JQuery Datatables Editor - Alternative to the official one

Add capabilities to add, edit and delete rows in your datatables through the use of modals.

Inline editing is not supported (so far).

Basic usage

Include in the project the libraries:

1. jQuery
2. Bootstrap > 4.0 or Foundation > 6.0
3. jquery.dataTables, dataTables.buttons, dataTables.select

Define a DataTable as usual.

Pass to the DataTable constructor at least the following arguments: dom, select, buttons, altEditor: true (see the examples).

Bootstrap or Foundation is necessary for action buttons and modals.

Examples

There are some examples in the folder example, for different use cases:

• a DataTable populated and maintained via Javascript, (no AJAX, no databases), with data organized in rows;

• a DataTable populated and maintained via Javascript, (no AJAX, no databases), with data organized in objects;

• a DataTable populated via AJAX, to be used in connection with a databases, with data organized in objects.

Examples can be browsed at https://luca-vercelli.github.io/DataTable-AltEditor .

AJAX Setup

The datatable accepts the following callback functions as arguments:

onAddRow(alteditor, rowdata, success, error)
onEditRow(alteditor, rowdata, success, error)
onDeleteRow(alteditor, rowdata, success, error)

In the most common case, these function should call $.ajax as expected by the webservice. The two functions success and error should be passed as arguments to $.ajax.

Within the procedures onAddRow, onEditRow, onDeleteRow, you can access datatable object using alteditor.s.dt.

Webservice must return the modified row in JSON format, because the success() function expects this. Otherwise you have to write your own success() callback (e.g. refreshing the whole table).

Row Key

There is no default key in the table. Inside your callback functions, probably you will need a row key to build URL's, in that case you can get them from the rowdata parameter.

Column ID

Please always keep in mind that DataTable framework allows two different kinds of "rows": Arrays and Objects. In first case columns are indexed through integers; in second case columns are indexed by their attribute name. Usually JSON's use the Object approach, but we cannot be sure.

Column Modifiers, and Validation

Following column options are supported.

Column option	Accepted values	Description
type	"text" | "select" | "hidden" | ...	Type of HTML input to be shown. The value readonly is accepted for backward compatibility, but deprecated.
readonly	true | false	Add readonly HTML attribute
disabled	true | false	Add disabled HTML attribute
required	true | false	Add required HTML attribute
hoverMsg	"some msg"	The message will appear as a tooltip over the input field.
unique	true | false	Ensure that no two rows have the same value. The check is performed client side, not server side. Set HTML "data-unique" attribute. (Probably there's some issue with this).
uniqueMsg	"some msg"	An error message that is displayed when the unique constraint is not respected. Set HTML "data-uniqueMsg" attribute.
special	"any string"	Set HTML "data-special" attribute (don't know what's that needed for).
style	"any string"	Set HTML "style" attribute.
editorOnChange	function	Custom onchange function. It will take as arguments the jquery event and the altEditor object.
Options for columns with type "text":
pattern	r.e.	The typed text will be matched against given regular expression, before submit.
msg	"some msg"	An error message that is displayed in case pattern is not matched. Set HTML "data-errorMsg" attribute.
maxLength	integer	Set HTML "maxlength" attribute.
datepicker	{}	Enable a datepicker component. jQuery-UI plugin must be linked. More datepicker configuration options may be passed within the object.
datetimepicker	{}	Enable a datetimepicker component. jQuery datetimepicker plugin must be linked. More datetimepicker configuration options may be passed within the object.
Options for columns with type "select":
options	["a", "b", "c"] or {"a":"A", "b":"B", "c":"C"}	The options that shall be presented.
select2	{}	Enable a select2 component. Select2 jQuery plugin must be linked. More select2 configuration options may be passed within the object.
multiple	true | false	Set HTML "multiple" attribute.
optionsSortByLabel	true | false	Allows select to be sorted by label field.
Options for columns with type "textarea":
rows	integer	Set HTML "rows" attribute.
cols	integer	Set HTML "cols" attribute.
Options for columns with type "date":
dateFormat	"YYYY-MM-DD"	Set date format. Require moment.js library linked.

Global Modifiers

Following DataTable options are supported.

DataTable option	Accepted values	Description
altEditor	true | false	Enable editor. Default false.
onAddRow	function	On-add callback function.
onEditRow	function	On-edit callback function.
onDeleteRow	function	On-delete callback function.
closeModalOnSuccess	true | false	Close modal after successful edit/add/delete. Default true.
encodeFiles	true | false	Encode files to Base64 format. Default true.

Credits

See LICENSE and CHANGELOG for various credits.