SQLFORM.smartgrid in web2py

Smartgrid Signature

Since the smartgrid takes the same arguments as a grid and some more with some cautions:

• The first argument will be a table, not a query.
• An extra argument constraint is a dictionary of 'tablename':query, which can be used to restrict further access to the records displayed in the 'tablename' grid.
• There is an extra argument linked_tables that should be accessible via the smartgrid. linked_tables is a tablesnames of the table.
• The divider allows specifying a character to use in the breadcrumb navigator; breadcrumbs_class will apply the class to the breadcrumb element.

Let us consider the previous grid :

grid = SQLFORM.smartgrid(db.department, linked_tables=['employee'])

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It allows one to access a db.department and a db.employee. Apart from navigation controls, for each table, a smartgrid is nothing but a grid, which means that one smartgrid can create a grid for departments and one for an employee. 

We may pass different sets of parameters to these grids—for example, we can give different sets of searchable parameters.

For a grid, we may pass a boolean value:

grid = SQLFORM.grid(db.department, searchable=True)

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For a smartgrid, we may pass a dictionary of boolean values like:

grid = SQLFORM.smartgrid(db.department, linked_tables=['employee'],searchable= dict(department=True, employee=False))

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Therefore, in this way, we made the departments searchable, but the employee for each department are not searchable.

Now, let's discuss the grid and smartgrid access control.

Grid and Smartgrid Access Control

We can integrate grid and smartgrid both with auth using explicit permission checking because it does not automatically enforce access control as crud do. :

grid = SQLFORM.grid(db.auth_user,editable = auth.has_membership('managers'),deletable =auth.has_membership('managers'))

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or it can also be written as-

grid = SQLFORM.grid(db.auth_user, editable = auth.has_permission('edit', 'auth_user'), deletable = auth.has_permission('delete', 'auth_user'))

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Lastly, we will discuss smartgrid plurals.

Smartgrid Plurals

The smartgrid needs both singular and plural and is the only object in web2py that displays the table name.

Let's take an example for better understanding.

Suppose one parent can have one "Child" or many "Children." Hence a table object needs to know its singular and plural names. As web2py normally guesses them, we can set them explicitly:

db.define_table('child', ..., singular="Child", plural="Children")

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or with:

db.define_table('child', ...)
db.child._singular = "Child"
db.child._plural = "Children"

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The plural and singular values are used by smartgrid to provide correct names for headers and links.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the web2py Framework?

web2py is a free and open-source web framework used for agile development which involves database-driven web applications and is written in Python.

What do you mean by SQLFORM.smartgrid?

An SQLFORM.smartgrid contains a grid and is designed to take as input only one table and to browse said table and select referencing tables.

What are the similarities between the web2py grid and smartgrid?

Both the grid and smart grid controls can browse, search, sort, create, update and delete records. Also, both can accept a table as the first parameter.

What are the differences between the grid and smartgrid?

The first argument in web2py grid is Table or query but in smartgrid the first argument is the table only.

Conclusions

At last, I would like to thank you for your dedication and patience in learning about these topics, as these are unique topics.

Let's end with the SQLFORM.smartgrid, in which we have covered different topics like smartgrid signature, smartgrid plurals, smartgrid access control, etc.

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