React Grid: Grid Interface

This section details the public interface that your application can use to interact with the grid, including methods, properties and events.

The grid interface is the combination of the following items:

• Grid Properties: properties used to configure the grid, e.g. pagination = true.
• Grid API: methods used to interact with the grid after it's created, e.g. api.getSelectedRows().
• Grid Events: events published by the grid to inform applications of changes in state, e.g. rowSelected.
• Grid Callbacks: callbacks are used by the grid to retrieve required information from your application, e.g. getRowHeight().
• Row Node: each row in the grid is represented by a Row Node object, which in turn has a reference to the piece of row data provided by the application. The Row Node wraps the row data item. The Row Node has attributes, methods and events for interacting with the specific row e.g. rowNode.setSelected(true).

Properties, Events, Callbacks and APIs

• Properties: properties are defined by passing React props down to AG Grid (e.g. columnDefs={this.state.columnDefs})
• Callbacks: callbacks are also defined using React Props (e.g. isScrollLag={this.isScrollLagFunction}).
• Event Handlers: event handlers are also defined using React Props (e.g. onCellClicked={this.onCellClicked}).
• API: The grid API and column API are provided to you via the onGridReady() event callback.

So in summary, in React, everything is done via props. Here is an example:

<AgGridReact
   ref="agGrid" // useful for accessing the component directly via ref - optional

   rowSelection="multiple" // simple attributes, not bound to any state or prop

   // these are bound props, so can use anything in React state or props
   columnDefs={this.props.columnDefs}
   showToolPanel={this.state.showToolPanel}

   // this is a callback
   isScrollLag={this.myIsScrollLagFunction}

   // these are registering event callbacks
   onCellClicked={this.onCellClicked}
   onColumnResized={this.onColumnEvent}

   // inside onGridReady, you receive the grid APIs if you want them
   onGridReady={this.onGridReady}
/>

Access the Grid & Column API

When the grid is initialised, it will fire the gridReady event. If you want to use the APIs of the grid, you should put an onGridReady(params) callback onto the grid and grab the api(s) from the params. You can then call these apis at a later stage to interact with the grid (on top of the interaction that can be done by setting and changing the props).

// provide gridReady callback to the grid
<AgGridReact
    onGridReady={onGridReady}
    //...
/>

// in onGridReady, store the api for later use
onGridReady = (params) => {
    // using hooks - setGridApi/setColumnApi are returned by useState
    setGridApi(params.api);
    setColumnApi(params.columnApi);

    // or setState if using components
    this.setState({
        gridApi: params.api,
        columnApi: params.columnApi
    });
}

// use the api some point later!
somePointLater() {
    // hooks
    gridApi.selectAll();
    columnApi.setColumnVisible('country', visible);

    // components
    this.state.gridApi.selectAll();
    this.state.columnApi.setColumnVisible('country', visible);
}

The api and columnApi are also stored inside the AgGridReact component, so you can also look up the backing object via React and access the api and columnApi that way if you'd prefer.

The APIs are also accessible through the component itself. For example, above the ref is given as 'myGrid' which then allows the API to be accessed like this:

<button onClick={() => this.refs.agGrid.api.deselectAll()}>Clear Selection</button>

Grid Options

The gridOptions object is a 'one stop shop' for the entire interface into the grid, commonly used if using plain JavaScript. Grid options can however be used instead of, or in addition to, normal framework binding.

The example below shows the different types of items available on gridOptions.

const gridOptions = {
    // PROPERTIES
    // Objects like myRowData and myColDefs would be created in your application
    rowData: myRowData,
    columnDefs: myColDefs,
    pagination: true,
    rowSelection: 'single',

    // EVENTS
    // Add event handlers
    onRowClicked: event => console.log('A row was clicked'),
    onColumnResized: event => console.log('A column was resized'),
    onGridReady: event => console.log('The grid is now ready'),

    // CALLBACKS
    isScrollLag: () => false
}

<AgGridReact
    gridOptions={gridOptions}

Once the grid is initialised, you will also have access to the grid API (api) and column API (columnApi) on the gridOptions object as shown:

// refresh the grid
gridOptions.api.refreshView();

// resize columns in the grid to fit the available space
gridOptions.columnApi.sizeColumnsToFit();

Events Are Asynchronous

Grid events are asynchronous so that the state of the grid will be settled by the time your event callback gets invoked.

Default Boolean Properties

Where the property is a boolean (true or false), then false (or left blank) is the default value. For this reason, on / off items are presented in a way that causes the most common behaviour to be used when the value is false. For example, suppressCellSelection is named as such because most people will want cell selection to be enabled.

Next Steps

That's it, Doc! Now you know how to interface with the grid. Go now and find out about all the great properties, methods, callbacks and events you can use.