Editable table

Status: ✅ Implemented — @InlineEditing

Intent

Let users edit a collection — order lines, a price list, a roster, a set of parameters — directly in the table, so bulk and tabular editing is fast and stays in one place.

Problem

By default, editing a row of an editable list opens a separate detail form: click the row’s Edit button, a form appears, change one value, save, close, repeat. That round-trip is fine for a rich record with many fields, but it is slow and clumsy for the very common case of a flat, tabular collection where the user wants to tweak a few cells across several rows. Every edit costs a modal, a context switch, and several clicks — the Desktop Denial of tabular data entry.

Solution

Annotate the list field with @InlineEditing. Each row’s cells become editable inputs right in the grid — no detail form, no per-row Edit button. The add / remove / reorder toolbar stays.

@InlineEditing
@Stereotype(FieldStereotype.grid)
List<OrderLine> lines;

One editor per type

The editor is chosen from each column’s real Java type, so every kind of field is editable in place:

Type	Editor
String	text field
int / Integer / long	integer field
double / BigDecimal / @Stereotype(money)	number field
boolean	checkbox
enum	combo box (the enum constants)
LocalDate / LocalTime / LocalDateTime	date / time / date-time picker
@Lookup (reference)	combo box with remote search-as-you-type — options come from the field’s LookupOptionsSupplier, the cell stores the id and shows the label

A field marked @ReadOnly stays display-only.

Persistence — no per-cell save

Inline edits travel back in the normal component state. There is no per-cell round-trip: the edited rows are persisted whenever the enclosing form’s next action runs — a save/submit, or any developer action that reads the list. So a @Toolbar “Save”/“Total”/“Recalculate” action already sees the up-to-date collection.

When to use it

Use inline editing	Use the detail form
Flat, tabular rows (few scalar fields each)	Rich rows with many fields, tabs, or validation-heavy sub-forms
Bulk edits across many rows	Editing one row at a time, carefully
Spreadsheet-like data entry	A row that is itself a small screen

Inline editing is opt-in and per-field — a page can mix an inline-edited list with a detail-form-edited one.

Principles served

• Minimize navigation — edit in place, no modal per row
• Workflow over screens — the table is the task, not a launchpad to other screens
• Recoverability — edits live in state until an explicit action persists them