JavaScript Data Grid Comments

Table of contents

• Overview
• Enabling the plugin
• Adding comments via the context menu
• Setting up pre-set comments
• Basic example
• Make a comment read-only
• Set a comment box's size
• Set a delay for displaying comments
• Related API reference

Overview

This feature makes it possible to add, edit and remove comments in Handsontable easily.

Enabling the plugin

Set the comments configuration option to true to enable the feature and add all the needed context menu items. For example:

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(10, 10),
  comments: true
});

Adding comments via the context menu

After you've enabled the plugin, the Context Menu gains a few new items:

• Add/Edit comment
• Delete comment
• Read-only comment

Setting up pre-set comments

You can also pre-define comments for your table. Comments are stored in the table's/column's/cell's metadata object and can be declared as any value of that type. For example:

cell: [
  { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Hello world!' } }
]

In this example, the comment "Hello world!" is added to the cell at (1,1).

Basic example

const container = document.querySelector('#example1'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'], ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2021', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16] ], rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, contextMenu: true, comments: true, cell: [ { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } }, { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'More comments' } } ], height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example1');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'],
    ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2021', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16]
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
    { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'More comments' } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Make a comment read-only

By default, all comments are editable. To change this, set the readOnly configuration option to true when adding a comment. This example makes the "Tesla" comment attached to a cell read-only, whereas the "Honda" comment attached to another cell is editable.

const container = document.querySelector('#example2'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'], ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ], rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, contextMenu: true, comments: true, cell: [ { row: 0, col: 1, comment: { value: 'A read-only comment.', readOnly: true } }, { row: 0, col: 3, comment: { value: 'You can edit this comment' } } ], height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example2" class="hot "></div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example2');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 0, col: 1, comment: { value: 'A read-only comment.', readOnly: true } },
    { row: 0, col: 3, comment: { value: 'You can edit this comment' } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Set a comment box's size

To set the width and height of a comment box, use the style parameter.

const container = document.querySelector('#example3'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'], ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ], rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, contextMenu: true, comments: true, cell: [ { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } }, // add the `style` parameter { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'Comment 200x50 px', style: { width: 200, height: 50 } } } ], height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example3" class="hot "></div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example3');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'],
    ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
    // add the `style` parameter
    { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'Comment 200x50 px', style: { width: 200, height: 50 } } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Set a delay for displaying comments

To display comments after a pre-configured time delay, use the displayDelay parameter.

const container = document.querySelector('#example4'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'], ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16], ], rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, contextMenu: true, comments: { // on mouseover, wait 2 seconds before the comment box displays displayDelay: 2000, }, cell: [ { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } }, ], height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@12.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example4" class="hot "></div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example4');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: {
    // on mouseover, wait 2 seconds before the comment box displays
    displayDelay: 2000,
  },
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Related API reference

• Configuration options:
  • commentedCellClassName
  • comments