Modules

Every feature in this manual is one of two kinds: mandatory — you get it whether you ask or not — or a module, which only exists in your app if you name it.

This chapter is short, and it is the one to read before the others. If a feature from another chapter does nothing when you try it, you are almost certainly missing its module, and this is the page that tells you which one.

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The one-line version

If you want everything, and you do not want to think about it:

import { createGrid, AllModules, Grid } from '@elitegrid/react'

const grid = createGrid<User>({
  modules: [AllModules],
  columns,
  data,
})

That is the whole upgrade path from 0.1.x. AllModules behaves — and weighs — exactly the way the grid did before modules existed. Nothing in this chapter is work you must do; trimming the list is opt-in.

Coming from an older version? Before modules, createGrid({ columns, data }) gave you sorting, filtering, pagination, selection, editing and export automatically. It no longer does. Adding modules: [AllModules] restores that exactly. Every code sample in this manual includes a modules line for the same reason.

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Why features are opt-in

A runtime flag like sorting: { enabled: false } turns a feature off. It does not remove the sorting code from the JavaScript your users download — the code still ships, it just sits there deciding not to run.

A module is different. SortModule is a value you import. If you never import it, the bundler can see that nothing references the sort plugin, and it drops the whole thing. That is a thing no flag can do.

The payoff is real and measured:

What you register	Gzipped	Saving
Everything ([AllModules])	76.9 kB	—
Nothing (modules: [])	55.5 kB	21.4 kB less

Both figures are gzipped, measured by the benchmark harness rather than estimated. Trimming to modules: [] saves you about 21 kB — worth having, and the reason the system exists, but notice that the grid is still 55.5 kB. That floor is the mandatory half, described below.

Jargon check — "tree-shaking": The bundler's ability to delete code nothing references. It only works when the bundler can prove the code is unused, which is why modules are plain values you import rather than strings you configure. A string like 'sort' tells the bundler nothing.

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What you always get

Eight modules are mandatory. createGrid adds them itself, you cannot remove them, and you never name them:

Module	Why it is not optional
DataSourceModule	Holds your rows
RowModelModule	Row identity — which row is which
ColumnModelModule	Your column definitions
CellValueModule	Resolves the value for every cell drawn
PipelineBridgeModule	Connects raw → filtered → sorted → paginated
ViewportModule	Virtualization and scrolling
FocusModule	Keyboard navigation
AnnouncementModule	Screen-reader announcements

The first six are structural: without rows, identity, columns, a viewport or cell-value resolution there is nothing to render at all.

The last two are a deliberate product decision rather than a technical limit. Focus and Announcement are as removable as Sort or Filter — but making accessibility opt-in means that in practice almost nobody opts in, and "the grid announces sort, filter and page changes to a screen reader" quietly stops being true for most installs. Keyboard navigation and screen-reader support are not features you should have to know to enable, so they are in the floor.

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The modules you can register

import {
  createGrid,
  SortModule,
  FilterModule,
  SearchModule,
  GroupModule,
  PaginationModule,
  SelectionModule,
  EditModule,
  ExportModule,
  MenuModule,
  InfiniteScrollModule,
} from '@elitegrid/react'

Module	Turns on	Chapter
SortModule	Clicking a header to sort; sort arrows	Sorting
FilterModule	The funnel icon, filter popovers, floating filters	Filtering
SearchModule	Global quick-filter across all columns	Filtering
GroupModule	Row grouping, aggregation, group heading rows	—
PaginationModule	The pagination bar and page state	Pagination
SelectionModule	Checkboxes and row selection	Row Selection
EditModule	Double-click-to-edit and the cell editor	Inline Editing
ExportModule	api.exportCSV() and CSV generation	Exporting to CSV
MenuModule	The header ⋮ menu and the right-click context menu	—
InfiniteScrollModule	Load-as-you-scroll instead of pages	—

AllModules contains the first nine. InfiniteScrollModule is deliberately not in it — see below.

Picking a list

Register what you use. A read-only report with sortable columns and a CSV button:

import { createGrid, SortModule, ExportModule, Grid } from '@elitegrid/react'

const grid = createGrid<Row>({
  modules: [SortModule, ExportModule],
  columns,
  data,
})

Order does not matter — each module sorts itself into the pipeline by its own internal priority, so you can list them however reads best.

A genuinely minimal grid is legal too. modules: [] gives you a scrolling, virtualized, keyboard-navigable, screen-reader-friendly table with no sort, filter, paging, selection, editing or export:

const grid = createGrid<Row>({ modules: [], columns, data })

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When you forget one

This is the failure mode worth recognising, because the grid does not crash — a missing module hides its affordance rather than breaking. That is intentional: nothing renders a control that would silently do nothing.

