Server-side processing

When working with large data sets (50'000 rows+), you might find that you want to harness the power of the SQL database on your server, having it perform ordering, searching and paging for you - tasks which database engines are highly tuned for. With a large amount of data on the client-side, the browser can start to slow down, so DataTables has a server-side processing mode which hands off all of the "hard work" to the server. This allows DataTables to display data from results sets which may be many millions of records in size.

The Editor server-side libraries (both PHP, .NET and NodeJS) have automatic detection of a server-side processing request from DataTables and will automatically process them as required. Thus, to switch your table to server-side processing mode, all you need to do is use the DataTables serverSide option, setting it to true. You will likely also want to use POST data, which can be done using the ajax option, as shown in this example. The Editor libraries will then perform all additional logic for you automatically!

First name	Last name	Position	Office	Start date	Salary
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'
});

$('#example').DataTable({
	ajax: {
		url: '../php/staff.php',
		type: 'POST'
	},
	columns: [
		{ data: 'first_name' },
		{ data: 'last_name' },
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	processing: true,
	select: true,
	serverSide: 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: {
		url: '../php/staff.php',
		type: 'POST'
	},
	columns: [
		{ data: 'first_name' },
		{ data: 'last_name' },
		{ data: 'position' },
		{ data: 'office' },
		{ data: 'start_date' },
		{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
	],
	layout: {
		topStart: {
			buttons: [
				{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
				{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
			]
		}
	},
	processing: true,
	select: true,
	serverSide: 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:

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.

Server-side processing

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