How to do accordions effect on table rows with Bootstrap? We will see that using a HTML table to make a table … is not a good idea!

Goal

Make a table where each row is clickable to show a hidden sub-content (left side) and / or to navigate with clickable buttons (right).

We must therefore integrate bootstrap collapse component and stylish buttons.

Bad Idea with table

Step 1 : table

Nothing to say is the most logical solution, because it is the one bootstrap offers us a simple table.

<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Mark</td>
<td>Otto</td>
<td>@mdo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>Jacob</td>
<td>Thornton</td>
<td>@fat</td>
</tr>

Step 2 : table + collapse

You must use the bootstrap the doc with only data-target and collapse.

Problem: The collapse does not work with a TR tag for target.

Solution: Create a DIV in a sub-TR (optional: add CSS to hide the permanent residual margin/padding of the hidden/collapsed line).

<tr class="accordion-toggle">
<td>1</td>
<td>Mark</td>
<td>Otto</td>
<td>@mdo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td colspan="3">
<div id="collapseOne" class="collapse in">
			Details 1
Details 2
Details 3</div></td>
</tr>

Step 3 : table + collapse + buttons

Problem: a click on a button causes a side effect of expand/collapse the container row. It’s bad when you click for a new tab/window on the details button to displays, because it will activate the accordion effect on the current row (example: click on edit).

Solution: you must prevent the expand/collapse from triggering when a button is clicked. It is therefore necessary to assign the click to expand each cell rather than on the TD TR tags.

It works BUT JavaScript lags on expanding/collapsing when there are dozens of roww and sub-rows on the page and there are duplicate code.

<tr class="accordion-toggle">
<td>1</td>
<td>Mark</td>
<td>Otto</td>
<td>@mdo</td>
<td><a class="btn btn-primary" href="https://www.google.com/"><i class="icon-search icon-white"></i></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td colspan="4">
<div id="collapseTwo" class="collapse in">
			- Details 1
- Details 2
- Details 3</div></td>
</tr>

Better Idea with div

Step 1 : div

You must use the Bootstrap grid system.

Problem: table style is lost.

Solution: (optional) You must duplicate the CSS if you will get the same rendering as before (top row border, cell width, header bold).

<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="span2">1</div>
<div class="span2">Mark</div>
<div class="span2">Otto</div>
<div class="span2">@mdo</div>
</div>

Step 2 : div + collapse

(same solution table and collapse)

Problem: The cursor’s shape does not change when being over the clickable row (“hand” icon expected here).

Solution: (optional) use a personal style or re-use the class accordion-toggle on the collapsable DIV.

<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="span1">1</div>
<div class="span3">Mark</div>
<div class="span3">Otto</div>
<div class="span3">@mdo</div>
</div>
<div id="collapseTwo" class="row-fluid collapse in">
<div class="span1"></div>
<div class="span9">
		Details 1
Details 2
Details 3</div>
</div>

Step 3 : div + collapse + buttons

(same solution collapse + table + buttons)

Problem: Adding buttons also add conflicts with the collapse/expand effect.

Solution: remove the button form the DIV toggler.

Solution

<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="accordion-toggle">
<div class="span1">1</div>
<div class="span3">Mark</div>
<div class="span3">Otto</div>
<div class="span3">@mdo</div>
</div>
<div class="span1">
		<i class="icon-search icon-white"></i></div>
</div>
<div id="collapseThree" class="row-fluid collapse in">
<div class="span1"></div>
<div class="span9">
		Details 1
Details 2
Details 3</div>
</div>

Conclusion

I currently use the DIV version. With TABLE, fhe final page was not reactive enough, the source code was duplicated, and there were a lot of bugs/maintenance and technical solution TABLE was not always understandable, even with the doc bootstrap support.

COLLAPSABLE TABLE

• Pro : defaut bootstrap CSS style
• Con : it’s a hack, performance issues, code duplication

COLLAPSABLE  DIV

• Pro : responsive, fast, reliable
• Con : custom style for cursor and TABLE

Sources

http://github.com/damienfremont/blog/tree/master/20141216-bootstrap-collapsable_table

References

http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/

http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/base-css.html

http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/javascript.html

http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/scaffolding.html

http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/components.html