This example shows how a duplicate button can be created for Editor, allowing a row to be selected and a new entry form be populated with the values from the selected row. This can allow data entry that contains common information, such as monthly salary information, invoices, etc, to be performed extremely quickly.
A blog post is available which explains in detail how
this duplicate button in created, and how to modify it into a reusable button. As a quick summary, the
code defines a TableTools button based on the the select_single button type (so it shows
as active only when a single row is selected). It then places the selected row into edit mode (although
the end user doesn't see this) and the values read. createE is then used to show a create form and the
data populated from the previously read data.
The Join table example is used as a basis here to show the duplicate button working with complex nested data.
| First name | Last name | Phone # | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| First name | Last name | Phone # | Location |
The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:
var editor; // use a global for the submit and return data rendering in the examples
$(document).ready(function() {
editor = new $.fn.dataTable.Editor( {
ajax: "../php/join.php",
table: "#example",
fields: [ {
label: "First name:",
name: "users.first_name"
}, {
label: "Last name:",
name: "users.last_name"
}, {
label: "Phone #:",
name: "users.phone"
}, {
label: "Site:",
name: "users.site",
type: "select"
}
]
} );
$('#example').dataTable( {
dom: "Tfrtip",
ajax: {
url: "../php/join.php",
type: 'POST'
},
columns: [
{ data: "users.first_name" },
{ data: "users.last_name" },
{ data: "users.phone" },
{ data: "sites.name" }
],
tableTools: {
sRowSelect: "os",
aButtons: [
{ sExtends: "editor_create", editor: editor },
{ sExtends: "editor_edit", editor: editor },
{
sExtends: "select_single",
sButtonText: "Duplicate",
fnClick: function( button, config ) {
var node = this.fnGetSelected();
if ( node.length !== 1 ) {
return;
}
// Place the selected row into edit mode (but hidden),
// then get the values for all fields in the form
var values = editor.edit( node[0], false ).val();
// Create a new entry (discarding the previous edit) and
// set the values from the read values
editor
.create( {
title: 'Duplicate '+values['users.first_name']+' '+values['users.last_name'],
buttons: 'Create from existing'
} )
.set( values );
}
},
{ sExtends: "editor_remove", editor: editor }
]
},
initComplete: function ( settings, json ) {
// Populate the site select list with the data available in the
// database on load
editor.field( 'users.site' ).update( json.sites );
}
} );
} );
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 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.