Refreshing data before editing

In an environment where data can be updated frequently by multiple users, it is important to ensure that any editing is performed on the latest data that is available. This helps to prevent against data loss due to overlapping edits between data loads.

Editor has the ability to refresh the data to be edited at the point when the user triggers editing for a row. This is done by an Ajax call to request the latest data, which is then displayed in the form, making sure the user has up to date information.

To enable this option use the refresh option of edit / remove, or enable the refresh option in the form-options object.

To see this behaviour in action, open this example in two different windows. Edit a row in one window and then edit that same row in the other window. You'll see the data in the second update to the changes made from the first window.

This data update also applies to the delete action. In this example the first name is displayed in a list when deleting records so you can see the data being updated when the action is triggered.

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'
});

$('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: '../php/staff.php',
	columns: [
		{
			data: null,
			render: function (data, type, row) {
				// Combine the first and last names into a single table field
				return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
			}
		},
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'extn' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{extend: 'create', editor: editor},
				{extend: 'edit', editor: editor, refresh: true},
				{
					extend: 'remove',
					editor: editor,
					refresh: true,
					formMessage: function (e, dt) {
						let rows = dt
							.rows({selected: true})
							.data()
							.map(data => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name);

						return (
							'Are you sure you want to delete the entries for the ' +
							'following? <ul><li>' +
							rows.join('</li><li>') +
							'</li></ul>'
						);
					}
				}
			]
		}
	},
	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'
		}
	],
	table: '#example'
});

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, '$')}
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{extend: 'create', editor: editor},
				{extend: 'edit', editor: editor, refresh: true},
				{
					extend: 'remove',
					editor: editor,
					// refresh: true,
					formMessage: function (e, dt) {
						let rows = dt
							.rows({selected: true})
							.data()
							.map(data => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name);

						return (
							'Are you sure you want to delete the entries for the ' +
							'following? <ul><li>' +
							rows.join('</li><li>') +
							'</li></ul>'
						);
					}
				}
			]
		}
	},
	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:

div.DTE_Form_Info ul {
		text-align: left;
		margin-left: 20%;
	}

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.

Refreshing data before editing

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