Allow Editing When Creating New Records for the New Records Only

Updated on Dec 10, 2025

Environment

Product	Progress® Kendo UI® Grid for jQuery
Product Version	2020.3.1021

Description

How can I allow user input for a specific field when adding a new row and prevent user input for existing rows?

Solution

Based on the id value of the Model, conditionally determine an editable column.

To control the editing capability of the column, the column editable property accepts a function. In the following code snippet, based on the ProductID value, an isEditable function returns a Boolean value. If the value is null, the Grid will add a new record—the value will not be added until the Grid saves its changes. If a value is not null, the Grid will update an existing record.

js

    var dataSource = new kendo.data.DataSource({
      ...
      schema: {
        model: {
          id: "ProductID",
          fields: {
            ProductID: { editable: false, nullable: true },
            ProductName: { validation: { required: true } },
            ...
          }
        }
      }
    });

    $("#grid").kendoGrid({
        ...
        columns: [
          { field: "ProductName", editable: isEditable},
          ...
        ]
    });

    function isEditable(e){
      var dataSource = $("#grid").data("kendoGrid").dataSource;
      //If the id(ProductID) is null, then it is editable.
      return e.ProductID == null;
    }

The following example demonstrates how, upon creating a new record, ProductName and UnitPrice become editable. When the user updates an existing record, ProductName and UnitPrice become read-only.

    <div id="grid"></div>

    <script>
      $(document).ready(function () {
        var crudServiceBaseUrl = "https://demos.telerik.com/service/v2/core",
          dataSource = new kendo.data.DataSource({
              transport: {
                  read:  {
                      url: crudServiceBaseUrl + "/Products"
                  },
                  update: {
                      url: crudServiceBaseUrl + "/Products/Update",
                      type: "POST",
                  contentType: "application/json"
                  },
                  destroy: {
                      url: crudServiceBaseUrl + "/Products/Destroy",
                      type: "POST",
                  contentType: "application/json"
                  },
                  create: {
                      url: crudServiceBaseUrl + "/Products/Create",
                      type: "POST",
                  contentType: "application/json"
                  },
                  parameterMap: function(options, operation) {
                      if (operation !== "read" && options.models) {
                          return kendo.stringify(options.models);
                      }
                  }
              },
              batch: true,
              pageSize: 20,
              schema: {
                model: {
                  id: "ProductID",
                  fields: {
                    ProductID: { editable: false, nullable: true },
                    ProductName: { validation: { required: true } },
                    UnitPrice: { type: "number", validation: { required: true, min: 1} },
                    Discontinued: { type: "boolean" },
                    UnitsInStock: { type: "number", validation: { min: 0, required: true } }
                  }
                }
              }
            });

        $("#grid").kendoGrid({
          dataSource: dataSource,
          pageable: true,
          height: 550,
          toolbar: ["create"],
          columns: [
            /*
            ProductName and UnitPrice will be only editable
            upon adding a new record.
            */
            { field: "ProductName", editable: isEditable},
            { field: "UnitPrice", editable: isEditable, title: "Unit Price", format: "{0:c}", width: "120px" },
            { field: "UnitsInStock", title:"Units In Stock", width: "120px" },
            { field: "Discontinued", width: "120px" },
            { command: ["edit", "destroy"], title: "&nbsp;", width: "250px" }],
          editable: "inline"
        });
      });

      function isEditable(e){
        var dataSource = $("#grid").data("kendoGrid").dataSource;
        // If the id(ProductID) is null, then it is editable.
        return e.ProductID == null;
      }
    </script>

See Also

• Grid Editing Overview