javascript - HTML table with fixed header and footer and scrollable body without fixed widths

Question

I want to to create a table with fixed thead and tfoot and a scrollable tbody!

I've tried several approaches, both CSS only and CSS + Javascript, but they are all weak and unreliable and I can easily break them by changing the markup in the demo.

What I want is a way to have the table to behave like a table, this means that the browser will automatically adjust columns based on the content (both at page load that in case of window resize) and that in these scenarios:

1. if the content of the column's header (thead > tr > th) is larger than the content of the column's body (tbody > tr > td) and larger than the content of the column's footer (tfoot > tr > td) the column should resize based on the size of the column's header

2. if the content of the column's body (tbody > tr > td) is larger than the content of the column's header (thead > tr > th) and larger than the content of the column's footer (tfoot > tr > td) the column should resize based on the size of the column's body

3. if the content of the column's footer (tfoot > tr > td) is larger than the content of the column's header (thead > tr > th) and larger than the content of the column's body (tbody > tr > td) the column should resize based on the size of the column's footer

The table below should clarify the scenarios:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Header one *leads the width* (case 1)</th>
      <th>Header two</th>
      <th>Header three</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Column one</td>
      <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
      <td>Column three</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
  <tfoot>
    <tr>
      <td>Footer one</td>
      <td>Footer two</td>
      <td>Footer three *leads the width* (case 3)</td>
    </tr>
  </tfoot>
</table>

I want a clean (as possible) and reliable solution that will work for the different scenarios, possibly CSS only but also JavaScript is OK (vanilla and clean JavaScript, not jQuery plugins). I don't care about old browser support (it would be great to have it or at least to reach a solution which can degrade gracefully on old browser but it's optional)... I can even accept to use divs instead of table nodes if the final solution works as expected... so in 2016, with modern browser and CSS is this possible somehow?!

EDIT:

The body should scroll vertically and the table may have any number of columns

UPDATE:

I came up with this solution: https://codepen.io/daveoncode/pen/LNomBE but I'm still not 100% satisfied. The main issue is that I can't set different backgrounds for header and footer cells.

UPDATE 2:

it works now!

Answer 1

you can achieve what you want by using a wrapper to your table (div) and make the tr from thead and tfoot a position:absolute

body {
  margin: 0
}

div {
  max-height: 500px;
  overflow-y: auto;
}

table {
  width: 100%
}

thead tr,
tfoot tr {
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
  right: 15px;
  /* to not cover the scrollbar*/
  background: red
}

thead th,
tfoot td {
  display: inline-block;
}

thead tr {
  top: 0
}

tfoot tr {
  top: 500px/* same value has max-height from div */
}

th,
td {
  width: calc((100%/3) - 5px);
  font-size: 12px;
  text-align: center
}


/*give some space between thead and tfoot*/

tbody tr:first-of-type td {
  padding-top: 35px;
}

tbody tr:last-of-type td {
  padding-bottom: 35px;
}

<div>
  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>Header one *leads the width* (case 1)</th>
        <th>Header two</th>
        <th>Header three</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Column one</td>
        <td>Column two *leads the width* (case 2)</td>
        <td>Column three</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    <tfoot>
      <tr>
        <td>Footer one</td>
        <td>Footer two</td>
        <td>Footer three *leads the width* (case 3)</td>
      </tr>
    </tfoot>
  </table>
</div>