DataTables 1.9

How can I pull the sorted data from the datatable?

yatrix — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:49:54 +0000

I am trying to create an export-to-csv for my project. How can I pull the data from the table in it's sorted state? aoData is still in the same state as when it was initially loaded. I can't use the flash export, for the record, which is why I'm writing my own.

Thanks in advance!

Datatable displays Date in this format /Date(1103729592973)/.

sureshrajamani — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:48:45 +0000

I am using asp.net MVC.I am send JSON Result (which contains generic List of Object) to jquery datatable.My object contains a DateTime type Property.It displays the Date column in this format /Date(1103729592973)/.How to fix this.Can anyone please help.

Showing multiple tables on one page using toggle

triezrjas — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:54:37 +0100

Hi there. I have multiple data tables loaded in one page just like this: http://datatables.net/release-datatables/examples/basic_init/multiple_tables.html

Now what I want to do is instead of showing all the data tables all at once, I want to show only one table at a time and hide the others using TOGGLE just like this: http://jsbin.com/eqape

Actually, I tried using Accordion: http://jqueryui.com/accordion/ but the datatable doesn't work inside the accordion. Can anybody help me? I just recently used datatables and I'm quite at loss as to what I'm supposed to do.

JQuery on( ) is breaking events

willtx — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:57:12 +0000

We're using dataTables v 1.9.3 (I tried 1.9.4 with same results). I changed all the live( ) calls to on( ) since live is deprecated in JQuery 1.7. Is this a bug (using jQuery .on( ) ) or do I need to intialize the datatable differently. I was working on a jsFiddle but the page has > 2K lines of js. Trying to just post the necessary code. Thanks!

http://debug.datatables.net/edojew

Search Funtion when use Chinese-Input tools

jansong — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:12:08 +0100

Hi:
DataTables is a wonderful Plugins-tool for me.
Now i have an issue that it maybe not happened in english-speaking countries but it's an common one in China.
In China, we use an Chinese-input tools to input our information. We need to press several letters on keyboard then select the Chinese-Character we need. Before we confirm and select the Chinese-Character, in searchbox that is an alternative Chinese-Character and a Highlight effect (like the effect we select the text on the webpage or MS-Word).
In this situation, the search function seems disabled. Because at this time, the search information is not only characters but also effects.
I want to start the search after i confirm Chinese-Character , not always when i press the keyboard. Please help me how can i do it, Thank you~

TableTools and select boxes

mathieufannee — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:59:51 +0100

Hi,

I have a question about Datatables in combination with TableTools:

In some columns of a table, I'm using 'mRender' to display the data as 'select boxes' (dropdown). The reason why I'm doing that, is that it allows users to edit the table, but they can't enter invalid values, since the select boxes only allow predefined values.

Before instantiating the oTable object, I build the value of "aoColumnDefs" (containing 'mRender') the following way:

(...)
// pre-build the list of options of the select box
for (var j=0; j"+sSelectOptionValue+"";
   }

// aColProps will be given as a value of "aoColumnDefs" in  oTable  later on
aColProps.push( { 
   "mData": sNameOfCurrentColumn, 
   "aTargets": [ i ],
   "mRender": function ( data, type, full ) {	
					
   // return the select box with the right option selected
   return ""+
   ""+
   "";
					
   },
// etc etc
(...)

This is working very well.

But: when exporting the table with TableTools (as csv or pdf, whatever), the cells containing select boxes show not only their selected values, but all the possible options of the select, concatenated as one string.
So if the select box has the options "OK", "NOT_OK", "WHATEVER", and "OK" is the selected value, the table on my screen shows a select box with "OK" selected (which is correct), but when exporting this table with TableTools, the exported csv or pdf file shows the same cell now like "OKNOT_OKWHATEVER" (not correct)...

Do you have any idea how to solve that?

(I'm using Datatables 1.9.4 and TableTools 2.1.5.)

Columns not sort-able, Search bar overlapping

kellyreid — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:40:31 +0100

I'm new to DataTables so forgive me if this is a very easy fix. I'm probably missing something very obvious.

http://debug.datatables.net/efayux <-- my debug logs

Let me know if you need further information, and thanks (hopefully!) for the help.

