Can I use primefaces DataTables to display a matrix of data? - primefaces

Question

Basically, I have 2 collections of objects: List and List. Each person has a value in each criteria, which builds the matrix to be displayed:
criteria1 criteria2 criteria3 ...
person1 2 5 8
person2 4 3 1
person3 6 9 0
...
The number of elements in each collection is unknown since they are coming from query results. My model has 3 tables: criteria, person and criteria_person (which has the personId, criteriaId and qualification).
I have been able to display the datatable with these collections but I have no clue about how to relate them to the qualification associated to them, and then make them persist. So, any guidance would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

You just asked such a wide question. For this you can use row expansion see more
You can simple add a table with person name and criteria would be it's inner table like in the example on the showcase.
here is sample example:
<p:dataTable var="person" value="#{dtBasicView.peronsViewList}">
<f:facet name="header">
Person with criteria
</f:facet>
<p:column style="width:16px">
<p:rowToggler />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Person Name">
<h:outputText value="#{person.personName}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Reg. Date">
<h:outputText value="#{person.regDate}" />
</p:column>
<p:rowExpansion>
<p:panelGrid columns="2" columnClasses="label,value" style="width:300px">
<p:dataTable var="cri" value="#{person.criteria}">
<p:column headerText="Id">
<h:outputText value="#{cri.id}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Year">
<h:outputText value="#{cri.year}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Brand">
<h:outputText value="#{cri.brand}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Color">
<h:outputText value="#{cri.color}" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
</p:panelGrid>
</p:rowExpansion>
</p:dataTable>

Answer 2

I am not sure if I understood the question 100%, but I solved something similar with p:columns and a backing bean method which resolves the value for the current cell:
<p:dataTable value="#{curSearch.getSearchResults()}" var="curSearchResult">
<p:columns value="#{curSearch.determineItems()}" var="curSearchItem">
<f:facet name="header">
<h:outputText value="#{curSearchItem}" />
</f:facet>
<h:outputText value="#{someUiBusinessLogicBean.generatePropertyValue(curSearchResult, curSearchItem)}" />
</p:columns>
</p:dataTable>
Hope this shows the idea. But I would recommend to build a handy UI model.