Bootstrap responsive table with form input min width

Question

I am trying to create a responsive table that contains form inputs for several columns. From what I understand, the responsive tables shrink until its columns can't go any further, then it adds a scroller. However, the columns shrink to the point where I can't see the values in the input field so I need a way to impose a minimum width on these columns instead of having it determined by the column header text length.

I have tried adding min-width:"10%" or "150px" to all the elements in the column, but that didn't work. Here is my setup:

<form class="form-horizontal">
    <div class="table-responsive">
        <table class="table table-bordered table-striped table-highlight">
            <thead>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Date</th>
                <th>Cost</th>
                <th>Billing Type</th>
                <th>Tax</th>
                <th>Other Col</th>
                <th>Other Col</th>
                <th>Other Col</th>
                <th>Total</th>
            </thead>
            <tbody>
                <tr>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="Some Long Name Here"/></td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="13-Jul-2015"/></td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="$12355.12"/></td>
                    <td>
                        <select class="form-control">
                            <option>Monthly</option>
                            <option>Yearly</option>
                        </select>
                    </td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="another long value"/></td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></td>
                    <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></td>
                    <td>$505.79</td>
                </tr>
            </tbody>
        </table>
    </div>
</form>

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<form class="form-horizontal">
  <div class="table-responsive">
    <table class="table table-bordered table-striped table-highlight">
      <thead>
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Date</th>
        <th>Cost</th>
        <th>Billing Type</th>
        <th>Tax</th>
        <th>Other Col</th>
        <th>Other Col</th>
        <th>Other Col</th>
        <th>Total</th>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="Some Long Name Here" /></td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="13-Jul-2015" /></td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="$12355.12" /></td>
          <td>
            <select class="form-control">
                            <option>Monthly</option>
                            <option>Yearly</option>
                        </select>
          </td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="another long value" /></td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val" /></td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val" /></td>
          <td><input type="text" class="form-control" value="some val" /></td>
          <td>$505.79</td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </div>
</form>

As you can see, some field values are cut off when the table shrinks. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: I would like to continue using tables due to some legacy code preservation. However, I am open to any solution if need be.

Solution 1

The default css of .form-control forces this behavior, so you need to change the css of your input field like:

input.form-control {
  width: auto;
}

Solution 2

Column width will be dynamic as user may input any length value! Wrap input fields in a div, set div width dynamically using JavaScript:

                <tr>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)" type="text" class="form-control" size="80" value="Some Long Name Here"/></div></td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)" type="text" class="form-control" value="13-Jul-2015"/></div></td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)" type="text" class="form-control" value="$12355.12"/></div></td>
<td>
    <select class="form-control">
        <option>Monthly</option>
        <option>Yearly</option>
    </select>
</td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)"  type="text" class="form-control" value="another long value"/></div></td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)"  type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></div></td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)"  type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></div></td>
<td><div style="width:10em"><input onkeyup="updateWidth(this)"  type="text" class="form-control" value="some val"/></div></td>
<td>$505.79</td>
            </tr>

And the JS function:

 <script>
 function updateWidth(textbox) {
         $(textbox).parent().css("width",(textbox.value.length + 2) + "em");
 }
 </script>

Solution 3

To add on to @katwhocodes, if you are using Bootstrap 4, You can add w-auto class to the <input>.

https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.4/utilities/sizing/#relative-to-the-parent

Comments

[robarelli]

This did the trick, thanks! Simple implementation. I was able to also modify it to use a specific width or use min-width instead, etc...

[Marc Roussel]

Clever. Thank you