@omrid01/node-red-dashboard-2-table-tabulator 0.8.1

Table node, using Tabulator-tables package, for Node-RED Dashboard 2.0

npm install @omrid01/node-red-dashboard-2-table-tabulator

Table node (using Tabulator) for Node-RED Dashboard 2.0

A short summary of the node's design concepts, functionality & configuration options. Complete, detailed usage reference is provided in the node's on-line help, available in the Node-RED editor.

ui-tabulator

The ui-tabulator custom node uses the popular Tabulator JavaScript package, for updating, presenting & querying UI tables.

Note: the node comes in addition to, not replacing, dashboard V2.0's native vue-based table node.

General Overview

• The node serves as a smart wrapper containing a Tabulator (table) object. For the most part, it calls the Tabulator API as-is (as defined in the Tabulator Documentation.
• The table table structure & data can be pre-configure in the node configuration, as well as dynamically created/modified/destroyed in runtime.
• Interface to the node is through messages (Node-RED msg objects). The message specifies a command (with arguments), and returns the table's response
• The table accepts data-setting commands (e.g. setData, addData, updateData, deleteData etc.) as well as data-query commands (getData, searchData etc.), and in-cell data edit (from the UI).
• In addition, the node can send unsolicited notifications on selected table events (e.g. cell & row click/double-click, cell edit etc.)
• By default, the table operates in shared mode, i.e. a common table image (data + styling) in all concurrent dashboard clients. The table image is also cached in the Node-RED datastore, and reloaded upon browser open, refresh etc.
  The node also supports a Multi-User mode, which maintains independent, client-specific table data without a centralized datastore.

Message Examples

• Data-setting command example

msg.tbCmd  = "addData";
msg.tbArgs = [
   [
      {id:1, name:"bob", gender:"male"},
      {id:2, name:"Jenny", gender:"female"}
   ],
   true
];

• Data-retrieval command example

msg.tbCmd  = "searchData";
msg.tbArgs = [ "age", ">", 12 ];

• Event example

{
    tbName: "myTable1234",
	msgType: "tbNotification",
    event: "cellEdited",
    payload: {
        id: 2,
        field: "name",
        newValue: "Jack Brown",
        oldValue: "John Doe"
    },
    _client: {
        socketId: "uXRxjY9yO-Hya1vtAAAB"
    },
    _msgid:"6d9d7a97666f2783"
}

Node Configuration

The node configuration properties (in the editor):

• Name, Group, Size: - same as in all dashboard 2.0 nodes
• Initial Table Configuration: JSON object with all table & column definitions, and (optional) initial data
• Custom Functions: logical expressions for custom or dynamic table settings, e.g. conditional formatting, user-defined filters/validators etc.
• Allow functions in messages: (Y/N) - security option to block function injection in runtime
• Max Width: sets the maximum visible width of the table
• Notifications: selection of table events which trigger notification messages
• Multi-user mode: (Y/N)
• Row-Id validation/duplication check (Y/N)
• CSS theme: selection of an optional tabulator CSS Stylesheet (e.g. Midnight, Modern etc.)
• DIV Override: optional: enables to specify the HTML DIV Id in which the table will be created, overriding the default auto-allocated DIV

Architectural Concepts in Multi-Client Environment

Tables are created as widgets on the client (browser) page. Hence, in case of multiple dashboard clients, a single ui-tabulator node will be associated to multiple table widgets. Per Node-RED's framework, every message sent to a ui-tabulator node in a flow, is broadcasted to all of its respecive widgets. If the table object responds, the flow will receive multiple, identical responses (one per client). In Shared mode we do the following:

• Data-setting & styling commands sent from the ui-tabulator node in flow to all table widgets in parallel, thus applying the same changes on the widgets
• The (identical) table responses to command messages are grouped by msgid, and only a single response is returned to the flow
• When a user changes table data directly on the UI of any client, an update notification is automatically sent to all other clients
• The current table data image is always saved in the Node-RED datastore, automatically restoring the table image upon client open/refresh.

Having said the above, some table presentation aspects (on top of the common data image) are user-related by nature, and are not synchronized. For example, users may want to set their own filtering/sorting, or select specific rows for further actions. In such cases, each client table may return a different response to data query commands. For this, the command should be scoped to a specific table widget (by specifying the client Id, or initiating the command from a dashboard objet, e.g. button, on the same client)

Known Issues

When the node is started (e.g. upon server restart or full deploy), sometimes its connectivity with existing clients is not restored properly. As a temporary workaround (until fixed in Node-RED), each client automatically reloads itself once upon reconnection (showing a little "flicker").

Node Dependencies

• Node-JS version >= 18
• Node-red version >= 3.10
• Node-red dashboard 2.0, version >= 1.22.0
• Tabulator version >= 6.3 (comes bundled in the node installation)