In table form controls

Many of the Editor examples use Buttons to provide buttons and row selection interaction options. While it is sometimes convenient to use Buttons in this manner, it might not always be the interface method that you wish to present to your end users. Editor does not require Buttons in order to function, as shown in this example where edit and delete icons are shown in the table and the 'new' option is a link at the top of the table. We use FontAwesome to provide the icons here, but you could use images / font you prefer.

This example shows the use of the create(), edit() and remove() API methods, which are activated when required by standard jQuery events. With this API, Editor is very powerful as it can be accessed and controlled in any way you wish.

Two other points worth noting about the example is the use of columns.defaultContent for the edit / delete columns (in combination with a null value for columns.data) to display the edit and delete icons.

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

$('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			render: function (data, type, row) {
				// Combine the first and last names into a single table field
				return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
			}
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'extn' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') },
		{
			data: null,
			className: 'dt-center editor-edit',
			defaultContent: '<button><i class="fa fa-pencil"/></button>',
			orderable: false
		},
		{
			data: null,
			className: 'dt-center editor-delete',
			defaultContent: '<button><i class="fa fa-trash"/></button>',
			orderable: false
		}
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{
					text: 'Create new record',
					action: function () {
						// Create new record
						editor.create({
							title: 'Create new record',
							buttons: 'Add'
						});
					}
				}
			]
		}
	}
});

// New record
$('a.editor-create').on('click', function (e) {
	e.preventDefault();

	editor.create({
		title: 'Create new record',
		buttons: 'Add'
	});
});

// Edit record
$('#example').on('click', 'td.editor-edit button', function (e) {
	editor.edit($(this).closest('tr'), {
		title: 'Edit record',
		buttons: 'Update'
	});
});

// Delete a record
$('#example').on('click', 'td.editor-delete button', function (e) {
	editor.remove($(this).closest('tr'), {
		title: 'Delete record',
		message: 'Are you sure you wish to remove this record?',
		buttons: 'Delete'
	});
});

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',
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			render: (data) => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'extn' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') },
		{
			data: null,
			className: 'dt-center editor-edit',
			defaultContent: '<button><i class="fa fa-pencil"/></button>',
			orderable: false
		},
		{
			data: null,
			className: 'dt-center editor-delete',
			defaultContent: '<button><i class="fa fa-trash"/></button>',
			orderable: false
		}
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{
					text: 'Create new record',
					action: function () {
						// Create new record
						editor.create({
							title: 'Create new record',
							buttons: 'Add'
						});
					}
				}
			]
		}
	}
});

// Edit record
table.on('click', 'td.editor-edit button', function (e) {
	editor.edit(e.target.closest('tr'), {
		title: 'Edit record',
		buttons: 'Update'
	});
});

// Delete a record
table.on('click', 'td.editor-delete button', function (e) {
	editor.remove(e.target.closest('tr'), {
		title: 'Delete record',
		message: 'Are you sure you wish to remove this record?',
		buttons: 'Delete'
	});
});

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:

td.editor-edit button,
td.editor-delete button {
	background: transparent;
	border: none;
	color: inherit;
}

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.

In table form controls

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