Tabletools - print only selected rows

MWillis

I'd like to be able to print only the currently selected rows, when clicking the tabletools print button. I see this has been asked before and there was some discussion about implementing it - https://www.datatables.net/forums/discussion/3755/tabletools-multirow-select-print-only-selected-rows - but I looked through the docs and couldn't find a way.

Anyone know if this has been added and I just missed it? If it hasn't been added, maybe there's a way I can run "before print" and "after print" functions that will handle the hide and show for me?

MWillis

If anyone reads this in the future, I came up with a somewhat convoluted way to do it. I start with a hidden column that acts as a flag, noting whether the entire row should be hidden on print.

I also hide the normal print button using CSS, and add one of my own with class ".printRows".

When that button is clicked, I set the flag for all rows that aren't selected, and then trigger a click on the normal print button.

Finally, I listen for escape keypress so I can unhide the rows when print is complete.

jQuery.fn.dataTable.ext.search.push(
    function( settings, data, dataIndex ) {
        if ( data[window.flagColumnIndex] == "1" ) {
            return false;
        } else {
            return true;
        }
    }
);

window.dTable = jQuery(".datatable").DataTable({
    "columnDefs": [
        {
            "targets": [window.flagColumnIndex],
            "visible": false
        }
    ]
});

jQuery(document).on("click",".printRows",function(event){
    /* hide all rows that aren't selected, by setting the "hidden" flag column to "1"
    * our custom search filter knows that when this flag is "1", the row should be hidden
    * so re-drawing the table after setting the flag will hide those rows
    */
    window.dTable.rows(":not('.selected')").every( function() {
        window.dTable.cell( this.index(), window.flagColumnIndex ).data( "1" );
    });
    jQuery(".datatable tbody tr").removeClass("selected"); // remove the highlight
    window.dTable.draw();
    
    jQuery(".DTTT_button_print").click();
    
    jQuery(document).on("keyup.DTPrintComplete",function( event ){
        if ( event.which == 27 ) {
            jQuery(document).off("keyup.DTPrintComplete");
            // set the flag to "" and re-draw the table
            window.dTable.rows().every( function() {
                window.dTable.cell( this.index(), window.flagColumnIndex ).data( "" );
            });
            window.dTable.draw();
        }
    });
});

alanng

There is apparently new functionality to address this situation:

https://datatables.net/extensions/buttons/examples/print/select.html

jLinux

I wanted something similar, I wanted it to print the selected rows if any were selected, and if none were, print all rows, but only have one button.

I ended up doing the following:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#example').DataTable( {
        dom: 'Bfrtip',
        buttons: [
            {
                extend: 'print',
                autoPrint: false,
                text: 'Print',
                exportOptions: {
                  rows: function ( idx, data, node ) {
                    var dt = new $.fn.dataTable.Api( '#example' );
                    var selected = dt.rows( { selected: true } ).indexes().toArray();
                   
                    if( selected.length === 0 || $.inArray(idx, selected) !== -1)
                      return true;

                    return false;
                }
              }
            }
        ],
        select: true
    } );
} );

Demo here

P.S. For some reason, I couldn't a grip on the API instance within the rows closure, I tried this, this.api, and a few other things, but it either threw an error saying that it didnt exist, or I couldnt call rows on null, so I ended up just executing new $.fn.dataTable.Api( '#example' );, which sucks, because I hate having to re-reference the CSS selector for the table. I tried new $.fn.dataTable.Api( this );, and while it didn't throw any errors, it didn't work (It would never see any rows as selected)

Maybe @allan can tell me what I was doing wrong