Is it possible to select multiple rows in a DataTable?

[jmukund]

Is it possible to select multiple rows in a DataTable? For example, can we do a shift-down to select multiple rows?

[TomJGooding]

No, it isn't currently possible to highlight multiple cells/rows/columns AFAIK.

[pawamoy]

I'm interested in this. I'll work towards a solution and post it here. Basically, I want to make it possible to select/unselect rows with keybingings, for example:

• space, double-click: toggle selection of the row under the cursor
• shift+up: expand selection up
• shift+down: expand selection down
• shift-click: expand selection towards clicked row
• ctrl-click: toggle selection on the clicked row
• !: reverse selection
• *: toggle select all

[TomJGooding]

Just a heads up, shift+click in many terminal emulators stops a terminal program (like Textual) from capturing mouse events, restoring mouse behaviour to select text.

I'm not even sure it's possible in Textual to recognise a mouse click with a modifier key.

[pawamoy]

Oh, right, I listed the bindings like that, but you're right that some of them might not be usable.

[davetapley]

I just did some digging:

I'm not even sure it's possible in Textual to recognise a mouse click with a modifier key.

It looks like it is! Here how I tested:

I forked code and spliced:

 print("shift", event.shift) print("ctrl", event.ctrl) print("meta", event.meta)

into here:

textual/src/textual/widgets/_data_table.py

Lines 2433 to 2436 in 87ef1bb

	async def _on_click(self, event: events.Click) -> None:
	self._set_hover_cursor(True)
	meta = event.style.meta
	if not meta:

Then did textual console in one terminal and:

textual run --dev docs.examples.widgets.data_table:TableApp 

I tested on macOS and Windows, in VSCode and in stock terminal apps.
Here's results:

So I think ctrl or shift for range select, and meta (alt) for individual row would cover all bases.

[pawamoy]

OK, as promised, here's my implementation of a data table with selectable rows:

