Custom field type plug-ins

Although Editor comes with a number of field types built in, you might find that the built in controls don't do exactly what you would like, or you want to present a completely custom control. For these eventualities Editor's field types are designed to be completely extensible and you can create plug-ins to provide your custom controls, or use some of the ones already available.

This example shows how you might create a binary switch using button elements, effectively implementing a custom radio control. This might be useful for styling, as shown in this example.

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

Priority	Item	Status

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 ($, DataTable) {
	if (!DataTable.ext.editorFields) {
		DataTable.ext.editorFields = {};
	}

	var Editor = DataTable.Editor;
	var _fieldTypes = DataTable.ext.editorFields;

	_fieldTypes.todo = {
		create: function (conf) {
			var that = this;

			conf._enabled = true;

			// Create the elements to use for the input
			conf._input = $(
				'<div id="' +
					Editor.safeId(conf.id) +
					'">' +
					'<button type="button" class="inputButton" value="0">To do</button>' +
					'<button type="button" class="inputButton" value="1">Done</button>' +
					'</div>'
			);

			// Use the fact that we are called in the scope of the Editor instance to call
			// the API method for setting the value when needed
			$('button.inputButton', conf._input).click(function () {
				if (conf._enabled) {
					that.set(conf.name, $(this).attr('value'));
				}

				return false;
			});

			return conf._input;
		},

		get: function (conf) {
			return $('button.selected', conf._input).attr('value');
		},

		set: function (conf, val) {
			$('button.selected', conf._input).removeClass('selected');
			$('button.inputButton[value=' + val + ']', conf._input).addClass(
				'selected'
			);
		},

		enable: function (conf) {
			conf._enabled = true;
			$(conf._input).removeClass('disabled');
		},

		disable: function (conf) {
			conf._enabled = false;
			$(conf._input).addClass('disabled');
		}
	};
})(jQuery, DataTable);

//
// Initialisation code
//
var editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/todo.php',
	table: '#example',
	fields: [
		{
			label: 'Item:',
			name: 'item'
		},
		{
			label: 'Status:',
			name: 'done',
			type: 'todo', // Using the custom field type
			def: 0
		},
		{
			label: 'Priority:',
			name: 'priority',
			type: 'select',
			options: [
				{ label: '1 (highest)', value: '1' },
				{ label: '2', value: '2' },
				{ label: '3', value: '3' },
				{ label: '4', value: '4' },
				{ label: '5 (lowest)', value: '5' }
			]
		}
	]
});

$('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/todo.php',
	columns: [
		{ data: 'priority', className: 'center' },
		{ data: 'item' },
		{
			className: 'center',
			data: 'done',
			render: function (data, type, row) {
				if (type === 'display' || type === 'filter') {
					// Filtering and display get the rendered string
					return data == 0 ? 'To do' : 'Done';
				}
				// Otherwise just give the original data
				return data;
			}
		}
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	select: true
});

//
// Plug-in code
//
(function (DataTable) {
	var Editor = DataTable.Editor;
	var _fieldTypes = DataTable.ext.editorFields;

	_fieldTypes.todo = {
		create: function (conf) {
			conf._enabled = true;

			// Create the elements to use for the input
			conf._input = document.createElement('div');
			conf._input.id = Editor.safeId(conf.id);

			// Build button 1 (To do) and its event listener
			let button1 = document.createElement('button');
			button1.type = 'button';
			button1.value = 0;
			button1.classList.add('inputButton');
			button1.textContent = 'To do';
			conf._input.appendChild(button1);

			button1.addEventListener('click', () => {
				if (conf._enabled) {
					this.set(conf.name, button1.value);
				}
			});

			// Build button 2 (Done) and its event listener
			let button2 = document.createElement('button');
			button2.type = 'button';
			button2.value = 1;
			button2.classList.add('inputButton');
			button2.textContent = 'Done';
			conf._input.appendChild(button2);

			button2.addEventListener('click', () => {
				if (conf._enabled) {
					this.set(conf.name, button2.value);
				}
			});

			return conf._input;
		},

		get: function (conf) {
			return conf._input.querySelector('button.selected').value;
		},

		set: function (conf, val) {
			let current = conf._input.querySelector('button.selected');

			if (current) {
				current.classList.remove('selected');
			}

			conf._input
				.querySelector('button.inputButton[value="' + val + '"]')
				.classList.add('selected');
		},

		enable: function (conf) {
			conf._enabled = true;
			conf._input.classList.remove('disabled');
		},

		disable: function (conf) {
			conf._enabled = false;
			conf._input.classList.remove('add');
		}
	};
})(DataTable);

//
// Initialisation code
//
const editor = new DataTable.Editor({
	ajax: '../php/todo.php',
	table: '#example',
	fields: [
		{
			label: 'Item:',
			name: 'item'
		},
		{
			label: 'Status:',
			name: 'done',
			type: 'todo', // Using the custom field type
			def: 0
		},
		{
			label: 'Priority:',
			name: 'priority',
			type: 'select',
			options: [
				{ label: '1 (highest)', value: '1' },
				{ label: '2', value: '2' },
				{ label: '3', value: '3' },
				{ label: '4', value: '4' },
				{ label: '5 (lowest)', value: '5' }
			]
		}
	]
});

new DataTable('#example', {
	ajax: '../php/todo.php',
	columns: [
		{ data: 'priority', className: 'center' },
		{ data: 'item' },
		{
			className: 'center',
			data: 'done',
			render: (data, type, row) => {
				if (type === 'display' || type === 'filter') {
					// Filtering and display get the rendered string
					return data == 0 ? 'To do' : 'Done';
				}
				// Otherwise just give the original data
				return data;
			}
		}
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	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:

button.inputButton {
		float: left;
		text-align: center;
		display: block;
		cursor: pointer;
		margin: 0 20px 10px 0;
		padding: 6px 0;
		background: #F8F8F8;
		background: -webkit-gradient(linear, center bottom, center top, from(#CCC), to(white));
		background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, white, #CCC);
		background: linear-gradient(to bottom, white, #CCC);
		text-shadow: 0 1px 0 white;
		border: 1px solid #999;
		border-radius: 3px;
		-moz-border-radius: 3px;
		-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
		box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #999;
		-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #999;
		-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #999;
		width: 80px;
	}

	button.inputButton.selected {
		font-weight: normal;
		background: #02475A;
		background: -webkit-gradient(linear, center bottom, center top, from(#777), to(#333));
		background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #333, #777);
		background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #333, #777);
		box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 2px #222;
		-moz-box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 2px #222;
		-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 2px #222;
		color: white;
		text-shadow: none;
	}

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 field type plug-ins

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