Custom display controller

Editor has two display controllers built in for use with the display option (lightbox and envelope). However, you might wish to customise how Editor displays your form - this can be done through the use of a display controller plug-in.

Display controllers basically place the form on screen somewhere - they are not interested in the contents of the form, they are simply given an element that needs to be shown, and how exactly they display that element is entirely up to them! This provides a huge amount of flexibility in Editor, allowing your interface to be customised to exactly what you want.

This example shows how a display controller can be built using DataTables child row abilities (row().child().show()). When the control icon is clicked upon, we make a call to edit() to start the edit. The display controller then creates the child row using the DataTables API and inserts the form control. Note that it uses the built in lightbox control for creating new rows, since attaching the new row form to an existing row doesn't make any sense! As a result of this the styling for this example is locked to the DataTables default, since the other frameworks don't have the styles for the default lightbox. It can be modified to support each individual framework though.

For more detailed information on how to create plug-ins for Editor, please refer to the Editor documentation.

	Name	Position	Office	Salary
	Name	Position	Office	Salary

Javascript
HTML
CSS
Ajax
Server-side script
Comments

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

//
// Plug-in code
//
(function () {
	var Editor = DataTable.Editor;
	Editor.display.details = $.extend(true, {}, Editor.models.displayController, {
		init: function (editor) {
			// Setup the lightbox - we'll use it for new entries
			Editor.display.lightbox.init(editor);

			// No other setup needed
			return Editor.display.details;
		},

		open: function (editor, append, callback) {
			var table = $(editor.s.table).DataTable();
			var row = editor.s.modifier;

			// Close any rows which are already open
			Editor.display.details.close(editor);

			if (editor.mode() === 'create') {
				// Its a new row. Use Editor's lightbox
				Editor.display.lightbox.open(editor, append, callback);
			}
			else {
				// Open the child row on the DataTable
				table
					.row(row)
					.child(append)
					.show();

				$(table.row(row).node()).addClass('shown');

				if (callback) {
					callback();
				}
			}
		},

		close: function (editor, callback) {
			Editor.display.lightbox.close(editor, callback);

			var table = $(editor.s.table).DataTable();

			table.rows().every(function () {
				if (this.child.isShown()) {
					this.child.hide();
					$(this.node()).removeClass('shown');
				}
			});

			if (callback) {
				callback();
			}
		}
	});
})();

//
// Initialisation code
//
var editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	display: 'details',
	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 = $('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			className: 'dt-control',
			orderable: false,
			data: null,
			defaultContent: ''
		},
		{
			data: null,
			render: function (data, type, row) {
				// Combine the first and last names into a single table field
				return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
			}
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [{ extend: 'create', editor: editor }]
		}
	},
	order: [[1, 'asc']],
	rowCallback: function (row, data, index) {
		$('td:first-child', row).attr('title', 'Click to edit');
	},
	select: true
});

$('#example').on('click', 'td.dt-control', function () {
	var tr = this.parentNode;

	if (table.row(tr).child.isShown()) {
		editor.close();
	}
	else {
		editor.edit(tr, 'Edit row', [
			{
				className: 'delete',
				label: 'Delete row',
				fn: function () {
					// Close the edit display and delete the row immediately
					editor.close();
					editor.remove(tr, '', null, false);
					editor.submit();
				}
			},
			{
				label: 'Update row',
				fn: function () {
					editor.submit();
				}
			}
		]);
	}
});

//
// Plug-in code
//
(function () {
	const Editor = DataTable.Editor;
	Editor.display.details = Object.assign({}, Editor.models.displayController, {
		init: function (editor) {
			// Setup the lightbox - we'll use it for new entries
			Editor.display.lightbox.init(editor);

			// No other setup needed
			return Editor.display.details;
		},

		open: function (editor, append, callback) {
			let table = new DataTable.Api(editor.s.table);
			let row = editor.s.modifier;

			// Close any rows which are already open
			Editor.display.details.close(editor);

			if (editor.mode() === 'create') {
				// Its a new row. Use Editor's lightbox
				Editor.display.lightbox.open(editor, append, callback);
			}
			else {
				// Open the child row on the DataTable
				table
					.row(row)
					.child(append)
					.show();
				table
					.row(row)
					.node()
					.classList.add('shown');

				if (callback) {
					callback();
				}
			}
		},

		close: function (editor, callback) {
			Editor.display.lightbox.close(editor, callback);

			let table = new DataTable.Api(editor.s.table);

			table.rows().every(function () {
				if (this.child.isShown()) {
					this.child.hide();
					this.node().classList.remove('shown');
				}
			});

			if (callback) {
				callback();
			}
		}
	});
})();

//
// Initialisation code
//
const editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	display: 'details',
	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 = $('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			className: 'dt-control',
			orderable: false,
			data: null,
			defaultContent: ''
		},
		{
			data: null,
			render: (data) => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [{ extend: 'create', editor: editor }]
		}
	},
	order: [[1, 'asc']],
	rowCallback: function (row, data, index) {
		row.querySelector('td:first-child').setAttribute('title', 'Click to edit');
	},
	select: true
});

table.on('click', 'td.dt-control', function () {
	var tr = this.parentNode;

	if (table.row(tr).child.isShown()) {
		editor.close();
	}
	else {
		editor.edit(tr, 'Edit row', [
			{
				className: 'delete',
				label: 'Delete row',
				fn: () => {
					// Close the edit display and delete the row immediately
					editor.close();
					editor.remove(tr, '', null, false);
					editor.submit();
				}
			},
			{
				label: 'Update row',
				fn: () => {
					editor.submit();
				}
			}
		]);
	}
});

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:

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.

Custom display controller

Other examples

Simple initialisation

Advanced initialisation

DataTables as an input

Dates and time

DataTables extensions

Inline editing

Bubble editing

API

Standalone

Styling

Plug-ins

DataTables