Hover Table over Link Column like Editor Price Page?

davidhcdm — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 01:02:29 +0000

On the Editor Pricing page there is a datatable that shows price conversion information when you hover over the price in the table. I want to do almost the same thing; show detail information in a hover table. I've googled and inspected the page itself and I see that the css is setting up the .curr class but I can't find how you render the datatable. Can you show how you did it?

Filter to be displayed block & table should be hidden initially.

vivekmd06 — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:05:20 +0100

I am looking to display only the filter . Initially the table is hidden. Once the user inputs a character in the search filter box, the datatable is displayed with the contents filtered. When there is no character in the Filter input field, the table is hidden.

Any help on this is appreciated. Thanks for looking.

FixedColumns sorting bug on jQuery UI themed table

natebeaty — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:58:47 +0100

I am attempting to implement FixedColumns and it seems to fail with the latest DataTables build. When clicking any sort header it doesn't properly update the header styling, the fixed column's elements don't reorder, and I see a js error in console:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'className' of undefined FixedColumns.js:796

I was going to send a link but noticed you have the exact same behavior on your example page: http://datatables.net/release-datatables/extras/FixedColumns/themed.html

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Check box issue with pagination change

p_prnm — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:01:18 +0100

Hi Allan,

I have added a check box for each row in the table and there is another check box in the table header. On click of which all the check boxes will be selected. This functionality is working. But when I navigate to the second page and click on the table header check box to all the rows in the table. The results in the first page are displaying first. When I navigate to the second page, I can see all the rows selected. I'm not getting why this is happening like this.

Link page: http://live.datatables.net/izewiy/5/edit#source

sort by checkbox columns doesn't work

coolpal — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:00:42 +0000

I have come across this wonderful plugin just last week and I am trying to build a DataTable using javascript array (returned from server via ajax call). The last column in the table is rendered as a checkbox and I tried to incorporate the sorting extention based on "DataTables live DOM sorting example" from here: http://datatables.net/examples/plug-ins/dom_sort.html

In my case, that doesn't seem to affect anything when I sort by the checkbox column. I tried reviewing what the custom sort data function is returning and it seems to be fine. Even tried the function to return numeric array and changed the sType to numeric, which seems to alter the table but the sorting is all wonky (it sorts at random).

here's the snippets of code I am trying.


         $.fn.dataTableExt.afnSortData['dom-checkbox'] = function  ( oSettings, iColumn )
	 {
        	var aData = [];
			$( 'td:eq('+iColumn+') input', oSettings.oApi._fnGetTrNodes(oSettings) ).each( function () {
				aData.push( this.checked==true ? "1" : "0" );
			} );
			alert(aData);
			return aData;
	 }

          oTable = $('#table1').dataTable( {
		                     "bJQueryUI": true,
		                     "sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
		                     "fnInitComplete": function() {
						                         this.fnAdjustColumnSizing();
						                         //$(".dataTables_wrapper").css("width", $("#table1").css("width"));
						                  },
						     "bDeferRender": false,
		                     "aoColumns": [
		                                   { "mDataProp": "geid", "sTitle": "Geid",
		                                	   "mRender": function ( data, type, full ) {
		                                	        return ''+ data +'';
		                                	      } 
		                                   },
		                                   { "mDataProp": "deptId", "sTitle": "Department Id" },
		                                   { "mDataProp": "firstName", "sTitle": "First Name" },
		                                   { "mDataProp": "lastName", "sTitle": "Last Name" },
		                                   { "mDataProp": "emailAddress", "sTitle": "Email Id"}, //, "sClass": "wrapword2" },
		                                   { "mDataProp": "selected", "sTitle": "Select",
		                                	   "mRender": function ( data, type, full ) {
		                                	        return '';
		                                	      },
		                                	   "sSortDataType": "dom-checkbox"   
		                                   }
		                               ],
		                     "aaData": resultArr,
		                     "aaSorting": [[3, 'asc']]
	                		});

Any help is greatly appreciated.

DataTables warning (table id = 'referrals'): Requested unknown parameter {mData function} from the d

br8kpoint — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:01:29 +0100

I am receiving a warning popup: DataTables warning (table id = 'referrals'): Requested unknown parameter {mData function} from the data source for row 0

After I dismiss the alert, the table renders as expected.

