DataTables add column dynamically to table

Question

I'm using DataTables ( datatables.net ) to display data from an Ajax source and having trouble customizing it. One thing I would like to do is add a column so I can have for example an 'edit' button for each row.

The closest thing to that in the examples is here but I can't get that to work with an ajax source.

Currently, I'm using the following code to display my table:

fnServerObjectToArray = function ( aElements ){
    return function ( sSource, aoData, fnCallback ) {
        $.ajax( {
            "dataType": 'json', 
            "type": "POST", 
            "url": sSource, 
            "data": aoData, 
            "success": function (json) {
                var a = [];
                for ( var i=0, iLen=json.aaData.length ; i<iLen ; i++ ) {
                    var inner = [];
                    for ( var j=0, jLen=aElements.length ; j<jLen ; j++ ) {

                        inner.push( json.aaData[i][aElements[j]] );
                    }
                    a.push( inner );
                }
                json.aaData = a;
                fnCallback(json);
            }
        } );
    }
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#example').dataTable( {
        "bProcessing": true,
        "sAjaxSource": 'get_data.php',
        "fnServerData": fnServerObjectToArray( [ 'username', 'email' ] )
    } );
}); 

Answer 1

Why don't you use fnRenderFunction in the aoColumns? As an example:

aoColumns: [ { "bVisible": false} , null, null, null, null,
  { "sName": "ID",
    "bSearchable": false,
    "bSortable": false,
    "fnRender": function (oObj) {
       return "<a href='EditData.php?id=" + oObj.aData[0] + "'>Edit</a>";
     }
  }
]

You can use it to format the value from the server side.

See similar example on the http://jquery-datatables-editable.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ajax-inlinebuttons.html (ignore specific settings for the editable plugin)

Answer 2

I've created columns with edit button and links and so on, but usually i do everything server side by custominzg the data i return and then show/hide them with the aoColumns option. I don't really understand what you are tring to achieve: display server side data as a link?

Answer 3

i have some RND on this problem and get this hope this will help you out.

Answer 4

Had the same problem a few months back. This is what I did.
By no means an elegant slution, but this worked.

As you might already know, DataTables do have an overload to accept Javascript Arrays .

So I made by $.ajax call. got my json, parsed it to a javascript array and then while parsing I created an extra element (an anchor tag) with href="edit.php?email=passed_email" Then on the column headers and added a column called Edit. Those values were fed to "aaData" and "aoColumns". And then the table was populated.

And BTW, if you looking for inline editing, check the following link.
DataTables editing example - with jEditableplugin