Custom form layout / templates (attributes)

This example is functionally identical to the custom tag template example. The difference is the HTML used to describe the template does not use HTML5 custom tags; instead it makes use of a data-editor-template attribute on standard elements (e.g. a div).

Editor will insert a field which matches the name of the data-editor-template attribute of an element into (append) that element.

Name
Office
HR info
Name Position Office Extn. Start date Salary
Name Position Office Extn. Start date Salary
  • Javascript
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Ajax
  • Server-side script
  • Comments (0)

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

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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',
    template: '#customForm'
});
 
$('#example').DataTable({
    ajax: '../php/staff.php',
    columns: [
        {
            data: null,
            render: function (data, type, row) {
                // Combine the first and last names into a single table field
                return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
            }
        },
        { data: 'position' },
        { data: 'office' },
        { data: 'extn' },
        { data: 'start_date' },
        { data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
    ],
    layout: {
        topStart: {
            buttons: [
                { extend: 'create', editor: editor },
                { extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
                { extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
            ]
        }
    },
    select: true
});
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const editor = new DataTable.Editor({
    ajax: '../php/staff.php',
    table: '#example',
    template: '#customForm',
    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'
        }
    ]
});
 
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 },
                { 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:

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    #customForm {
        display: flex;
        flex-flow: row wrap;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset {
        flex: 1;
        border: 1px solid #aaa;
        margin: 0.5em;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset legend {
        padding: 5px 20px;
        border: 1px solid #aaa;
        font-weight: bold;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset.name {
        flex: 2 100%;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset.name legend {
        background: #bfffbf;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset.office legend {
        background: #ffffbf;
    }
     
    #customForm fieldset.hr legend {
        background: #ffbfbf;
    }
     
    #customForm div.DTE_Field {
        padding: 5px;
    }
     
    html.dark #customForm fieldset.name legend {
        background: #005c00;
    }
     
    html.dark #customForm fieldset.office legend {
        background: #6a6a00;
    }
     
    html.dark #customForm fieldset.hr legend {
        background: #7e0000;
    }

    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.

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