I do not know where the issue lies.

Here is the Datatables debugger: http://debug.datatables.net/akiqiy

5 Entries per Page

marko_shock — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:38:46 +0100

does anyone has experience with changing source code a little bit in order to be able to show only 5 entries per result page. Also is it possible to change option in dropdown/select for number of result per page(10,25,50,100 currently). For example maybe someone needs other options like 3,5,10,20 or 50,100,200,500 whatever... general question is how difficult is it to change those options .

jQuery $.load() function trigger datatables error

uceceo — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:58:04 +0100

when i click a datatable row button to Edit that row, i'm populating a form with the row's data by using $.load(FORM_PAGE_URL_HERE). But when i click on the Edit button, i'm getting this error:

-------------------------------------
CLICK FUNCTION
-------------------------------------
$('#doctors-table').on('click', 'td a.edit', function(e) {

e.preventDefault();

$('#edit-form'').load('FORM_PAGE_URL', function() {
$(this).fadeIn();
});

});

-------------------------------------
ERROR
-------------------------------------
DataTables warning (table id = 'doctors-table'): Cannot reinitialise DataTable.

To retrieve the DataTables object for this table, pass no arguments or see the docs for bRetrieve and bDestroy

Issues with pagination with server side datasource

sciamannikoo — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:21:27 +0100

Hello.

Using the examples provided, I've a table with a server side datasource.

Everything works fine: sorting, filtering and rows per page.
But paginations doesn't seem willing to work pagination controls are always disabled.
If I've set the plugin to use 'full_numbers' pagination type, I see only one page.

I can't provide a live example, but here is the jquery:

		$adminTables.dataTable({
			"bPaginate": true,
			"sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
			"aoColumns": [
				{ "sClass": "center", "bSortable": false },
				{ "sClass": "center", "bSortable": false },
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null,
				null
			],
			"bFilter": true,
			"bInfo": false,
			"bAutoWidth": true,
			"bProcessing": true,
			"bServerSide": true,
			"sAjaxSource": ""
		});

And here the returned json:

{"sEcho":5,"iTotalRecords":"3390","iTotalDisplayRecords":10,"aaData":[["...","+++","ASanFranciscoHome.com","-","850","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","LosAngeles2Go.com","-","850","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","LosAngeles4You.com","-","850","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","4LosAngelesHomes.com","-","750","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","4LosAngelesRealEstate.com","-","750","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","ALosAngelesHome.com","-","750","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","MovingSanDiegoHomes.com","-","750","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","SanJose4You.com","-","750","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","4SanAntonio.com","-","575","-","-","TX","none","-","1","-"],["...","+++","OwnLosAngelesHomes.com","-","575","-","-","CA","none","-","1","-"]]}

With Chrome's developer tools, in the network tab, I see that a call is mate to the server-side script on load and each time a sorting or a filter is done.
Pagination controls have the disabled class, as I've already written and clicking on them, of course, doesn't do anything (i.e. no calls to the server_auctions.php script).

Any hint?

I need some help for Server side processing

JRabii — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:30:17 +0100

I'm using version 1.9.3 datatables with Symfony 2.1 to do an ajax call to retrieve records from my database.

I have 5000+ records.I want to show 100 per 100 page.

 var url='{{ path('...............}) }}';
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#myTable').dataTable({
        "sDom": "<'row-fluid'<'span4'l><'span8'f>r>t<'row-fluid'<'span4'i><'span8'p>>",
        "sPaginationType": "bootstrap",
        "bPaginate":true,
        "aLengthMenu": [[10, 25, 50, 100, -1], [10, 25, 50, 100, "Tout"]],
        "aaSorting" : [ [ 0, 'asc' ] ],
        "bProcessing" : true,
        "bServerSide": true,
        "sAjaxSource" : url,
        'iDisplayLength': 100,
        
