React Data GridDisabled cells

Make specified cells read-only to protect them from unwanted changes but still allow navigation and copying of data.

Overview

Disabling a cell makes the cell read-only or non-editable. Both have similar outcomes, with the following differences:

Read-only cell
readOnly: true
Non-editable cell
editor: false
Has an additional CSS class (htDimmed) Has no additional CSS class
Copy works, paste doesn't work Copy-paste works
Drag-to-fill doesn't work Drag-to-fill works
Can't be changed by populateFromArray() Can be changed by populateFromArray()

Read-only grid

You can make the entire grid read-only by setting readOnly to true as a top-level grid option.

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      data={[
        { car: 'Tesla', year: 2017, chassis: 'black', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Nissan', year: 2018, chassis: 'blue', bumper: 'blue' },
        { car: 'Chrysler', year: 2019, chassis: 'yellow', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Volvo', year: 2020, chassis: 'white', bumper: 'gray' },
      ]}
      height="auto"
      colHeaders={['Car', 'Year', 'Chassis color', 'Bumper color']}
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
      readOnly={true}
    />
  );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

Read-only columns

In many use cases, you will need to configure a certain column to be read-only. This column will be available for keyboard navigation and copying data (Ctrl/Cmd+C). Editing and pasting data will be disabled.

To make a column read-only, declare it in the columns configuration option. You can also define a special renderer function that will dim the read-only values, providing a visual cue for the user that the cells are read-only.

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      data={[
        { car: 'Tesla', year: 2017, chassis: 'black', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Nissan', year: 2018, chassis: 'blue', bumper: 'blue' },
        { car: 'Chrysler', year: 2019, chassis: 'yellow', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Volvo', year: 2020, chassis: 'white', bumper: 'gray' },
      ]}
      height="auto"
      colHeaders={['Car', 'Year', 'Chassis color', 'Bumper color']}
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
      columns={[
        {
          data: 'car',
          readOnly: true,
        },
        {
          data: 'year',
        },
        {
          data: 'chassis',
        },
        {
          data: 'bumper',
        },
      ]}
    />
  );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

Read-only specific cells

This example makes cells that contain the word "Nissan" read-only. It forces all cells to be processed by the cells function which will decide whether a cell's metadata should have the readOnly property set.

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

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

const ExampleComponent = () => {
  const hotRef = useRef(null);

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

    hot?.updateSettings({
      cells(row, col) {
        const cellProperties = {};

        if (hot.getData()[row][col] === 'Nissan') {
          cellProperties.readOnly = true;
        }

        return cellProperties;
      },
    });
  });

  return (
    <HotTable
      ref={hotRef}
      data={[
        { car: 'Tesla', year: 2017, chassis: 'black', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Nissan', year: 2018, chassis: 'blue', bumper: 'blue' },
        { car: 'Chrysler', year: 2019, chassis: 'yellow', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Volvo', year: 2020, chassis: 'white', bumper: 'gray' },
      ]}
      colHeaders={['Car', 'Year', 'Chassis color', 'Bumper color']}
      height="auto"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

Non-editable cells behave like any other cells apart from preventing you from manually changing their values.

Non-editable columns

In many cases, you will need to configure a certain column to be non-editable. Doing this does not change its basic behaviour, apart from editing. This means that you can still use the keyboard navigation Ctrl/Cmd+C, and Ctrl/Cmd+V functionalities, and drag-to-fill, etc.

To make a column non-editable, declare it in the columns configuration option. You can also define a special renderer function that will dim the editor value. This will provide the user with a visual cue that the cell is non-editable.

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      data={[
        { car: 'Tesla', year: 2017, chassis: 'black', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Nissan', year: 2018, chassis: 'blue', bumper: 'blue' },
        { car: 'Chrysler', year: 2019, chassis: 'yellow', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Volvo', year: 2020, chassis: 'white', bumper: 'gray' },
      ]}
      height="auto"
      colHeaders={['Car', 'Year', 'Chassis color', 'Bumper color']}
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
      columns={[
        {
          data: 'car',
          editor: false,
        },
        {
          data: 'year',
          editor: 'numeric',
        },
        {
          data: 'chassis',
          editor: 'text',
        },
        {
          data: 'bumper',
          editor: 'text',
        },
      ]}
    />
  );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

Non-editable specific cells

The following example shows the table with non-editable cells containing the word "Nissan". This cell property is optional and you can easily set it in the Handsontable configuration.

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

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

const ExampleComponent = () => {
  const hotRef = useRef(null);

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

    hot?.updateSettings({
      cells(row, _col, prop) {
        const cellProperties = {};

        if (hot.getDataAtRowProp(row, prop) === 'Nissan') {
          cellProperties.editor = false;
        } else {
          cellProperties.editor = 'text';
        }

        return cellProperties;
      },
    });
  });

  return (
    <HotTable
      ref={hotRef}
      data={[
        { car: 'Tesla', year: 2017, chassis: 'black', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Nissan', year: 2018, chassis: 'blue', bumper: 'blue' },
        { car: 'Chrysler', year: 2019, chassis: 'yellow', bumper: 'black' },
        { car: 'Volvo', year: 2020, chassis: 'white', bumper: 'gray' },
      ]}
      colHeaders={['Car', 'Year', 'Chassis color', 'Bumper color']}
      height="auto"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

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