"""Data tables with selectable rows.""" from __future__ import annotations from dataclasses import dataclass from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, ClassVar, Iterable, Iterator from textual.binding import Binding from textual.coordinate import Coordinate from textual.widgets import DataTable from textual.widgets.data_table import CellDoesNotExist, RowKey if TYPE_CHECKING: from textual.app import App @dataclass class Checkbox: """A checkbox, added to rows to make them selectable.""" checked: bool = False def __str__(self) -> str: return "■" if self.checked else "" def __rich__(self) -> str: return "[b]■[/]" if self.checked else "" def check(self) -> None: """Uncheck the checkbox.""" self.checked = True def uncheck(self) -> None: """Uncheck the checkbox.""" self.checked = False def toggle(self) -> bool: """Toggle the checkbox.""" self.checked = not self.checked return self.checked @dataclass class SelectableRow: """A selectable row.""" table: SelectableRowsDataTable key: RowKey @property def app(self) -> App: """Textual application.""" return self.table.app @property def _data(self) -> list: return self.table.get_row(self.key) @property def data(self) -> list: """Row data (without checkbox).""" return self._data[1:] @property def index(self) -> int: """Row index.""" return self.table.get_row_index(self.key) @property def checkbox(self) -> Checkbox: """Row checkbox.""" return self._data[0] def select(self) -> None: """Select this row.""" self.checkbox.check() def unselect(self) -> None: """Unselect this row.""" self.checkbox.uncheck() def toggle_select(self) -> bool: """Toggle-select this row.""" return self.checkbox.toggle() @property def selected(self) -> bool: """Whether this row is selected.""" return self.checkbox.checked def remove(self) -> None: """Remove row from the table.""" self.table.remove_row(self.key) @property def previous(self) -> SelectableRow: """Previous row (up).""" new_coord = Coordinate(self.index - 1, 0) key = self.table.coordinate_to_cell_key(new_coord).row_key return self.__class__(table=self.table, key=key) @property def next(self) -> SelectableRow: # noqa: A003 """Next row (down).""" new_coord = Coordinate(self.index + 1, 0) key = self.table.coordinate_to_cell_key(new_coord).row_key return self.__class__(table=self.table, key=key) class SelectableRowsDataTable(DataTable): """Data table with selectable rows.""" ROW = SelectableRow BINDINGS: ClassVar = [ Binding("space", "toggle_select_row", "Toggle select", show=False), Binding("ctrl+a, *", "toggle_select_all", "Toggle select all", show=False), Binding("exclamation_mark", "reverse_select", "Reverse select", show=False), Binding("shift+up", "toggle_select_up", "Expand select up", show=False), Binding("shift+down", "toggle_select_down", "Expand select down", show=False), ] # -------------------------------------------------- # Textual methods. # -------------------------------------------------- def add_rows(self, rows: Iterable[Iterable]) -> list[RowKey]: """Add rows.   Automatically insert a column with checkboxes in position 0.  """ return super().add_rows((Checkbox(), *row) for row in rows) def clear(self, columns: bool = True) -> SelectableRowsDataTable: # noqa: FBT001,FBT002 """Clear rows and optionally columns.   When clearing columns, automatically re-add a column for checkboxes.  """ super().clear(columns) if columns: self.add_column("", key="checkbox") return self # -------------------------------------------------- # Binding actions. # -------------------------------------------------- def action_toggle_select_row(self) -> None: """Toggle-select current row.""" try: row = self.current_row except CellDoesNotExist: return row.toggle_select() self.force_refresh() def action_toggle_select_all(self) -> None: """Toggle-select all rows.""" rows = list(self.selectable_rows) if all(row.selected for row in rows): for row in rows: row.unselect() else: for row in rows: row.select() self.force_refresh() def action_reverse_select(self) -> None: """Reverse selection.""" for row in self.selectable_rows: row.toggle_select() self.force_refresh() def action_toggle_select_up(self) -> None: """Toggle selection up.""" try: row = self.current_row previous_row = row.previous except CellDoesNotExist: pass else: previous_row.toggle_select() self.move_cursor(row=previous_row.index) self.force_refresh() def action_toggle_select_down(self) -> None: """Toggle selection down.""" try: row = self.current_row next_row = row.next except CellDoesNotExist: pass else: next_row.toggle_select() self.move_cursor(row=next_row.index) self.force_refresh() # -------------------------------------------------- # Additional methods/properties. # -------------------------------------------------- def force_refresh(self) -> None: """Force refresh table.""" # HACK: Without such increment, the table is refreshed # only when focus changes to another column. self._update_count += 1 self.refresh() @property def current_row(self) -> SelectableRow: """Currently selected row.""" key = self.coordinate_to_cell_key(self.cursor_coordinate).row_key return self.ROW(table=self, key=key) @property def selectable_rows(self) -> Iterator[SelectableRow]: """Rows, as selectable ones.""" for key in self.rows: yield self.ROW(table=self, key=key) @property def selected_rows(self) -> Iterator[SelectableRow]: """Selected rows.""" for row in self.selectable_rows: if row.selected: yield row

Both classes (row and table) can be further customized, for example:

from thing import Thing class CustomRow(SelectableRow): @property def thing(self) -> Thing: for val in self.data: if isinstance(val, Thing): return val raise ValueError("No thing in row data") class CustomDataTable(SelectableRowsDataTable): ROW = CustomRow

[davetapley]

Based on my findings on #3606 (reply in thread) I'm going to see about implementing this directly in existing DataTable to use highlighting for selection indication (as opposed to SelectableRowsDataTable with checkboxes).

[davetapley]

See also:

• cf6b069#commitcomment-134371668
• Select a range of rows in a DataTable #3821

[davetapley]

Okay provisional implementation here:

• Select a range of rows in a DataTable #3821

Caveat: it only allows selection of a contiguous range of rows, you couldn't e.g. pick the first and fifth.

Feedback welcome!