        "aoColumns": [
                null,
                { "bSortable": false },
                { "bSortable": false },
                { "bSortable": false },
                { "bSortable": false },
                { "bSortable": false }
                ],
        "oLanguage": {
            "sProcessing":     "Traitement en cours...",
            "sSearch":         "Recherche",
            "sLengthMenu":     "_MENU_ par page",
            "sInfo":           " _START_ / _END_ sur _TOTAL_",
            "sInfoEmpty":      "Aucun élément renseigné",
            "sInfoFiltered":   "(filtré de _MAX_ éléments au total)",
            "sInfoPostFix":    "",
            "sLoadingRecords": "Chargement en cours...",
            "sZeroRecords":    "Aucun élément à afficher",
            "sEmptyTable":     "Aucune donnée disponible dans le tableau",
            "oPaginate": {
                "sFirst":      "Premier",
                "sPrevious":   "Précédent",
                "sNext":       "Suivant",
                "sLast":       "Dernier"
            },
            "oAria": {
                "sSortAscending":  ": Activer pour trier la colonne par ordre croissant",
                "sSortDescending": ": Activer pour trier la colonne par ordre décroissant"
            }
        }
    });
} );

Find filter function in dataTables

fshafeeq — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:27:12 +0100

I have incorporated dataTables in my web application and Im using the Find filter to locate records within my table. My question is that since the input box is not not coded in the JSP then how would I apply txtUpperCase class because my user has requested that when you type in the box all the letters should be uppercase. Is this possible?

aoServerParams - Access oSettings inside the fn function

Doltsche — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:07:14 +0100

Hello community

I'm working on some kind of an filter plugin which allows to specify several search boxes on top of the datatables table.
Thanks to aoServerParams, I can push a function which then will pass the content of the added textboxes to the ajax request. Or this is how I thought I can achieve it. There is one problem:

How can I access the oSettings object from within to fn function?
Because there would be the number of textboxes, which I need to iterate in order to pass their value to aoData

        (function (window, document, $, undefined) {
            $.fn.dataTable.AdvancedFilter = function (oSettings) {
                [...]
                oSettings.aoServerParams.push({
                    "sName": "advancedFilter",
                    "fn": function (aoData) {
                        aoData.push({
                            "name": "...",
                            "value": "..."
                        });
                    }
            });
        })(window, document, jQuery);

Or is there even a better approach for what I'd like to achieve?

Best regards

Samuel

JQuery DataTable Column Filter - External Form - pre-selected filter

alussc — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:13:08 +0000

Hi,

we use the Query DataTable Column Filter Plugin (External Form)
http://jquery-datatables-column-filter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/external.html]
to get our data filtered. Example:

{ type:"select", sSelector: "#Filter", values: ['Option1', 'Option2', 'Option3'] }

I would like to set the first Option as default (not "All"), Option2 (and Option 3 and so on) should be a subset of Option1 (that means it should filter the data for two key words (Option1 and Option2 ) but should only show Option2) and the All-Option (unfiltered table) should be shown as last one in the list.

Any ideas how to make this work?

Regards, aluscc

Get date formatted from milliseconds

Gnorro — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:54:44 +0100

HI

I have an ajax call to a webservice that produces json output. This output contains a datetime value retrieved from the datatabse, and is a value in milliseconds

In my datatable I need to display a date in forma dd/MM/yyyy.

I can use mRender to get a date object from milliseconds, but hai can i format it?

thanks

Orderby issue

ureshpatel5 — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:58:13 +0100

HI,
I have implemented DataTables successfully and using (jquery.dataTables.min). My backed script is PHP.I fir a query with order by clause and get the ordered data as per query.But when it displays in DataTable it changes its order.Please let me know best solution for that.

Thank you,
Uresh Patel

Excluding a row from being filtered

SxChoc — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:26:43 +0100

Hi Folks,

Before I kick off I must say what a top notch solution this has proved to be, congrats to the dev guys :)

My question is this I have a column of data that contains dates and I'm using the date range filter to show/hide the matching dates which is fine. The problem that I have is that on some rows the date field isn't populated (well it is but with the text of NA). When a row contains NA in the date field I always want these records to be visible ie. Regardless of what date range a user selects the records where the date isn't applicable should always show in the datatable.

I've had a hunt around but can't seem to find a solution....

Could anybody help please?

