# Can't update table cell data dynamically

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cant-update-table-cell-data-dynamically/27133>\
**Category:** Dashboard\
**Created:** [23 May 2020 12:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cant-update-table-cell-data-dynamically/27133 "2020-05-23T12:27:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![Christian-Me](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/christian-me/32/10774_2.png) [@Christian-Me](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Christian-Me)\
**Post date:** [23 May 2020 20:29 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/cant-update-table-cell-data-dynamically/27133/7 "2020-05-23T20:29:18Z")

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Precisely - if the tab where the table sits is Not the active one than there is no tabulator table existing to be updated. But it is not impossible to do what you plan to do.

> [@UI-Table: how to use commands to add / update table content dynamically](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/ui-table-how-to-use-commands-to-add-update-table-content-dynamically/23240/13):
>
> OK I looked into it. This problem is more general for more complex widgets (witches which not only display a single value as text or gauge) If a widget is not on the actual tab the dashboard stores the last message to replay it as soon the widget gets visible again. because the widget does not exists on the client side when you are on a different tab and click on the button this fails. But this "simple" general purpose approach is not working for more complex widgets like ui-table with command…

So you need something infront of ui-table to take care of holding the data and replays it if the tab gets visible.

Or here: [[Announce] remote device table (and collaboration wanted)](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/announce-remote-device-table-and-collaboration-wanted/22505)

Or here:

> [@A Syslog Server for the Dashboard](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/a-syslog-server-for-the-dashboard/24337):
>
> Hi perhaps somebody is interested. Just finished a syslog server for the node-red dashboard. It makes use of ui-table. I hope somebody finds it useful. It is build around ui-table and a subflow I use for all kinds of tables in my projects. [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Christian-Me/node-red-contrib-home/master/Node-RED/syslog/screenshots/demo.gif(image larger than 4096KB)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Christian-Me/node-red-contrib-home/master/Node-RED/syslog/screenshots/demo.gif) Features can handle quite huge amounts of data only limited by the clients browser. As every line is sent individual…

They all use a subflow taking care of handling the table data and layout.

The dashboard replay the last message to a widget when a client connects. This is why your first example work the hole table in one array. The idea using commands is to be able to update any part of the table down to cell level without sending the hole table every time. This is why the syslog table can hold thousands of lines easily and updates as quick as when there are only 10 lines.  
Hope the UI-table handler will help you. It takes a little bit of reading but i use ot in many flows with ui table. You can even configure it that the tabe data survives a Node-RED restart

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