You forgot	What you see
SortModule	Headers render, clicking one does nothing, no sort arrow
FilterModule	No funnel icon anywhere
PaginationModule	No pagination bar; every row on one page
SelectionModule	No checkboxes, even with selection: { mode: 'multiple' }
EditModule	Double-clicking a cell does nothing, even with edit configured
ExportModule	api.exportCSV() is a no-op
MenuModule	No ⋮ button and no right-click menu

So the diagnosis is always the same: the control I expected is not there → the module is not registered.

Import modules from the adapter, not from core

This one is worth care, because it is the only way to get a module that is half working. Several modules own a piece of UI — GroupModule owns the group heading row, EditModule the cell editor, PaginationModule the pagination bar, FilterModule the filter surfaces, MenuModule both menus. The copy that carries the component lives in @elitegrid/react. @elitegrid/core exports a bare copy that registers the behaviour and renders nothing.

// ✅ correct — carries the React components
import { GroupModule, EditModule } from '@elitegrid/react'

// ❌ wrong — groups and edits correctly, renders no group rows and no editor
import { GroupModule, EditModule } from '@elitegrid/core'

You do not have to remember this, because the grid tells you in development:

[EliteGrid] GroupModule is registered but its "groupRow" component is missing,
so its output will not render. Import GroupModule from your adapter package
(@elitegrid/react, @elitegrid/vue, @elitegrid/vanilla) rather than from
@elitegrid/core — the adapter's copy is the one that carries the component.

The short rule: everything comes from @elitegrid/react. You should never need to import from @elitegrid/core directly.

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Two modules with a quirk

InfiniteScrollModule is not in AllModules

Infinite scroll and pagination are mutually exclusive — one replaces pages with endless scrolling, the other provides the pages. AllModules contains PaginationModule, so if it also contained InfiniteScrollModule every grid built with AllModules would warn about the conflict and then disable one of them.

It is also the kind of feature that must never switch on by surprise: an upgrade that silently turned a paginated server-side grid into an endlessly scrolling one would be a bug, not a gift. So you name it explicitly, and you drop pagination when you do:

const grid = createGrid<Row>({
  modules: [SortModule, InfiniteScrollModule],
  columns,
  dataSource,
  infiniteScroll: { pageSize: 100 },
})

MenuModule carries no behaviour

Every other module registers a plugin. MenuModule registers nothing — it exists purely as a bundling key for the column menu and the context menu components. Its only job is to let you leave two fairly large UI trees out of your bundle.

That means a hand-picked list must name it explicitly to keep the menus, even if you have configured them:

const grid = createGrid<Row>({
  modules: [SortModule, MenuModule], // without MenuModule, no ⋮ and no right-click menu
  columns,
  data,
  columnMenu: { enabled: true },
})

If you configure a menu without registering the module, you get a warning rather than silence:

[EliteGrid] The column menu and context menu need MenuModule, which is not
registered, so the ⋮ button and the right-click menu will not render. Add
MenuModule to `modules` (it is already in AllModules), or set
`columnMenu: { enabled: false }` to silence this.

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Writing your own module

If you are building a package on top of EliteGrid and want to ship your own plugin, defineModule is the supported entry point:

import { createGrid, defineModule, defineBundle } from '@elitegrid/react'

const AuditModule = defineModule({
  id: 'audit-log',
  key: 'audit',
  order: 90,
  create: (ctx) => new AuditPlugin(ctx.options),
})

// Several of your own modules under one name
const MyGridBundle = defineBundle({
  id: 'my-company-grid',
  dependsOn: [SortModule, FilterModule, AuditModule],
})

const grid = createGrid<Row>({ modules: [MyGridBundle], columns, data })

Use withUI if your module also owns a React component that the renderer should pick up, the same way GroupModule supplies its group row.

One caveat if you care about bundle size in your own package: declare your bundles as object literals where you can. A call like defineBundle({ … }) at the top level of a file is something a bundler cannot prove is harmless, so it keeps the call — and keeping the call keeps everything you passed to it. This matters for library authors, not for application code.

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Checklist

• Want the old behaviour with no thought? modules: [AllModules].
• A feature does nothing? Its module is not in your list.
• A feature behaves but renders nothing? You imported it from @elitegrid/core instead of @elitegrid/react.
• Using the column or context menu with a hand-picked list? Add MenuModule.
• Using infinite scroll? Name InfiniteScrollModule and drop PaginationModule.
• Keyboard navigation and screen-reader support need no module and cannot be removed.

Next: Columns covers what you can do with a column definition.