Editing in JavaScript (ES5) Spreadsheet control

06 Jun 2023 / 3 minutes to read

You can edit the contents of a cell directly in the cell or by typing in the formula bar. By default, the editing feature is enabled in the spreadsheet. Use the allowEditing property to enable or disable the editing feature.

Edit cell

You can start editing by one of the following ways,

Double click a cell to start the edit mode.
Press F2 key to edit the active cell.
Use formula bar to perform editing.
Use BACKSPACE or SPACE key to clear the cell content and start the edit mode.
Using the startEdit method.

Save cell

If the cell is in editable state, you can save the edited cell by one of the following ways,

Perform mouse click on any other cell rather than the current editing cell.
Press Enter or Tab keys to save the edited cell content.
Using the endEdit method.

Cancel editing

To cancel the editing without saving the changes, you can use one of the following ways,

Press ESCAPE key, this will remove the editable state and update the unchanged cell content.
Using the closeEdit method.

The following sample shows how to prevent the editing and cell save. Here E column prevent the editing by using cancel argument as true in cellEdit event. In D column, prevent saving the edited changes by using cancel argument as true in beforeCellSave and use closeEdit method in spreadsheet.

Source

Preview

index.js

index.html

ej.base.enableRipple(true);

var columns =  [{ width: 120 }, { width: 180 }, { width: 100 }, { width: 120 }, { width: 120 }];

var rows = [{
    index: 10, cells: [{ index: 3, value: 'Total Amount:', style: { fontWeight: 'bold' } }, { formula: '=SUM(E2:E10)' }]
}];

var sheets = [{ ranges: [{ dataSource: data }], columns: columns, selectedRange: 'E11', rows: rows }];

var spreadsheet = new ej.spreadsheet.Spreadsheet({
    sheets: sheets,
    created: function () {
        spreadsheet.cellFormat({ fontWeight: 'bold', textAlign: 'center' }, 'A1:E1');
        spreadsheet.cellFormat({ textAlign: 'center' }, 'A2:A10');
        spreadsheet.cellFormat({ textAlign: 'center' }, 'C2:C10');
        spreadsheet.numberFormat('$#,##0.00', 'D2:D10');
        spreadsheet.numberFormat('$#,##0.00', 'E2:E11');

        // Manually starting the editable state using `startEdit` method in `C7`(current active) cell.
        spreadsheet.startEdit();
    },
    // Triggers before going to editing mode.
    cellEdit: function (args) {
        // Preventing the editing in 5th(Amount) column.
        if (args.address.includes('E')) { args.cancel = true; }
    },
    // Trigger before saving the edited cell content.
    beforeCellSave: function (args) {
        // Prevent saving the edited changes in 4th(Rate) column.
        if (args.address.includes('D')) {
            args.cancel = true;
            // Maually removes the editable state without saving the changes. Use `endEdit` method if you want to save the changes.
            spreadsheet.closeEdit();
        }
    },
    showSheetTabs: false, showRibbon: false
});

spreadsheet.appendTo('#spreadsheet');

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
            
        <title>EJ2 SpreadSheet</title>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
        <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
        <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
        <link rel="shortcut icon" href="resources/favicon.ico">
        <link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-lists/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-grids/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-spreadsheet/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
        <link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet">
        
        <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/core-js/2.4.1/shim.min.js"></script>
        <script src="system.config.js"></script>
        <script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
        <!--Element which is going to render-->
        
        <div id="container">
                <div id="spreadsheet"></div>
        </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
    ele.style.visibility = "visible";
 }   
        </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Limitations

Text overflow in cells is not supported in Editing.

Editing in JavaScript (ES5) Spreadsheet control

Edit cell

Save cell

Cancel editing

Limitations

See Also