How to Automatically Update an HTML Table Based on User Dropdown Selection

Updating an HTML table automatically based on a user's selection from a dropdown can be a powerful tool for dynamic web content. This process involves using JavaScript to listen for changes to the dropdown and then updating the table accordingly. Below is a step-by-step guide along with a complete example.

Step-by-Step Guide

Create the HTML Structure: Include a select element and an empty table that will be populated based on the selection.

body
    h2Select an Option to Update the Table/h2
    label forcategorySelectCategory:/label
    select idcategorySelect
        option valuefruitsFruits/option
        option valuevegetablesVegetables/option
        option valuedairyDairy/option
    /select
    table iddynamicTable
        thead
            tr
                thItem/th
            /tr
        /thead
        tbody
            /tbody
    /table
/body

Add JavaScript Functionality: Write a function that listens for changes to the select element and updates the table based on the selected option.

script
    const options  {
        fruits: Apple, Banana, Cherry,
        vegetables: Carrot, Broccoli, Spinach,
        dairy: Milk, Cheese, Yogurt
    };
    const selectElement  (categorySelect);
    const tableBody  (dynamicTable).getElementsByTagName(tbody)[0];
    (change, function() {
        // Clear existing rows
          ;
        // Get selected value
        const selectedOption  ;
        // Check if an option is selected
        if (selectedOption) {
            // Populate table based on selected option
            options[selectedOption].split(,).forEach(item  {
                const row  (tr);
                const cell  (td);
                cell.textContent  item;
                (cell);
                (row);
            });
        }
    });
/script

Explanation

HTML Structure:

Note the select element where users can choose between different categories. The table has a thead with a header row and an empty tbody where rows will be added dynamically.

JavaScript Functionality:

An object options holds arrays of items corresponding to each category. An event listener is added to the dropdown to listen for changes. When a selection is made, the table body is cleared, and new rows are added based on the selected category.

Usage

To open the HTML file and see the dynamic table in action:

Save the HTML code to a file (e.g., dynamic_) and open it in a web browser. Select an option from the dropdown to see the table update automatically with corresponding items.

This method provides a simple way to dynamically update a table based on user input, enhancing the interactivity and user experience of your web application.