Conditionally display element in table

Question

Problem: When utilizing a pageBlockTable to create a calendar, I am unable to conditionally display components in certain locations.

Right now I'm using this set up to populate my calendar:

<apex:pageBlockTable value="{!calendar}" var="a" rules="all" cellpadding="75%">
                <apex:column >
                    <apex:facet name="header">SUNDAY<br/>(Morning)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[0].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[0].isChecked}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                </apex:column>
                <apex:column >
                    <apex:facet name="header"><br/>(Afternoon)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[1].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[1].isChecked}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                </apex:column>
</apex:pageBlockTable>

This works well, however it will place checkboxes in every single square, even those without actual dates. Example:

When I attempt to use a flag from the controller and use an apex:variable element paired with render=flag to say whether or not a box should appear, it will remove the checkbox for the entire column rather than just for one row. Like this:

<apex:pageBlockTable value="{!calendar}" var="a" rules="all" cellpadding="75%">
                <apex:column >
                    <apex:facet name="header">SUNDAY<br/>(Morning)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[0].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:variable value="{!foo}" var="bar" rendered="{!a.Sunday[0].displayBox}" >
                        <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[0].isChecked}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                    <apex:variable>
                </apex:column>
                <apex:column >
                    <apex:facet name="header"><br/>(Afternoon)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[1].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:variable value="{!foo}" var="bar" rendered="{!a.Sunday[1].displayBox}" >
                        <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[1].isChecked}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                    </apex:variable>
                </apex:column>
<apex:pageBlockTable>

How else can I approach this problem? Thanks

Answer 1

It doesn't appear that you need the <apex:variable tag in your use case and you should be able to put the rendered boolean directly on the inputCheckbox.

<apex:pageBlockTable value="{!calendar}" var="a" rules="all" cellpadding="75%">
                <apex:column >
                    <apex:facet name="header">SUNDAY<br/>(Morning)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[0].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[0].isChecked}" rendered="{!a.Sunday[0].displayBox}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                </apex:column>
                <apex:column>
                    <apex:facet name="header"><br/>(Afternoon)</apex:facet>
                    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[1].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
                    <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[1].isChecked}" rendered="{!a.Sunday[1].displayBox}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
                </apex:column>
<apex:pageBlockTable>

If that markup causes strange layout issues because of a missing element, you might consider wrapping the checkbox in a <span> by using a span tag or an <apex:outputPanel> so that when the checkbox isn't rendered, there is still a sibling element next to the text with the day number.

<apex:column >
    <apex:facet name="header">SUNDAY<br/>(Morning)</apex:facet>
    <apex:outputText value="{!a.Sunday[0].viewDate}"></apex:outputText>
    <apex:outputPanel>
        <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!a.Sunday[0].isChecked}" rendered="{!a.Sunday[0].displayBox}"></apex:inputCheckbox>
    </apex:outputPanel>
</apex:column>