Thanks in advance.
Craig

ColVis initialize column(s) to be hidden

darsheets — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:56:43 +0100

I am using ColVis (http://datatables.net/extras/colvis/). Is there a way to hide few columns initially when the table is created and on checking the column, it appears again ?

Basically what I want to do is if the web page is viewed on a mobile browser, few columns are hidden by default. But if the user wants, he/she can unhide those columns.

Thanks,
Darsheet

Pagination - dynamically determine number of rows that fit in current 'page'

justinsbits — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:56:18 +0100

The concept I'm attempting to accomplish is to set the number of records per page (datatables implemented using pagination) at runtime/dynamically.
So as the table is resized the number of rows per page is updated accordingly - hence allowing me to use paging but eliminate the potential for a scrollbar showing up. So instead of choosing 10, 15, 100 rows to display per page the value would be derived based on the number of rows that could be visible in current table.

Any ideas on best way to accomplish this ?

Getting Error : Json data from server could not be parsed. This is caused by JSON formatting error.

rajneeshkmr — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:04:32 +0100

Hi ,
I am using SQL server 2005 at my BackEnd and trying to retrieve data from server in the form of JSON. i validated the JSON and it's Valid. When i paste the JSON in file and try to access it, it's working fine.
Please find Below the code.
$(document).ready(function () {
// $.fn.dataTableExt.sErrMode = 'throw';
$('#testTable').dataTable({ "sPaginationType": "full_numbers", "bJQueryUI": true, "bProcessing": true, "bServerSide": true,
// "sAjaxSource": "/SupportApp/1.txt",
"sAjaxSource": "/SupportApp/Default.aspx/FetchFOIDetails",
"aoColumns": [
{ "mData": "ServiceOrderNo" },
{ "mData": "PcodeDesc" },
{ "mData": "Action" },
{ "mData": "Status" }
],
},
"error": function () { alert('error'); }
});

Server side code is :
[WebMethod]
[ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json, UseHttpGet = false, XmlSerializeString = true)]
//public static string FetchFOIDetails(string TaskID)
public static string FetchFOIDetails()
{
string str = "{\"aaData\" : [{\"ServiceOrderNo\":\"511121336727696846-3\",\"PcodeDesc\":\"Configure Admin Account in AccMan\",\"Action\":\"Cease\",\"Status\":\"CLOSE\"},{\"ServiceOrderNo\":\"511121336727696862-3\",\"PcodeDesc\":\"Configure Admin Account in AccMan for Toolkit\",\"Action\":\"Cease\",\"Status\":\"CLOSE\"},{\"ServiceOrderNo\":\"511121336727696866-8\",\"PcodeDesc\":\"Configure Admin Account in AccMan for Toolkit Access\",\"Action\":\"Cease\",\"Status\":\"CLOSE\"}]}";
return str;
}

Please help me!!!

Pass $_GET and $_SESSION variables to server-side processing

nestor_alveyra — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:58:46 +0100

Hello,

Basically I would like to filter my table using two dates defined in my "Date To" and "Date From" input fields. When I click my search button, it will trigger the query in my server side, my question is, Is there a way to pass values of $_GET and $_SESSION variables into ajaxsource file so I can modify my query string on the server side? Thanks

Moving the Length Selector into a table construct

Doltsche — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:06:30 +0100

Dear community,

What I'd like to do is to create a plain HTML table inside the top of the datatables in order to align further elements (e.g. advanced filter options) in the datatables top.

To get you an idea of what I want to achieve I've uploaded a screenshot of the current state:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/254/advancefilter.png

The textboxes, labels and the search button, all are inside a table. My question now is, how to I achieve that I get the Length element (Show ... entriue) also into a column of the table i've injected into the datatables top?

The code actually looks like this:

oTable = $('#example').dataTable({
                "bJQueryUI": true,
                "sDom": '<"H"l<"searchBarDiv">>t<"F"ip>',
                [...]
});
// contains the table structure
var sSearchBarContent = $('#SearchPersonFAInfoSearchDiv').html();
$('div.searchBarDiv').html(sSearchBarContent);
$('#SearchPersonFAInfoSearchDiv').remove();

During some search I found a ways which allows to completly rewrite the Length Element: https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/13788/request-custom-length-control-plugin-using-instead-of-/p1
But actually I do not want to customize it, but to position e.g. to wrap it by a table.

