For complex forms that have a lot of visible fields, it can be useful to style the form to show in a multi-column layout, rather than in a single column. This can readily be done using a little CSS.
There are a number ways to achieve a multi-column layout in CSS, including floating elements, CSS columns, Flexbox, and Grid. This example makes use of Flexbox as it have very good support in all modern browsers.
| Name | Position | Office | Extn. | Start date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Position | Office | Extn. | Start date | Salary |
The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:
var editor = new DataTable.Editor({
ajax: '../../controllers/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'
});
$('#example').DataTable({
ajax: '../../controllers/staff.php',
columns: [
{
data: null,
render: function (data, type, row) {
// Combine the first and last names into a single table field
return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name;
}
},
{ data: 'position' },
{ data: 'office' },
{ data: 'extn' },
{ data: 'start_date' },
{ data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') }
],
layout: {
topStart: {
buttons: [
{ extend: 'create', editor: editor },
{ extend: 'edit', editor: editor },
{ extend: 'remove', editor: editor }
]
}
},
select: true
});
const editor = new DataTable.Editor({
ajax: '../../controllers/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: '../../controllers/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:
div.DTE_Body div.DTE_Body_Content div.DTE_Field {
width: 50%;
padding: 5px 20px;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
div.DTE_Body div.DTE_Form_Content {
display:flex;
flex-direction: row;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
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 processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.