Background: I work mainly with backend development and my JavaScript skills are pretty basic. I’m working on a project where I need to add table cells on the fly using JavaScript.
The Problem: My current setup has a table that sits inside a form element. Users should be able to click a button and new cells get added to existing rows dynamically. Since I’m not great with vanilla JavaScript, I’m hoping to find a ready-made solution.
What I’m Looking For: Does anyone know of any open source JavaScript libraries that can handle this kind of dynamic table manipulation? Something that works well with forms would be perfect. I’ve been searching but most results show complex custom solutions that are beyond my current skill level.
Any suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!
I faced a similar challenge about two years ago when building an invoice generator. After trying several options, I ended up using Tabulator.js which proved to be exactly what I needed. It handles dynamic cell addition seamlessly and integrates well with form elements since it can output data in various formats including form-compatible arrays. The documentation is straightforward even for those with basic JavaScript knowledge, and it includes built-in methods like addRow() and updateData() that make dynamic manipulation simple. What really sold me was its ability to handle form validation and data binding without requiring complex custom code. The library is actively maintained and has a reasonable learning curve for backend developers transitioning to frontend tasks.
honestly jquery datatables might be overkill but it’s super easy to setup and has good docs. you can just call row.add() to insert new rows dynamically and it plays nice with forms. i know its not the lightest solution but for someone with basic js skills it’ll get the job done quick without much headache.
wait, are you looking to add just cells to existing rows or entirely new rows? that detail kinda matters for picking the right approach. also what’s your backend stack - are you sending this data somewhere specific? might help narrow down suggestions that work well with your existing setup.