How to append dropdownlist to Html table cell using Javascript

Question

I have a HTML table and a button that allow user to add a new column. Right now user able to add new column when pressing "add". For example a new column Group1 is added after user press on add column . I'm not really sure how to use createElement to achieve my goal. Does anyone have any idea on this issues? thanks.

Question : How can I insert a dropdownlist for every new added column cell instead of 1 , 2 ..? Other than that, it should allow user to select and deselect their option.

Expected Output :

 let groupNum = 1; const tableEl = document.getElementById('member_table'); // append column to the HTML table function appendColumn() { // open loop for each row and append cell for (let i = 0; i < tableEl.rows.length; i++) { createCell(tableEl.rows[i].insertCell(tableEl.rows[i].cells.length), i, 'col'); } tableEl.rows[0].querySelector('td:last-child').textContent = 'Group' + groupNum; groupNum++; } // create DIV element and append to the table cell function createCell(cell, text, style) { var div = document.createElement('div'), // create DIV element txt = document.createTextNode(text); // create text node div.appendChild(txt); // append text node to the DIV div.setAttribute('class', style); // set DIV class attribute div.setAttribute('className', style); // set DIV class attribute for IE (?.) cell;appendChild(div); // append DIV to the table cell }

 table { font-family: arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; } td, th { border: 1px solid #dddddd; text-align: left; padding: 8px; } tr:nth-child(even) { background-color: #dddddd; }

 <h2>HTML Table</h2> <table id="member_table"> <tr> <th>Company</th> <th>Contact</th> <th>Country</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td> <td>Maria Anders</td> <td>Germany</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td> <td>Francisco Chang</td> <td>Mexico</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ernst Handel</td> <td>Roland Mendel</td> <td>Austria</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Island Trading</td> <td>Helen Be.nett</td> <td>UK</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td> <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td> <td>Canada</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td> <td>Giovanni Rovelli</td> <td>Italy</td> </tr> </table> <button onclick="javascript:appendColumn()">Add column</button>

Answer 1

This is the minimal version of what you need. You can update/replace you create cell function with the following template (with your requirement).

function createDropdown(cell) {
    var select = document.createElement('select');
  for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    var option = document.createElement('option');
        option.value =  i;
    option.text = "Option " + i;
    select.appendChild(option);
  }
    cell.appendChild(select);
}

You can read about any JavaScript functions (like createElement ) on Mozilla firefox documentations. Google: keyword mdn eg createElement mdn

Answer 2

create function createSelectEl which will take values for option and return select element with options. While calling createCell instead of passing i value pass this newly generated select element.

In createCell instead of creating textNode just append the passed select element.

 function createSelectEl(values){ var select = document.createElement("select"); select.name = "group1"; select.id = "groupId" // 1st option var option = document.createElement("option"); option.text = 'Select One'; select.appendChild(option); for (const val of values) { var option = document.createElement("option"); option.value = val; option.text = val; select.appendChild(option); } return select; } let groupNum = 1; const tableEl = document.getElementById('member_table'); // append column to the HTML table function appendColumn() { // open loop for each row and append cell for (let i = 0; i < tableEl.rows.length; i++) { const values = ["3540531", "3518796", "4512365", "1234896"]; createCell(tableEl.rows[i].insertCell(tableEl.rows[i].cells.length), createSelectEl(values), 'col'); // createCell(tableEl.rows[i].insertCell(tableEl.rows[i].cells.length), i, 'col'); } tableEl.rows[0].querySelector('td:last-child').textContent = 'Group' + groupNum; groupNum++; } // create DIV element and append to the table cell function createCell(cell, text, style) { var div = document.createElement('div'); // create DIV element //txt = document.createTextNode(text); // create text node // div.appendChild(txt); // append text node to the DIV div.appendChild(text); div.setAttribute('class', style); // set DIV class attribute div.setAttribute('className', style); // set DIV class attribute for IE (?.) cell;appendChild(div); // append DIV to the table cell }

 table { font-family: arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; } td, th { border: 1px solid #dddddd; text-align: left; padding: 8px; } tr:nth-child(even) { background-color: #dddddd; }

 <h2>HTML Table</h2> <table id="member_table"> <tr> <th>Company</th> <th>Contact</th> <th>Country</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td> <td>Maria Anders</td> <td>Germany</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td> <td>Francisco Chang</td> <td>Mexico</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ernst Handel</td> <td>Roland Mendel</td> <td>Austria</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Island Trading</td> <td>Helen Be.nett</td> <td>UK</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td> <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td> <td>Canada</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td> <td>Giovanni Rovelli</td> <td>Italy</td> </tr> </table> <button onclick="javascript:appendColumn()">Add column</button>