JavaScript Data GridSSRM Pivoting
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In this section we add Server-Side Pivoting to create an example with the ability to 'Slice and Dice' data using the Server-Side Row Model (SSRM).

Enabling Pivoting

To pivot on a column pivot=true should be set on the column definition. Additionally, the grid needs to be in pivot mode which is set through the grid option pivotMode=true.

In the snippet below a pivot is defined on the 'year' column and pivot mode is enabled:

const gridOptions = {
    // pivot mode enabled
    pivotMode: true,
    columnDefs: [
        { field: 'country', rowGroup: true },
        // pivot enabled
        { field: 'year', pivot: true },
        { field: 'total' },
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

For more configuration details see the section on Pivoting.

Pivoting on the Server

The actual pivoting is performed on the server when using the Server-Side Row Model. When the grid needs more rows it makes a request via getRows(params) on the Server-Side Datasource with metadata containing row grouping details.

The properties relevant to pivoting in the request are shown below:

// IServerSideGetRowsRequest
{
   // pivot columns, cols with 'pivot=true'
   pivotCols: ColumnVO[];

    // true if pivot mode is one, otherwise false
   pivotMode: boolean;

   ... // other properties
}

Note in the snippet above that pivotCols contains all the columns the grid is pivoting on, and pivotMode is used to determine if pivoting is currently enabled in the grid.

Providing Pivot Result Columns

Pivot Result Columns are the columns that are created as part of the pivot function. You must provide these to the grid in order for the grid to display the correct columns for the active pivot function.

For instance, when pivoting on the year field, you must provide columns to the grid corresponding to each distinct year present in the data, such as 2000, 2002, 2004, and so on.

Supplying Pivot Result Fields (Simple)

The simplest way to provide pivot result columns is by supplying the fields containing your pivoted data to the pivotResultFields attribute in the getRows success callback. These fields are used to generate pivot result columns and appropriate column groups. By default, the grid expects the fields to be separated by an underscore ('_'), however, this can be altered via the serverSidePivotResultSeparator grid option as shown below:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        { field: 'country', rowGroup: true },
        { field: 'year', pivot: true }, // pivot on 'year'
        { field: 'gold', aggFunc: 'sum' },
        { field: 'silver', aggFunc: 'sum' },
        { field: 'bronze', aggFunc: 'sum' },
    ],

    rowModelType: 'serverSide',

    pivotMode: true,

    // specify the field separator, e.g. '2000_gold' should be '_' which is also the default
    serverSidePivotResultFieldSeparator: '_',

    // other grid options ...
}

Note above that serverSidePivotResultFieldSeparator is not necessary as the default value is '_'.

The following snippet shows how to supply the pivotResultFields to the grid via the success callback:

const createDatasource = server => {
    return {
        // called by the grid when more rows are required
        getRows: params => {

            // get data for request from server
            const response = server.getData(params.request);

            if (response.success) {
                // supply rows for requested block to grid
                params.success({
                    rowData: response.rows,
                    pivotResultFields: response.pivotFields, // ['2000_gold', '2000_silver',...]
                });
            } else {
                // inform grid request failed
                params.fail();
            }
        }
    };
}

The example below demonstrates this, note the following:

  • The pivot fields are returned from the server and then passed to the grid via the getRows success callback via the pivotResultFields property. These are logged to the console as a demonstration.
  • The grid splits the pivotResultFields by _ and creates the pivot result columns and column groups where the generated columns use the provided fields to access the data from the rows.

When using managed columns, you can use Pivot Callbacks to customise the pivot result column definitions.

Creating Pivot Result Columns (Advanced)

It is also possible to create your own pivot result columns and provide them to the grid. This offers complete flexibility but can become complex when column groups are involved.

Pivot result columns are defined identically to the columns supplied to the grid options: you provide a list of Column Definitions passing a list of columns and / or column groups using the following column API method:

There is no limit or restriction as to the number of columns or groups you pass. However, it's important that the field (or value getter) that you set for the columns match.

Here is how pivot result columns can be created and supplied to the grid via setPivotResultColumns:

const createDatasource = server => {
    return {
        // called by the grid when more rows are required
        getRows: params => {

            // get data for request from server
            const response = server.getData(params.request);

            // add pivot result cols to the grid
            addPivotResultCols(response, params.api)
            
            if (response.success) {
                // supply rows for requested block to grid
                params.success({
                    rowData: response.rows,
                });
            } else {
                // inform grid request failed
                params.fail();
            }
        }
    };
}

function addPivotResultCols(response, api) {
    // create colDefs
    var pivotColDefs = response.pivotFields.map(function (field) {
        var headerName = field.split('_')[0]
        return { headerName: headerName, field: field }
    })

    // supply pivot result columns to the grid
    api.setPivotResultColumns(pivotColDefs)
}

In the code above, addPivotColDefs does not create column groups for simplicity. However, the example below shows a more complex implementation that creates column groups. Note the following:

  • Column definitions are created from the pivotFields are returned from the server.
  • These column definitions are then supplied to the grid via api.setPivotResultColumns().

The pivot result columns are displayed in the order they are supplied to api.setPivotResultColumns(pivotColDefs). You can control the order of the columns by sorting the pivotColDefs array before passing it to the grid.

Example: Pivot Column Groups

The example below demonstrates server-side Pivoting with multiple row groups where there are multiple value columns ('gold', 'silver', 'bronze') under the 'year' pivot column group. Note the following:

  • Pivot mode is enabled through the grid option pivotMode=true.
  • A pivot is placed on the Year column via pivot=true defined on the column definition.
  • Rows are grouped by Country and Sport with rowGroup=true defined on their column definitions.
  • The Gold, Silver and Bronze value columns have aggFunc='sum' defined on their column definitions.
  • The pivotCols and pivotMode properties in the request are used by the server to perform pivoting.
  • New column group definitions created from the pivotFields are returned from the server and supplied to the grid using api.setPivotResultColumns(pivotColDefs).
  • Open the browser's dev console to view the request supplied to the datasource.

Example: Slice and Dice

A mock data store running inside the browser is used in the example below. The purpose of the mock server is to demonstrate the interaction between the grid and the server. For your application, your server will need to understand the requests from the client and build SQL (or the SQL equivalent if using a no-SQL data store) to run the relevant query against the data store.

The example demonstrates the following:

  • Columns Athlete, Age, Country, Year and Sport all have enableRowGroup=true which means they can be grouped on. To group, you drag the columns to the row group panel section. By default the example is grouping by Country and then Year as these columns have rowGroup=true.

  • Columns Gold, Silver and Bronze all have enableValue=true which means they can be aggregated on. To aggregate, you drag the column to the Values section. When you are grouping, all columns in the Values section will be aggregated.

  • You can turn the grid into Pivot Mode. To do this, you click the pivot mode checkbox. When the grid is in pivot mode, the grid behaves similarly to an Excel grid. This extra information is passed to your server as part of the request and it is your server's responsibility to return the data in the correct structure.

  • Columns Age, Country, Year and Sport all have enablePivot=true which means they can be pivoted on when Pivot Mode is active. To pivot, you drag the column to the Pivot section.

  • Note that when you pivot, it is not possible to drill all the way down the leaf levels.

  • In addition to grouping, aggregation and pivot, the example also demonstrates filtering. The columns Country and Year have grid-provided filters. The column Age has an example-provided custom filter. You can use whatever filter you want, as long as your server knows what to do with it.

Next Up

Continue to the next section to learn about Pagination.