React Data Grid Saving data

Save data after each change to the data set, using Handsontable's API hooks. Preserve the table's state by saving data to the local storage.

In this article

• Save changes using a callback
• Save data locally
• PersistentState vs localStorage
• Related API reference

Save changes using a callback

To track changes made in your data grid, use Handsontable's afterChange hook.

The example below handles data by using fetch. Note that this is just a mockup, and nothing is actually saved. You need to implement the server-side part by yourself.

import { useEffect, useState, useRef } from 'react'; import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react'; import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.css'; // register Handsontable's modules registerAllModules(); export const ExampleComponent = () => { const hotRef = useRef(null); const [output, setOutput] = useState('Click "Load" to load data from server'); const [isAutosave, setIsAutosave] = useState(false); let loadClickCallback; let saveClickCallback; const autosaveClickCallback = (event) => { setIsAutosave(event.target.checked); if (event.target.checked) { setOutput('Changes will be autosaved'); } else { setOutput('Changes will not be autosaved'); } }; useEffect(() => { const hot = hotRef.current.hotInstance; loadClickCallback = () => { fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/load.json') .then(response => { response.json().then(data => { hot.loadData(data.data); // or, use `updateData()` to replace `data` without resetting states setOutput('Data loaded'); }); }); }; saveClickCallback = () => { // save all cell's data fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/save.json', { method: 'POST', mode: 'no-cors', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify({ data: hot.getData() }) }) .then(response => { setOutput('Data saved'); console.log('The POST request is only used here for the demo purposes'); }); }; }); return ( <> <HotTable ref={hotRef} startRows={8} startCols={6} rowHeaders={true} colHeaders={true} height="auto" licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation" afterChange={function(change, source) { if (source === 'loadData') { return; //don't save this change } if (!isAutosave) { return; } fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/save.json', { method: 'POST', mode: 'no-cors', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify({ data: change }) }) .then(response => { setOutput(`Autosaved (${change.length} cell${change.length > 1 ? 's' : ''})`); console.log('The POST request is only used here for the demo purposes'); }); }} /> <div className="controls"> <button id="load" className="button button--primary button--blue" onClick={(...args) => loadClickCallback(...args)}>Load data</button>  <button id="save" className="button button--primary button--blue" onClick={(...args) => saveClickCallback(...args)}>Save data</button> <label> <input type="checkbox" name="autosave" id="autosave" checked={isAutosave} onClick={(...args) => autosaveClickCallback(...args)}/> Autosave </label> </div> <output className="console" id="output">{output}</output> </> ); }; ReactDOM.render(<ExampleComponent />, document.getElementById('example1')); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@handsontable/react@13.0/dist/react-handsontable.min.js"></script> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

import { useEffect, useState, useRef } from 'react';
import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

export const ExampleComponent = () => {
  const hotRef = useRef(null);
  const [output, setOutput] = useState('Click "Load" to load data from server');
  const [isAutosave, setIsAutosave] = useState(false);

  let loadClickCallback;
  let saveClickCallback;

  const autosaveClickCallback = (event) => {
    setIsAutosave(event.target.checked);
    if (event.target.checked) {
      setOutput('Changes will be autosaved');
    } else {
      setOutput('Changes will not be autosaved');
    }
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    const hot = hotRef.current.hotInstance;

    loadClickCallback = () => {
      fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/load.json')
        .then(response => {
          response.json().then(data => {
            hot.loadData(data.data);
            // or, use `updateData()` to replace `data` without resetting states
            setOutput('Data loaded');
          });
        });
    };
    saveClickCallback = () => {
      // save all cell's data
      fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/save.json', {
        method: 'POST',
        mode: 'no-cors',
        headers: {
          'Content-Type': 'application/json'
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({ data: hot.getData() })
      })
        .then(response => {
          setOutput('Data saved');
          console.log('The POST request is only used here for the demo purposes');
        });
    };
  });

  return (
    <>
      <HotTable
        ref={hotRef}
        startRows={8}
        startCols={6}
        rowHeaders={true}
        colHeaders={true}
        height="auto"
        licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
        afterChange={function(change, source) {
          if (source === 'loadData') {
            return; //don't save this change
          }

          if (!isAutosave) {
            return;
          }

          fetch('https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/json/save.json', {
            method: 'POST',
            mode: 'no-cors',
            headers: {
              'Content-Type': 'application/json'
            },
            body: JSON.stringify({ data: change })
          })
            .then(response => {
              setOutput(`Autosaved (${change.length} cell${change.length > 1 ? 's' : ''})`);
              console.log('The POST request is only used here for the demo purposes');
            });
        }}
      />

      <div className="controls">
        <button id="load" className="button button--primary button--blue" onClick={(...args) => loadClickCallback(...args)}>Load data</button>&nbsp;
        <button id="save" className="button button--primary button--blue" onClick={(...args) => saveClickCallback(...args)}>Save data</button>
        <label>
          <input type="checkbox" name="autosave" id="autosave" checked={isAutosave} onClick={(...args) => autosaveClickCallback(...args)}/>
          Autosave
        </label>
      </div>

      <output className="console" id="output">{output}</output>
    </>
  );
};

Save data locally

You can save any type of data in local storage to preserve the table state after page reloads. The persistentState option must be set to true to enable the data storage mechanism. You can set it either during the Handsontable initialization or using the updateSettings() method.

Persistent state storage is particularly useful when running multiple instances of Handsontable on one page as it allows data separation per each instance.

When the persistentState option is enabled, the PersistentState plugin exposes hooks listed below:

• persistentStateSave
• persistentStateLoad
• persistentStateReset

PersistentState vs localStorage

The main benefit of using the PersistentState plugin hooks rather than the regular localStorage API is that it ensures separation of data stored by multiple Handsontable instances. For example, if you have two or more instances of Handsontable on one page, data saved by one instance will be inaccessible to the second instance. Those two instances can store data under the same key, and no data would be overwritten.

For the data separation to work properly, make sure that each instance of Handsontable has a unique id.

Related API reference

• Configuration options:
  • persistentState
• Core methods:
  • updateSettings()
• Hooks:
  • afterCellMetaReset
  • afterChange
  • persistentStateLoad
  • persistentStateReset
  • persistentStateSave
• Plugins:
  • PersistentState