Hope for further help.

Best regards

Samuel

Pagination - Text Input Plugin - set page on load.

kadaba — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:08:24 +0100

Hello,

DataTable - wonderful work.

In course of development I have encountered an issue. (At least for me now..)
I am using the text input pagination plugin. Everything works well except I would like to achieve this.
On load of the page I would want to find a particular record and get that particular page to view.
The records have id on the TR.

I tried different approaches:
1\ After the table is drawn(fnInitComplete) I tried to find this record (position) and try to set the page.
Since the datable hides some of the rows it does not find this record (it might be in 2 or 3 page)

2\ I tried to hack the plugin a little bit by trying to set the current page. Even though I have the data through the aoData and could find the row
the index of this row is different from the one which is displayed (may be because of sort?)

I might have overlooked some parameter of some way of setting this. I would be glad if I could get some help or direction.

Best,
kadaba

updating a total column in an editable row

johncscott — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:11:30 +0100

separating out the #2 point from this
http://datatables.net/forums/discussion/comment/47691#

2) i'd like to make it so that when you commit a change in the keytable the total colum is updated in javascript, is there a way to get a reference to this "row[2]" to update when the keytable is submitted, i've thought about knockout but that may overcomplicate and also not sure how to make the underlying mData observable

I couldn't actually see where the total column is calculated - it doesn't appear to be a callback that is registered to the data table - is it part of the data? If it is part of the data, then you'd need to use fnUpdate to update the data for the table.

relating to this example
http://gstest.c3x.co/meals.html
(requiring you to click on a link eg ambulance in the 2nd table to see the 3rd)

in the third table you can edit a value
but when the value is changed i'd like the total (row[2]) to update
at initialisation the total is calculated server side
but on editing a cell with keytable/jeditable i need to then recalculate the total for the row
~i'd also like to update a column total too but i'll wait till the row works first :)

the first idea i had was to use knockout and somehow make the array source of the datatable observable
and then calculate the total column when the observable alters (ie you change a row)
but before embarking on that odyssey i thought i should investigate if there is something already here i can use

so I have the following javascript presently to initialise the keytable / jeditable

        var keys = new KeyTable( {
		"table": document.getElementById('crew')
	        } );
				
	    /* Apply a return key event to each cell in the table */
	    keys.event.action( null, null, function (nCell) {
		/* Block KeyTable from performing any events while jEditable is in edit mode */
		keys.block = true;
					
		/* Initialise the Editable instance for this table */
		$(nCell).editable( function (sVal) {
			/* Submit function (local only) - unblock KeyTable */
			keys.block = false;
			$(nCell).editable('destroy');
			return sVal;
		}, { 
            "placeholder" : "",
			"onblur": 'submit', 
			"onreset": function(){ 
				/* Unblock KeyTable, but only after this 'esc' key event has finished. Otherwise
					* it will 'esc' KeyTable as well
					*/
				$(nCell).editable('destroy');
				setTimeout( function () {keys.block = false;}, 0); 
			},
            onsubmit: function(settings, td) {
                var input = $(td).find('input');
                $(this).validate({
                    rules: {
                        'value': {
                            number: true
                        }
                    },
                    messages: {
                        'actionItemEntity.name': {
                            number: 'Only numbers are allowed'

                        }
            }
        });

and so the questions i am wondering about are:

1] in the above would you ( & where) add some code to fire after a valid entry had been made

it feels like the obvious place to put this is in the

 onsubmit: function(settings, td) {
                var input = $(td).find('input'); ...

what i find most difficult to grasp is how you would get from "td" to the datatable row
but maybe this is not needed

2] is there an appropriate place (possibly somewhere in the datatable initialisation) to create a function that updates the total column adding together all the row values, what function would be used for this. can it somehow be atomic?

i must admit i'm relatively new to javascript
and so wrt

I couldn't actually see where the total column is calculated - it doesn't appear to be a callback that is registered to the data table

3] i'm not sure what a callback is
is this be some kind of function that is called when the data is changed
that can then update the second column
if that's atomic to the table then i guess it doesn't matter to know where the change came from
and is there an equivalent for column totalling?
i'll do some more reading :)