---

type: initiative slug: m2-table-formatting-and-linking-architecture title: M2 table formatting and linking architecture workstream: graph-library owner: data-viz-designer-engineer status: planned milestone: m2-internal-adoption-design-partners

---

M2 table formatting and linking architecture

Objective

Define a coherent table formatting and linking model at table and column config scope: rendered cells still exist, but M2 does not introduce a cell-level format namespace in YAML—per-row presentation comes from data plus column-ID-first fields and templates.

Scope

• Link behavior at table/column level, including cross-column URL mapping.
• Formatting at table and column scope for M2.
• In-cell visual encodings (for example data bars and sparklines) as formatting-owned behavior.
• Cross-column mapping of source values to presentation attributes (URL, colors, font weight, etc.).
• Breaking adoption of style.table / style.columns on table charts in docs and examples (no runtime migration or compatibility shims pre-launch).

Deliverables

• [x] Create initiative scaffold and attach M2 tasks.
• [x] Research external BI and table-library configuration patterns.
• [x] Propose unified option taxonomy for table formatting + linking.
• [x] Define recommended config organization and precedence model.
• [x] Define full M2 deliverable set for table format (single milestone).

Task Plan (M2)

• [ ] m2-table-formatting-survey-and-option-inventory
• [ ] m2-table-config-schema-and-precedence-model
• [ ] m2-linking-actions-for-headers-rows-and-cells
• [ ] m2-conditional-formatting-and-row-level-styling-engine
• [ ] m2-in-cell-visual-encodings-and-sparkline-consolidation
• [ ] vega-lite-format-parity-for-tables-and-python-formatters
• [ ] m2-docs-examples-and-qa-matrix-for-table-formatting

Recommendation Snapshot

• Nest table presentation under chart style: style.table (table-wide) and style.columns (per query column ID), alongside generic style chrome keys.
• Treat linking as a first-class concern at column scope; row-level URL variation via column ID on link (column-ID-first) or URL templates with column placeholders.
• Keep in-cell visuals (bars/sparklines) under style.columns.<id>.visual so one column can combine number formatting, link behavior, and micro-visualization coherently.
• For M2, keep logic/conditions in query/data output; formatter config maps values to presentation attributes (column-ID-first strings, no parallel *FromColumn names).
• Table value number/date formatting mirrors Vega-Lite (format / formatType); shared Python implementation with charts (see Vega-Lite format parity task).
• Duplicate YAML keys are compile errors everywhere dashboard YAML is loaded.

Links

• Research
• Support Matrix
• Spec
• Decisions