Datagrid is one of Carbon's more complex components with very specific functionality that supports the many aspects of data display and manipulation in tables. It requires very robust support, testing, and maintenance. The current Datagrid is not very composable which greatly limits flexibility and customization for its adopters.
Carbon for IBM Products has been investigating TanStack Table, a third-party, open-source offering, which provides extensive data table capabilities surpassing what Datagrid offers. It provides much more flexibility and customization for adopters. TanStack Table is headless which means it can easily be added alongside Datagrid component in your product or application. The benefits of more flexibility for product teams and less maintenance for Carbon makes it a win win. Lastly, it is available in multiple frameworks including React and Web Component so it provides an option to non-React product teams.
For these reasons, we have decided to transition from building our own custom table component to using an example-based approach with TanStack Table. Datagrid will still exist in our library for existing teams but we are announcing the deprecation of the components so teams can begin to work through the transition. If you're looking for details about how to use both Datagrid and TanStack together, see here. Deprecation means that new features will not be added however sev 1 and sev 2 bugs will be supported.
It is important to note that core Carbon will continue to maintain the basic DataTable component.
Teams can continue to use the existing Datagrid component however we encourage teams to look at the TanStack Table coded examples which have been created in both React and Web Components. Instructions regarding how to use the coded examples alongside Carbon Datagrid can be found here. The Carbon for IBM Products team is available to answer questions if you sign up for and join the Carbon Developer Office Hours or the Carbon India Office Hours.
Support for continued use of the Datagrid will be limited to sev 1 and sev 2 bugs only and no new features in the current version (v2). In v3, these will be reduced to sev 1 only.
Carbon for IBM Products v2.54.0 Release on November 20, 2024
- Code examples of TanStack Table available
- React or Web Components
- Datagrid marked as deprecated* in code in Storybook
*Deprecated means support will be limited to sev 1 and 2 bugs only and no new feature requests.
Carbon for IBM Products v3 - date tbd
- Datagrid code remains deprecated, no new feature requests, and sev 1 bugs only
Carbon for IBM Products v4 - date tbd
- Datagrid code will be removed entirely
TanStack Table is an open source headless library that allows you to bring your own components to build complex tables. Where Datagrid assumed control over certain areas and is quite opinionated, this new approach flips the model such that the adopter has the flexibility to build complex tables that will best suite their own needs. This means the customization is in your control. It also offers Web Components option for products or applications that are not built with React.
No, the transition to start using TanStack Table can be incremental. In other words, Datagrid can remain in place and TanStack Table code be added as well. If your product was waiting on a feature to be built, try adding the coded example that matches that feature request. We have tested to ensure they are interoperable but, of course, reach out in slack #ibmproducts-pal-dev if you are having any problems, join our office hours, or open an issue in our GH repo.