is mainly aimed to modify the way the table is drawn and to listen at user actions (click, drag/drop, keyboard inputs...).

A plugin can add methods and properties to the table instance and should listen to the events triggered by the table instance to do some work. It can also trigger events that other plugins can listen.

See manage plugins or write a plugin.

The datasource

A datasource is an interface. The table instance will ask the datasource for a specific range of data with a specific ordering and specifics filters. This way we can use the same datasource for many tables.