jQuery ajax fill html table

Question

If I have a table:

<table>
    <thead>
        <tr>Col1</tr>
        <tr>Col2</tr>
        <tr>Col3</tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    </tbody>
</table>

What is the fastest, most efficient way to fill the tbody with tr elements containing my data from a database using a Jquery Ajax. (unless you have a better way)

Return html code from the webservice OR dynamically create the html code in Javascript?

Also I have to support the user "drilling down; i.e. either clicking a > or double clicking the row to open a pane to show some more information. (including another table and some detail information returned by a separate webservice)

All ideas welcome!

Answer 1

Unless you need to create literally thousands of rows, performance is just not a concern here. Where you generate the markup is really a design decision. You can generate the markup:

• Server-side, in your templating language of choice (ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, Django templates...) or
• Client-side, using JavaScript templates ($.tmpl, Mustache...)

Client side will (theoretically) decrease the load on your server, but this too is likely not a relevant issue. Whichever flavor you choose, you should use that consistently throughout your app unless there is a truly compelling reason to do otherwise.

Answer 2

I work on a large-scale enterprise portal that uses jQuery and AJAX. I've implemented jQuery Templates and the jQuery TableSorter plug-in to facilitate this. Here's some example code:

Javascript (Data Provider): Data.Lists.js

myorg.data.list.GetListItems ({
    webURL: "http://our.awesome.portal.com/Lists",
    listName: "Projects List",
    caml: caml,
    CAMLRowLimit: 6,
    callback: function(data) {
        var list = {};
        //code here that formats some data before binding
        list.items = data;
        var templateHtml = $('.ptMyProjects').html()
        .replace("<!--", "").replace("-->","");
        var html = $.tmpl(templateHtml, list);
        $('.ptMyProjects').html(html);
        //make sortable table
        $('.ptMyProjects .tablesorter').tablesorter({
            sortList: [[0,0]],
            headers: {3: {sorter: false}},
            widgets: ['zebra']
        });
        //class last row
        $('.ptMyProjects .tablesorter thead th').last().addClass('last');
        //add hover effect
        $('.ptMyProjects .tablesorter tbody tr, .tablesorter thead .header').hover(function(){
            $(this).addClass('hover');
        }, function(){
            $(this).removeClass('hover');
        });
        //add tooltips
        $('.ptMyProjects .vg_icon').tipsy({gravity: 's'});
    }
});

HTML (the template)

<div class="ptMyProjects ptTemplate">
    <!--
    <table class="tablesorter" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
        <thead>
            <tr class="gradient_gray">
                <th>Title</th>
                <th>Status</th>
                <th style="border-right: none;">Progress</th>
                <th>Actions</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
        {{if items.length > 0}}
            {{each items}}
                <tr class='item' recordid="${ows_ID}">
                    <td ><a class='{{if ows_Critical_x0020_Project == "1"}}critical{{/if}}' href="${DisplayURL}">${ows_Title}</a> </td>
                    <td class="status">
                        <a href="#" class="pstatus">${ows_ProjStatus}</a>
                        <div style='display: none;'>
                            {{if ows_ProjComments}}
                                <div style="padding-bottom: 10px;">${ows_ProjComments}</div>
                            {{/if}}
                            <div style="font-weight: bold;">Lasted Edited By ${Editor}</div>
                            <div style="font-style: italic;">${when}</div>
                        </div>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                    <div class="ui-widget-default">
                        <div class="progressbar" value="${ows_PercentComplete}" style="height:100%;"></div>
                    </div>
                    </td>
                    <td class="actions">
                        {{if ows_ProjStatus != "Completed"}}<a href="#" class="vg_icon tick" title="Mark Completed"></a>{{/if}}
                        <a href="${EditURL}" class="vg_icon pencil" title="Edit"></a>
                        <a href="#" class="vg_icon comment" title="Comments"></a>
                    </td>
                </tr>
            {{/each}}
        {{else}}
            <tr><td colspan="4">You have no projects.</td></tr>
        {{/if}}
        </tbody>
    </table>
-->
</div>

Answer 3

Returning HTML from the webservice tightly couples your code. The better of the two ways is to create the HTML in Javascript.

Answer 4

You can use jQuery .ajax() call to return the data in a JSON object and use the .tmpl() templating plugin to render the html.

You can view the templating documentation here : http://api.jquery.com/tmpl/

Update: I posted an example as an answer to another question