RailsDatatables

A simpler, Rails-friendly interface to using the DataTables jQuery library.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have jQuery.js and jQuery.dataTables.js in /public/javascripts/ and that they're included in your layout.

Setup

Give table a class of 'datatable' so that the Javascript knows which table to alter. NOTE: If you want to use multiple tables on a single page, include the :table_dom_id in the options hash to specify the ID table to be altered.

Add thead around the table header (These elements will associate to the columns array created below, allowing sorting).

Add tbody around the table rows (These are the elements that will be sorted and paginated.)

Activate using <%= datatable() %>, passing in the columns, how to filter them (sorting type), and any other settings (ajax source, search?, label for search, processing image)

<% columns = [{:type => 'html', :class => "first"}, {:type => 'html'}, {:type => 'html'}, {:type => nil, :class => "last"}] %>
<%= datatable(columns, {:sort_by => "[0, 'desc']", :processing => image_tag("spinner.gif") }) %>

<table id='users' class='datatable'>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Account Level</th>
      <th>Email</th>
      <th>Actions</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <%- @users.each do |user| -%>
      <tr id="<%= dom_id(user) %>">
        <td><%= user.name %></td>
        <td><%= user.account.account_level.name %></td>
        <td><%= user.email %></td>
        <td><%= link_to "Edit", edit_system_user_path(user) %></td>
      </tr>
    <%- end -%>
  </tbody>
</table>

Options

Table Options

:sort_by - array, default column number (0 - n-1) and sort order. e.g. "[2, 'desc']". Defaults to initial order.
:search - boolean, display the search field. Defaults to true.
:search_label - string, the label for the search field. Defaults to "Search".
:processing - string, the text or image to display while processing data. Defaults to "Processing".
:persist_state - boolean, remember the sorting and page of the tables for the user. Defaults to true.
:additional_data - hash, pass along additional data, such as filter values. Default is none.
:table_dom_id - string, the ID of the table to alter. If nothing is passed, it will look for a class of 'datatable'. Necessary if you want to have multiple DataTables on a single page.
:jqueryui - enable the JQuery UI element styling (ThemeRoller support). Default is false.
:per_page - the number of rows to show per page (renamed from display_length)
:append - functions to all at the end of the dataTable() call. Useful for [Datatables plugins](http://www.datatables.net/plug-ins/api)
:no_records_message - Message to display if no records are found, whether on load or after searching
:auto_width - Automatically adjust the width of the columns. Defaults to true.
:row_callback - a function to run on each row in the table. Inserted in to "'fnRowCallback': function( nRow, aData, iDisplayIndex ) {  }". See [documentation for fnRowCallback](http://www.datatables.net/usage/callbacks) for more information.
:pagination - boolean, turn pagination on or off.  Defaults to true.
:destroy - boolean, reinitializes the table. Defaults to false.

Column Options

:class - string, the class to assign to the table cell. Default is none.
:type - string, the type of content in the column, for non-Ajax tables. 'html' will strip all HTML and sort on the inner value, as a string. Default is string.
:sortable - boolean, allow this column to be sorted on. Default is true.
:searchable - boolean, allow this column to be searched, for non-Ajax tables. Default is true.

AJAX Options

When you're working with large datasets it's not reasonable to load everything on page load. Use an :ajax_source to load just the records that are being displayed, do custom searching (DB, Solr, etc).

:ajax_source - string, for large datasets, use an ajax source to load each page on its own. For smaller datasets, just load the whole set and let datatable do the sorting

Add a datatable method on your controller to return JSON

• Return the objects to be displayed
• Return the total number of objects
• Add a method to handle sorting - DataTables returns the column that is being sorted (0 - n), so you need to know which column is which and sort on it.

AJAX Example

Datatable view example - datatable.html.erb

{"sEcho": <%= params[:sEcho] || -1 %>,
 "iTotalRecords": <%= @total_objects %>,
 "iTotalDisplayRecords": <%= @total_object %>,
 "aaData":[
<% @objects.each do |object| %>
  ['<%= link_to(object.user.name, user) %>',
   '<%= object.description || "-" %>',
   '<%= object.created_at %>'
  ],
<% end %>
]}

Controller example - using will_paginate

def datatable
  @objects = current_objects(params)
  @total_objectss = total_objects(params)
  render :layout => false
end

private

def current_objects(params={})
  current_page = (params[:iDisplayStart].to_i/params[:iDisplayLength].to_i rescue 0)+1
  @current_objects = Object.paginate :page => current_page, 
                                     :include => [:user], 
                                     :order => "#{datatable_columns(params[:iSortCol_0])} #{params[:sSortDir_0] || "DESC"}", 
                                     :conditions => conditions,
                                     :per_page => params[:iDisplayLength]
end

def total_objects(params={})
  @total_objects = Object.count :include => [:user], :conditions => conditions
end

def datatable_columns(column_id)
  case column_id.to_i
  when 1
    return "objects.description"
  when 2
    return "objects.created_at"
  else
    return "users.name"
  end
end

def conditions
  conditions = []
  conditions << "(objects.description ILIKE '%#{params[:sSearch]}%' OR users.name ILIKE '%#{params[:sSearch]}%')" if(params[:sSearch])
  return conditions.join(" AND ")
end

Note

There is a more functionality offered by DataTables than this plugin currently provides. We add to it as we find need for other features. If there's a feature of DataTables that you'd like to see, fork this repo and add it so we can all benefit.

Credits

Copyright (c) 2009 Phronos, released under the MIT license Copyright (c) 2011 Jon Bringhurst jon@bringhurst.org, released under the MIT license