Why is my jquery datatables createdrow function not working?

Question

I am trying to use the Datatables Rows Created Callback to modify the data in the row before drawing it. What I am trying to do is replace all < and > with '<' and '>' so I can put a line break in each cell and have text on separate lines. '\\n' or linefeed does not work.

var oTable = $('#table').DataTable( { 
      "createdRow" : function( row, data, index) {
         console.log( 'DATA WAS ' + data[0]);
         data[0] = data[0].replace(/&lt;/g,'<').replace(/&gt;/g,'>');
         console.log( 'DATA IS ' + data[0]);
       }

in the console I can see the data being modified correctly. But its not actually modifying the table. Is there a way to do this? or is the createdRow callback called after the row has already been drawn?

Answer 1

Yep, correct. createdRow callback is only called after the row has already been drawn. Instead of fixing your current code, I will show you how to do it using the proper (?) way by using column defs :D Also, I'd think/hope there was something somewhere that would convert your < stuff automatically.

var oTable = $('#table').DataTable( { 
    "columnDefs": [ {
        "targets": 0,
        "render": function(data, type, row, meta) {
            html = data.replace(/&lt;/g,'<').replace(/&gt;/g,'>');
            return html;
        },
    ],
}

Answer 2

Add the modified element back to the td (column) in question.

var oTable = $('#table').DataTable( { 
    "createdRow" : function( row, data, index) {
    console.log( 'DATA WAS ' + data[0]);
    data[0] = data[0].replace(/&lt;/g,'<').replace(/&gt;/g,'>');
    console.log( 'DATA IS ' + data[0]);
    $('td', row).eq(0).append(data[0]);
}