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Set colspan dynamically with jQuery

Asked 2009-08-18T16:03:32.273
51

I have a simple table structure like this. What I would like to do is to dynamically merge some columns based on some condition within the <td> for example, if td1 and td3 are empty then merge the cells and do <td class="col1" colspan="3">1Meeting</td> I tried playing around with jQuery using:

 $(".tblSimpleAgenda  td:contains('')").hide();

but it had no effect.

What would be the the best way using jQuery to achieve this.

<table  class="tblSimpleAgenda" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
 <tbody>
 <th align="left">Time</th>
 <th align="left">Room 1</th>
 <th align="left">Room 2</th>
 <th align="left">Room 3</th> 
    
        <tr valign="top">
            <td class="colTime">09:00 – 10:00</td>
            <td class="col1"></td>
            <td class="col2">Meeting 2</td>
            <td class="col3"></td>
        </tr>
        
        <tr valign="top">
            <td class="colTime">10:00 – 10:45</td>
            <td class="col1">Meeting 1</td>
            <td class="col2">Meeting 2</td>
            <td class="col3">Meeting 3</td> 
        </tr>
        
        <tr valign="top">
            <td class="colTime">11:00 – 11:45</td>
            <td class="col1">Meeting 1</td>
            <td class="col2">Meeting 2</td>
            <td class="col3">Meeting 3</td> 
        </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
jquery html-table
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1 Answer

4

I have adapted the script from Russ Cam (thank you, Russ Cam!) to my own needs: I needed to merge any columns that had the same value, not just empty cells.

This could be useful to someone else... Here is what I have come up with:

jQuery(document).ready(function() {

   jQuery('table.tblSimpleAgenda tr').each(function() {
    var tr = this;
    var counter = 0;
    var strLookupText = '';

    jQuery('td', tr).each(function(index, value) {
      var td = jQuery(this);

      if ((td.text() == strLookupText) || (td.text() == "")) {
        counter++;
        td.prev().attr('colSpan', '' + parseInt(counter + 1,10) + '').css({textAlign : 'center'});
        td.remove();
      }
      else {
        counter = 0;
      }

      // Sets the strLookupText variable to hold the current value. The next time in the loop the system will check the current value against the previous value.
      strLookupText = td.text();

    });

  });

});
answered 2011-11-29T18:20:59.093

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