How to display data in tables using Forms API?

Question

I want to organize my data in table rows. How can I user Forms API to do it?

EDIT:

I want to show the data in the following way in multiple rows:

row1 checkbox info1 textfield1 info2 textfield2 ....

....

rowN ....

row 1 [add a new row fields here]

...

row 5

One should be able to cancel existing records and in the bottom fill in fields to add new records.

And I finding the solutions in this link or in this really difficult to understand.

Answer 1

The simplest way to do this (on small forms) that I have found is by taking advantage of the #prefix and #suffix elements in the render array. Here's an example:

$form['foo_fieldset'] = array(
  '#type' => 'fieldset',
  '#prefix' => '<table>',
  '#suffix' => '</table>',
  '#tree' => TRUE,
);
$form['foo_fieldset']['header'] = array(
  '#markup' => '<thead>
    <tr>
      <th>A checkbox</th>
      <th>A text input</th>
      <th>A text input</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>',
);

for ($i=0;$i<10;$i++) {
  $form['foo_fieldset']['row_' . $i] = array(
    '#prefix' => '<tr>',
    '#suffix' => '</tr>',
  );
  $form['foo_fieldset']['row_' . $i]['checkbox'] = array(
    '#type' => 'checkbox',
    '#prefix' => '<td>',
    '#suffix' => '</td>',
  );
  $form['foo_fieldset']['row_' . $i]['text_1'] = array(
    '#type' => 'textfield',
    '#prefix' => '<td>',
    '#suffix' => '</td>',
  );
  $form['foo_fieldset']['row_' . $i]['text_2'] = array(
    '#type' => 'textfield',
    '#prefix' => '<td>',
    '#suffix' => '</td>',
  );
}

The other way to do it (maybe known as the "right" way) involves building a theming function to render your form in a table. Take a look at this page (ignoring the tablesort options as you don't care about that) to see how it's done: http://coffeeshopped.com/2010/09/drupal-drag-and-drop-tables-in-custom-modules