Put Processing message at the top of table in datatables with existing data?

Question

In my laravel 5.7 application I use "yajra/laravel-datatables-oracle": "~8.0" library and reading this https://m.datatables.net/forums/discussion/25666/how-to-customize-the-processing-message

I modified processing message with style :
.dataTables_processing {
  margin-top: -80px !important;
  padding: 70px !important;
  background: #F5F8FA !important;
  color:    blue !important;
  border: 2px dotted darkgrey;
  border-radius: 3px !important;
  font-size: xx-large !important;
  opacity : 1 !important;
  text-decoration: none;
}

and it works and I retrieve data on page open with empty data area.

But I refresh data I do not see processing message : it is below(looks like middle of the data area). I tried to raise with adding to style above :

  vertical-align: top;
  vert-align: top;

But failed.

The html-code of my data area is :

<div class="table-responsive">
   <div id="get-vote-dt-listing-table_wrapper"
        class="dataTables_wrapper no-footer">
      <div id="get-vote-dt-listing-table_filter" class="dataTables_filter"
           style="display: none;"><label>Search:<input type="search" class=""
                                                       placeholder=""
                                                       aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table"></label>
      </div>
      <div id="get-vote-dt-listing-table_processing"
           class="dataTables_processing" style="display: block;">Loading
         votes...
      </div>
      <table class="table table-bordered table-striped text-primary dataTable no-footer"
             id="get-vote-dt-listing-table" role="grid"
             aria-describedby="get-vote-dt-listing-table_info">
         <thead>
         <tr role="row">
            <th class="details-control sorting_disabled" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 47px;">+
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 59px;">Id
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 106px;">Name
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 113px;">Status
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 125px;">Is Quiz
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 219px;">Vote Category
            </th>
            <th class="sorting" tabindex="0"
                aria-controls="get-vote-dt-listing-table" rowspan="1"
                colspan="1" style="width: 178px;">Created At
            </th>
            <th class="sorting_disabled" rowspan="1" colspan="1"
                style="width: 28px;"></th>
            <th class="sorting_disabled" rowspan="1" colspan="1"
                style="width: 29px;"></th>
         </tr>
         </thead>
         <tbody></tbody>
      </table>
      <div class="dataTables_info" id="get-vote-dt-listing-table_info"
           role="status" aria-live="polite" style="display: none;"></div>
      <div class="dataTables_paginate paging_simple_numbers"
           id="get-vote-dt-listing-table_paginate"></div>
   </div>
</div>

Which is right way with style modifications?

Uploaded block # 1

I uploaded live example at http://demo2.nilov-sergey-demo-apps.tk/login

It is under credentials admin@demo.com 111111 after that http://demo2.nilov-sergey-demo-apps.tk/admin/box-rooms

on uploading page message is visible within 1-2 seconds

If in filter field “Enter Box Room No.” enter value “001” and click “Search” I added 30 seconds delay for debugging in browser. You need to scroll down to see processing message...

Thanks!

Answer 1

To put the processing message at the top of the datatables and not in the middle you could do it this way using div.dataTables_wrapper div.dataTables_processing and top:0 (or top:-10 if you want to see the headers while the table is loading) :

div.dataTables_wrapper div.dataTables_processing {
  top: 0;
}

JSFiddle : https://jsfiddle.net/0usjep4r/

^{(The DataTables ajax request is the courtsy of gyrocode and it was created by him. I simply modified it to get the desired result.)}

Answer 2

The problem with only adding top: 0 is that you obscure your 'Show [num] entries' widget:

In a production application, it's typically considered bad UX to obscure widgets that might later be used by customers. If you agree, you'll want to add a few more things:

#get-storage-space-dt-listing-table_processing {
  top: -10px;
  width: auto;
  margin: 0;
  transform: translateX(-50%);
}

This allows for the 'Show [num] entries' to once again be visible: