jQuery UI Sortable table and cell is shrinking while dragging tr

Question

While dragging am facing two issues.

1. table it self is shrinking when i have a hidden td.
2. dragged tr cell(td)s are shrinking

This is the code of the sortable:

$('tbody').sortable({
    items: ">tr",
    appendTo: "parent",
    opacity: 1,
    containment: "document",
    placeholder: "placeholder-style",
    cursor: "move",
    delay: 150,
});

jsfiddle link

Answer 1

The problem with the shrinking of the table is because you have a hidden cell (and in the placeholder that the sortable creates for you there are 5 cells and non of them are hidden. You can fix this by setting the 2nd td inside the placeholder as hidden once you start the drag:

$(this).find('.placeholder-style td:nth-child(2)').addClass('hidden-td')

The second problem is caused by the fact that the tr that you drag was changed to position: absolute and it is no longer have the properties of the table. You can fix this by setting display: table to that row:

ui.helper.css('display', 'table')

This change must be un-done when the the sorting is done.

Here is the complete change:

start: function(event, ui) {
    $(this).find('.placeholder-style td:nth-child(2)').addClass('hidden-td')
    ui.helper.css('display', 'table')
},
stop: function(event, ui) {
    ui.item.css('display', '')
}

Here is a working example

$('tbody').sortable({
  items: ">tr",
  appendTo: "parent",
  opacity: 1,
  containment: "document",
  placeholder: "placeholder-style",
  cursor: "move",
  delay: 150,
  start: function(event, ui) {
  	$(this).find('.placeholder-style td:nth-child(2)').addClass('hidden-td')
    ui.helper.css('display', 'table')
  },
  stop: function(event, ui) {
  	ui.item.css('display', '')
  }
});

.sort-table{
  width: 100%;
  border: 1px solid #cecece;
  background-color: #d5a45a;
}
thead{
  background-color: #0e79c4;
}
th{
     font-size: 1em;
    line-height: 1.375em;
    font-weight: 400;
    background-color: #0e79c4;
    vertical-align: middle;
    padding: 0.5em 0.9375em;
    text-align: left;
}
tr{
  border: 1px solid #cecece;
}
td{
  padding: 1em;
  vertical-align: middle;
   display: table-cell;
   border-top: 1px solid #cecece;
}
.hidden-td{
  display: none;
}
.placeholder-style{
  background-color: grey;
}

<script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.js"></script>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/jquery-ui.js"></script>
<table class="sort-table">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th class="header-td">Column1 </th>
      <td class="hidden-td">row1 hidden td</td>
      <th class="header-td">Column2 </th>
      <th class="header-td">Column3 </th>
      <th class="header-td">Column4 </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td class="body-td">row1 td1</td>
      <td class="body-td hidden-td">row1 hidden td</td>
      <td class="body-td">row1 td2</td>
      <td class="body-td">row1 td3</td>
      <td class="body-td">row1 td4</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="body-td">row2 td1</td>
      <td class="body-td hidden-td">row1 hidden td</td>
      <td class="body-td">row2 td2</td>
      <td class="body-td">row2 td3</td>
      <td class="body-td">row2 td4</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="body-td">row3 td1</td>
      <td class="body-td hidden-td">row1 hidden td</td>
      <td class="body-td">row3 td2</td>
      <td class="body-td">row3 td3</td>
      <td class="body-td">row3 td4</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="body-td">row4 td1</td>
      <td class="body-td hidden-td">row1 hidden td</td>
      <td class="body-td">row4 td2</td>
      <td class="body-td">row4 td3</td>
      <td class="body-td">row4 td4</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

And a jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/mjkq4fb6/