Table Properties Revert after Update

Hi,

thanks for your post, and sorry for the trouble.

Are you sure that the hidden columns unhide? This is not the case for me, when I test this.

The other changes (different order, header texts reset) is indeed expected here, as the auto-import does a “replace”. It replaces the current table data with that from the auto-imported file.
It can not take into account changes that you made to the order, for example. You would either have to make those changes in the imported file first (or in the program that generates them), or for example use the Table Row Order Extension from https://tablepress.org/extensions/table-row-order/ to sort the table.

Regards,
Tobias

Tobias,

Thanks for the fast response!

I’m using both the autoimport and the column order extensions.

It’s difficult to explain but here are a before and after photo of the columns

It appears that the columns that were hidden are still hidden. However, they’re not tied to the original column location. For instance, Column D I moved to column E then hid it. But after the update, it reverted to column D and unhid because I left “Parties” column Unhidden.

So it appears that the row order plugin isn’t saving the order after updates, the headers aren’t saving either, but the hide/unhide columns only sort of works.

You say that the order and header texts is expected but if this could amazing if it could be changed to where the system would 1) save the current layout 2) Update 3) Load layout on updated data.

If I leave my Edit Table window open and wait for the document to update and see it messed up again, but then hit save on my edit table window, the settings go back to the way I want them. This leads me to believe that an automatic way of doing this is also possible. I just have no clue how to program ?? Could you make this feature available because I have no way of modifying the data that is being imported before it is.

Hi,

no, this is all correct and expected like this. The Auto Import Extension will import the desired file and replace the previous table data with that, completely.

If columns were marked as hidden (like A, B, E, G, and H in your case), those columns will still be hidden, regardless of what their content was or is after the (re-)import.

The Table Row Order Extension comes into play only when the data is to be shown on the page (via the Shortcode). It does not store a modified order of the table.

Changing all of this is not possible, unfortunately, and there’s also a slight flaw in your manual process of leaving the “Edit” screen for the table open and then clicking save again. While you do get your desired structure, you also get the old data again. This is pretty much the same as if you had re-created that table data and structure after the (re-)import.

So, in summary, when using the Auto Import Extension, you kind of lose the ability to edit a table on the “Edit” screen (except for changing the settings below the table, and hiding rows/columns). That’s the entire idea behind that Extension, as it will “refresh” the table data periodically from a file (which might be coming from some other program/system).

Regards,
Tobias

The Table Row Order Extension comes into play only when the data is to be shown on the page (via the Shortcode). It does not store a modified order of the table.

I was referring to the Table COLUMN order. Is that the same?

If there were a way to create a custom header at the top of the table that replaced the imported one (or settings hid the imported one), I could live with the column order reverting and the header names reverting too. Can you think of any way to do this even if I lose my ability to use the filter?

Hi,

ah, sorry for mixing up rows and columns here. This applies to columns as well, however.

No, something like this on the “Edit” screen won’t be possible either, as the entire table will be replaced with the data in the auto-imported file (the only thing that is kept is the positions of the hidden rows/columns).
Now, from what I can see, you are trying to bring the table into a desired (column) order. Instead of moving columns on the “Edit” screen (which will be overwritten in the next auto-import), you could use the Table Column Extension’s mechanism for manual column ordering, like

[table id=123 column_order="manual" column_order_manual_order="1,4,2,3" /]

Would that help?

Regards,
Tobias