How to display JSON data in jQuery DataTables via Ajax?

Question

I've been trying to get my JSON data in jQuery DataTables component.

First I wrote a JavaScript and a view like the code shown below:

$.fn.dataTable.Editor({
    ajax: "http://localhost/example22/index.php?r=site/display",
    table: "#example",
    fields: [{
        label: "Name:",
        name: "name"
    }, {
        label: "Designation:",
        name: "designation"
    }, {
        label: "Address:",
        name: "address"
    }, {
        label: "Salary:",
        name: "salary"
    }]
});

$('#example').DataTable({
    lengthChange: false,
    ajax: "http://localhost/example22/index.php?r=site/display",
    columns: [{
        allk: "name"
    }, {
        allk: "designation"
    }, {
        allk: "address"
    }, {
        allk: "salary"
    }],
    select: true
});

and a view like

<table id="example" class="table table-striped table-bordered" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Designation</th>
                <th>Address</th>
                <th>Salary</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
</table>

and the url that is provided contains the following JSON data respectively

{
    "allk": [
        {
            "name": "raju",
            "designation": "developer",
            "address": "he is from viswasapuram",
            "salary": "30000"
        },
        {
            "name": "bob",
            "designation": "designer",
            "address": "no idea",
            "salary": "100000"
        },
        {
            "name": "bob",
            "designation": "designer",
            "address": "no idea",
            "salary": "100000"
        },
        {
            "name": "suresh",
            "designation": "designer",
            "address": "fffswss",
            "salary": "1212"
        },
        {
            "name": "john",
            "designation": "designer",
            "address": "california",
            "salary": "3000000"
        },
        {
            "name": "suresh",
            "designation": "tester",
            "address": "he is from cheeran maanagar",
            "salary": "20000"
        }
    ]
}

Can someone help me on how to use DataTables with this application?

Answer 1

In Nodejs when you have a DataTable declared like this

<table id="example" class="table table-striped table-bordered" style="width:100%">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Class</th>
            <th>Parents Name</th>
            <th>Age</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
</table>

then your java script should be like this

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#example").DataTable({
        ajax: {
            url: "../kidsinfo",
            dataSrc: ""
        },
        columns: [
            { data: "kid_name" },
            { data: "class" },
            { data: "parents_name" },
            { data: "age" },           
        ],          
        iDisplayLength: 1,
        iDisplayStart: 0
    });
});

Important point to note here is that your json data from server is like this

[{"id":1,"kid_name":"John","class":"Hancock","parents_name":"dharam","age":"21"}]

then your javascript code should use the name kid_name from the json data received to relate the information you want to display in the column.

If the json data from the server is like this

{
    "info": [{
        "id": 1,
        "kid_name": "John",
        "class": "Hancock",
        "parents_name": "dharam",
        "age": "21"
    }]
}

then your java script should have dataSrc: "info"

Answer 2

SOLUTION

Use ajax.dataSrc option to specify property holding data in your JSON response.

For example:

$('#example').DataTable({
   // ... skipped other options ...
   ajax: {
       url: "http://localhost/example22/index.php?r=site/display",
       dataSrc: 'allk'
   },
   columns: [
       { data: "name"}, 
       { data: "designation"}, 
       { data: "address" }, 
       { data: "salary"}
   ]
});

DEMO

See this jsFiddle for code and demonstration.