Multi-item editing (rows, columns, cells)

This example demonstrates Editor's multi-item editing capabilities, showing specifically that multi-item editing is not limited to rows, but columns and cells can also be selected and edited with a single click. Furthermore, it is possible to combine the selection of rows, columns and cells to provide complex data updates with ease.

The item selection here (and all other examples) is provided by the Select extension for DataTables. It has the ability to select the individual components of the table - which item type is selected can be controlled through the select.items() method, or the selectRows, selectColumns and selectCells buttons that Select provides.

These buttons are utilised in this example to allow the end user to easily change what items will be selected.

Name	Position	Office	Extn.	Start date	Salary
Name	Position	Office	Extn.	Start date	Salary

Javascript
HTML
CSS
Ajax
Server-side script
Comments

The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

var editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	fields: [
		{
			label: 'First name:',
			name: 'first_name'
		},
		{
			label: 'Last name:',
			name: 'last_name'
		},
		{
			label: 'Position:',
			name: 'position'
		},
		{
			label: 'Office:',
			name: 'office'
		},
		{
			label: 'Extension:',
			name: 'extn'
		},
		{
			label: 'Start date:',
			name: 'start_date',
			type: 'datetime'
		},
		{
			label: 'Salary:',
			name: 'salary'
		}
	],
	formOptions: {
		main: {
			scope: 'cell' // Allow multi-row editing with cell selection
		}
	},
	table: '#example'
});

$('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			render: function (data, type, row) {
				// Combine the first and last names into a single table field
				return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
			},
			editField: ['first_name', 'last_name']
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'extn' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'spacer' },
				'selectRows',
				'selectColumns',
				'selectCells',
				'selectNone'
			]
		}
	},
	select: true
});

const editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	fields: [
		{
			label: 'First name:',
			name: 'first_name'
		},
		{
			label: 'Last name:',
			name: 'last_name'
		},
		{
			label: 'Position:',
			name: 'position'
		},
		{
			label: 'Office:',
			name: 'office'
		},
		{
			label: 'Extension:',
			name: 'extn'
		},
		{
			label: 'Start date:',
			name: 'start_date',
			type: 'datetime'
		},
		{
			label: 'Salary:',
			name: 'salary'
		}
	],
	formOptions: {
		main: {
			scope: 'cell' // Allow multi-row editing with cell selection
		}
	},
	table: '#example'
});

new DataTable('#example', {
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			render: (data) => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name,
			editField: ['first_name', 'last_name']
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'extn' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'spacer' },
				'selectRows',
				'selectColumns',
				'selectCells',
				'selectNone'
			]
		}
	},
	select: true
});

In addition to the above code, the following Javascript library files are loaded for use in this example:

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

a.buttons-select-rows,
	a.buttons-select-none {
		margin-left: 1em;
	}

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side interaction for this demo is shown below. This server uses PHP, so the PHP script is shown, however our download packages include the equivalent script for other platforms, including .NET and Node.js. Server-side scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the Editor documentation.

Multi-item editing (rows, columns, cells)

Other examples

Simple initialisation

Advanced initialisation

Triggering editing

DataTables as an input

Dates and time

Dropdown input types

DataTables extensions

Inline editing

Bubble editing

API

Standalone

Styling

Plug-ins

DataTables