My table is a data table, and I'm contemplating using it as the data store as well, rather than keep a js array of data separately. The cell values are retrived by ajax, then inserted into the table. I'm thinking that the duplication of data (once in the js array, once in the table) is likely to lead to strange results somewhere along the line, where the two data sets get out of synch. It seems to me that jquery makes using a table in this way rather simple (I refer to the jquery selectors in particular).

The table includes some editable-in-place columns. If any such edits, and user presses a Save button above the table, the save function finds the edited fields and sends an appropriate ajax call, then refreshes the table with the outcome (eg it worked, so new values remain shown, it didn't work, revert, or something like that, it's not too important here). Hence the need to maintain some 'awareness' of the values in the cells. I'm content with using attributes as needed to support this (eg to be able to revert to original value, to mark cells that have been edited). Table may contain up to 500 rows, ten columns.

Anyone have some experience with this approach, and can suggest how it compares with keeping the data in a js array?