AutoFill and KeyTable together

To emulate the Excel interface as closely as possible, KeyTable and AutoFill can be used on the same table as shown here. This can be particularly beneficial, for example, when transitioning staff from Excel spreadsheets to your own online application - providing an interface they are familiar with.

As of KeyTable 2.4 the Excel like interface is even more "Excel like" through its support for copy and paste of data - simply focus on the cell you want to copy or paste data from or to, and use the standard copy / paste commands (via the Edit menu, context menu or keyboard).

	First name	Last name	Position	Office	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'
		}
	],
	table: '#example'
});

var table = $('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	autoFill: {
		columns: ':not(:first-child)',
		editor: editor
	},
	order: [[1, 'asc']],
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			orderable: false,
			render: DataTable.render.select()
		},
		{ data: 'first_name' },
		{ data: 'last_name' },
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	keys: {
		columns: ':not(:first-child)',
		editor: editor
	},
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	select: {
		blurable: true,
		selector: 'td:first-child',
		style: 'os'
	}
});

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'
		}
	],
	table: '#example'
});

const table = new DataTable('#example', {
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	autoFill: {
		columns: ':not(:first-child)',
		editor
	},
	order: [[1, 'asc']],
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			orderable: false,
			render: DataTable.render.select()
		},
		{ data: 'first_name' },
		{ data: 'last_name' },
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	keys: {
		columns: ':not(:first-child)',
		editor: editor
	},
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	select: {
		blurable: true,
		selector: 'td:first-child',
		style: 'os'
	}
});

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:

div.DTE_Inline input {
		border: none;
		background-color: transparent;
		padding: 0 !important;
		font-size: 90%;
	}

	div.DTE_Inline input:focus {
		outline: none;
		background-color: transparent;
	}

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.

AutoFill and KeyTable together

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