Columns in Angular Kanban Component

2 Sep 202518 minutes to read

The Kanban columns represent the each stage of the process. The column definitions are used as the dataSource schema in the Kanban. The Kanban operations such as drag-and-drop, swimlane, and toggle columns are performed based on column definitions.

Single-key mapping

Kanban columns are categorized by mapping the key from the datasource using the keyField property. The corresponding value in the datasource is mapped inside the columns keyField. Based on this categorization, Kanban columns are split on this board.

The keyField property is mandatory to render the columns in the Kanban board.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                  <e-column headerText='To do' keyField='Open'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Testing' keyField='Testing'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Done' keyField='Close'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Multi-key mapping

Kanban board allows to render a single column by mapping multiple keys using keyField property. In below sample, specified the multiple keys(Open, Validate) to a single column.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                  <e-column headerText='To do' keyField='Open, Validate'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Testing' keyField='Testing'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Done' keyField='Close'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Header text

You can provide the column header text of Kanban columns using the headerText property. If you have not specified any header text, it will render the header without any text.

Header template

The column header can be customized with HTML or CSS using the template property in columns. The following sample demonstrates a Kanban board with a custom column header template.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel, ColumnsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' cssClass='kanban-header-template' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                    <e-column *ngFor="let column of columns;" headerText= keyField=''>
                        <ng-template #template let-data>
                            <div class="header-template-wrap">
                                <div class="header-icon e-icons "></div>
                                <div class="header-text"></div>
                            </div>
                        </ng-template>
                    </e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        headerField: 'Id',
        contentField: 'Summary'
    };
    public columns: ColumnsModel[] = [
        { headerText: 'To Do', keyField: 'Open' },
        { headerText: 'In Progress', keyField: 'InProgress' },
        { headerText: 'In Review', keyField: 'Review' },
        { headerText: 'Done', keyField: 'Close' }
    ];
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Toggle columns

Columns can be expanded or collapsed using the allowToggle property in columns, which renders an expand/collapse icon in the header.

By default, collapsed column width is set to 50px.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                  <e-column headerText='To do' keyField='Open' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Testing' keyField='Testing' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Done' keyField='Close' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Initially collapsed column

By default, all columns are on expanded state when loading the Kanban board initially. But, you can render the columns with collapsed state using the isExpanded property.

The isExpanded property only works when enabling the allowToggle property on particular column.

In the following example, the backlog column is collapsed on initialization of Kanban board.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                  <e-column headerText='To do' keyField='Open' allowToggle='true' [isExpanded]='isExpanded'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Testing' keyField='Testing' allowToggle='true' [isExpanded]='isExpanded'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Done' keyField='Close' allowToggle='true'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public isExpanded: Boolean = false;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Drag and Drop

The Kanban component allows dynamic column reordering through drag-and-drop interactions. To enable this, set the allowColumnDragAndDrop property to true. Once enabled, users can rearrange columns by dragging a column header to a new position, with visual feedback highlighting potential drop locations.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' allowColumnDragAndDrop='true' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                  <e-column headerText='To do' keyField='Open'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Testing' keyField='Testing'></e-column>
                  <e-column headerText='Done' keyField='Close'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Stacked headers

Stacked headers are the additional headers to column header that will group the similar columns.

Define the grouping of columns key value to the keyFields property and provide the custom header text name to grouped columns using the text property, which is placed inside the stackedHeaders property.

In the following code, the kanban columns ‘InProgress, Review’ are grouped under ‘Development Phase’ category.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { KanbanModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CardSettingsModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-kanban';
import { kanbanData } from './datasource';

@Component({
imports: [
        
        KanbanModule
    ],


standalone: true,
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `<ejs-kanban keyField='Status' [dataSource]='data' [cardSettings]='cardSettings'>
                <e-columns>
                    <e-column headerText='Open' keyField='Open'></e-column>
                    <e-column headerText='In Progress' keyField='InProgress'></e-column>
                    <e-column headerText='Review' keyField='Review'></e-column>
                    <e-column headerText='Completed' keyField='Close'></e-column>
                </e-columns>
                <e-stackedHeaders>
                    <e-stackedHeader text='To Do' keyFields='Open'></e-stackedHeader>
                    <e-stackedHeader text='Development Phase' keyFields='InProgress, Review'></e-stackedHeader>
                    <e-stackedHeader text='Done' keyFields='Close'></e-stackedHeader>
                </e-stackedHeaders>
            </ejs-kanban>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    public data: Object[] = kanbanData;
    public cardSettings: CardSettingsModel = {
        contentField: 'Summary',
        headerField: 'Id'
    };
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));