--- title: Text Grid widget description: "Use the **Text Grid widget** to display selected object information in a structured grid. It suits summaries, details pages, and layouts where several values need to be shown clearly. ## When to use it Where a Table widget shows many…" url: "https://auclio.com/documentation/text-grid-widget/" updated: "2026-10-16" category: Widgets --- # Text Grid widget Use the **Text Grid widget** to display selected object information in a structured grid. It suits summaries, details pages, and layouts where several values need to be shown clearly. ## When to use it Where a Table widget shows many objects, a Text Grid shows one. It is the natural partner to a details page. Use it for: - the main block on a details page, showing an object's properties; - a summary panel above a table; - a compact block of related values that would look cramped in a table. The Text Grid widget also has a form mode, which turns the same layout into an editable form with a submit button. That mode is documented separately in [Form widget](/documentation/form-widget/). ## How it gets its object A Text Grid does not choose an object by itself. It reads from a page parameter, which is filled in when the user arrives from a table row or a button. This is why a Text Grid belongs on a details page. Put one on a page with no parameters and it has nothing to show. See [Pages](/documentation/pages/) for detailed instructions on parameters and details pages. ## Add a Text Grid widget To add a Text Grid widget: 1. Open a page that has a parameter, and enable **Layout edit mode**. 2. Select **Add a widget**. 3. Select the **Text Grid** tile, or drag it onto the page. 4. Work through the four configuration steps. 5. Select **Create**. 6. Save the page layout. The steps are **Widget**, **Items**, **Properties**, and **File Settings**. ## Step 1: Widget **Widget Title** and **Description**, each with an eye icon controlling whether it is shown. ## Step 2: Items An item is one entry in the grid. Select **Add Item** to open the item dialog, or **Auto Map Dataset** to create an item for every property of a parameter's dataset in one action. The list shows each item's **Label**, **Dataset Field**, **Content Type**, **Input Type**, and **Link**, with edit and delete controls on the right. ### Item types Every item is bound to a property of an object, and Auclio renders it as two parts: a label part and a value part, which you position independently in the Properties step. There is no header item and no separator item. The **Content Type** and **Input Type** the list reports are derived from the property's data type rather than chosen by you, so a Date property arrives with a date picker and a Dropdown property with a dropdown. Where you need a visible break between groups of values, put a Divider widget between two Text Grid widgets, or give each group its own Text Grid widget with its own **Widget Title**. ### Binding an item to data Each item has an **Item Data Source** block with two fields: - **Object** - which page parameter to read. The list offers the parameters defined on the page, plus **Add New Parameter** to define one without leaving the dialog. - **Property** - which property of that parameter's dataset to show. **Item Label** is the text shown beside the value. It defaults from the property but can be renamed. ### Adding several items at once **Add multiple items at once** adds a batch in one go. Switch it on and the **Property** field becomes **Properties**, accepting several at a time, and Auclio creates one item per property with sensible labels. Properties already on the widget are marked *(already added)* in the list. Use it to lay out a details page quickly, then rename and reorder afterwards. The label, link, and control settings are not offered while the switch is on, because they belong to a single item. ### Other item settings - **Boolean Field Input Type** - for boolean properties, whether the value shows as a **Checkbox** or a **Dropdown**. - **Enable create new object** - for dropdown properties, lets users create an object in the target dataset directly from the item. - **Link** - makes the item's value clickable. Set **Type** to **External Link** and enter a **URL**, or to **Page Link** and choose a **Target Page**, then map the destination's parameters under **Link Parameters**. Use it to jump from a related value to that object's own details page. As with a Table column, an item's link settings are locked once the item has been saved with a link. - **Control** - an expression under **Enable item when**. Leave it empty and the item is always enabled; build an expression and the item is enabled only when that expression is true. Auclio evaluates it on the server. ## Step 3: Properties This step is the layout. It is a small grid of its own, independent of the page grid the widget sits on. **Columns** sets how many columns that inner grid has, from 1 to 24, and defaults to 12. Enter a number and select **Apply**. Below it, an interactive preview shows each item as two blocks, one marked `[label]` and one marked `[value]`, which you position separately. Drag them to move them and drag their corners to resize them, exactly as you would arrange widgets on a page. **Reset Layout** returns the items to the arrangement the step opened with. New items are added at the bottom of the layout. The column count is the setting to think about. A two-column grid gives a traditional label-and-value form. A twelve- or twenty-four-column grid lets you place items precisely, at the cost of more arranging. The pencil on each value block controls whether that item can be edited in place; its tooltip reads **Disable editing** or **Enable editing**. The pencil is not shown in form mode, where every field is editable by definition. ## Step 4: File Settings Controls which file actions the widget offers on the object it is showing, provided the dataset allows files. The step lists one block per dataset the widget's items read from, so a widget bound to two parameters is configured twice. Each block offers **Side Panel** as the only **Files Location** - a Text Grid has no files column - and then **Upload**, **Delete**, **Download**, and **Preview** under **Files Settings**. The four actions stay disabled until **Side Panel** is on. A Text Grid therefore presents files in a panel for the current object, which suits a details page where the documents belong to the one object being viewed. Until the widget has items, the step reports that there are no datasets to configure. See [Work with files](/documentation/work-with-files/) for detailed instructions. ## Sizing on the grid A Text Grid widget sets its own height to fit its content. Every value is shown in full, however long — a large-text property grows its row rather than being cut off or scrolling — and the widget grows with it, leaving no empty space below. Only its width can be resized on the grid; the height follows from the items and their layout in the Properties step. ## Recommendations When configuring a Text Grid widget: - put it on a page that has a parameter, or it will show nothing; - split twenty properties across two or three Text Grid widgets with their own titles rather than listing them flat in one; - use two columns for a straightforward details block, and more only when you need precise placement; - rename labels to the words users use, not the property names; - link related values to their own details pages, so users can follow the data; - add items in bulk first, then rename and arrange; - check the layout at a narrow width, since a wide inner grid may not fit well on a phone.