vaadin-framework/documentation/clientsidewidgets/clientsidewidgets-grid.asciidoc

---
title: Grid
order: 4
layout: page
---

[[clientsidewidgets.grid]]
= Grid

The [classname]#Grid# widget is the client-side counterpart for the server-side
[classname]#Grid# component described in
<<../components/components-grid#components.grid,"Grid">>.

The client-side API is almost identical to the server-side API, so its
documentation is currently omitted here and we refer you to the API
documentation. In the following, we go through some customization features of
[classname]#Grid#.

[[clientsidewidgets.grid.renderers]]
== Renderers

As described in
<<../components/components-grid#components.grid.renderer,"Column
Renderers">>, renderers draw the visual representation of data values on the
client-side. They implement [interfacename]#Renderer# interface and its
[methodname]#render()# method. The method gets a reference to the element of the
grid cell, as well as the data value to be rendered. An implementation needs to
modify the element as needed.

For example, [classname]#TextRenderer# is implemented simply as follows:

[source, java] 
----
public class TextRenderer implements Renderer<String> {
    @Override
    public void render(RendererCellReference cell,
                       String text) {
        cell.getElement().setInnerText(text);
    }
}
----

The server-side renderer API should extend [classname]#AbstractRenderer# or
[classname]#ClickableRenderer# with the data type accepted by the renderer. The
data type also must be given for the superclass constructor.

[source, java] 
----
public class TextRenderer extends AbstractRenderer<String> {
    public TextRenderer() {
        super(String.class);
    }
}
----

The client-side and server-side renderer need to be connected with a connector
extending from [classname]#AbstractRendererConnector#.

[source, java] 
----
@Connect(com.vaadin.ui.renderer.TextRenderer.class)
public class TextRendererConnector
       extends AbstractRendererConnector<String> {
    @Override
    public TextRenderer getRenderer() {
        return (TextRenderer) super.getRenderer();
    }
}
----

Renderers can have parameters, for which normal client-side communication of
extension parameters can be used. Please see the implementations of different
renderers for examples.