DataTables row grouping example

Preamble

Although DataTables doesn't have row grouping built-in (picking one of the many methods available would overly limit the plug-in it was felt), it is most certainly possible to give the look and feel of row grouping. In the example below the 'group' is the browser engine, which is based on the information in the first column (set to hidden). The grouping indicator is added by the fnDrawCallback function, which will parse through the rows which are displayed, and enter a TR element where a new group is found.

Live example

Rendering engine Browser Platform(s) Engine version CSS grade
Trident Internet Explorer 4.0 Win 95+ 4 X
Trident Internet Explorer 5.0 Win 95+ 5 C
Trident Internet Explorer 5.5 Win 95+ 5.5 A
Trident Internet Explorer 6 Win 98+ 6 A
Trident Internet Explorer 7 Win XP SP2+ 7 A
Trident AOL browser (AOL desktop) Win XP 6 A
Gecko Firefox 1.0 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.7 A
Gecko Firefox 1.5 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Firefox 2.0 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Firefox 3.0 Win 2k+ / OSX.3+ 1.9 A
Gecko Camino 1.0 OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Camino 1.5 OSX.3+ 1.8 A
Gecko Netscape 7.2 Win 95+ / Mac OS 8.6-9.2 1.7 A
Gecko Netscape Browser 8 Win 98SE+ 1.7 A
Gecko Netscape Navigator 9 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.0 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.1 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.1 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.2 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.2 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.3 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.3 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.4 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.4 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.5 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.5 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.6 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.6 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.7 Win 98+ / OSX.1+ 1.7 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.8 Win 98+ / OSX.1+ 1.8 A
Gecko Seamonkey 1.1 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Epiphany 2.20 Gnome 1.8 A
Webkit Safari 1.2 OSX.3 125.5 A
Webkit Safari 1.3 OSX.3 312.8 A
Webkit Safari 2.0 OSX.4+ 419.3 A
Webkit Safari 3.0 OSX.4+ 522.1 A
Webkit OmniWeb 5.5 OSX.4+ 420 A
Webkit iPod Touch / iPhone iPod 420.1 A
Webkit S60 S60 413 A
Presto Opera 7.0 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ - A
Presto Opera 7.5 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 8.0 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 8.5 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 9.0 Win 95+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera 9.2 Win 88+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera 9.5 Win 88+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera for Wii Wii - A
Presto Nokia N800 N800 - A
Presto Nintendo DS browser Nintendo DS 8.5 C/A1
KHTML Konqureror 3.1 KDE 3.1 3.1 C
KHTML Konqureror 3.3 KDE 3.3 3.3 A
KHTML Konqureror 3.5 KDE 3.5 3.5 A
Tasman Internet Explorer 4.5 Mac OS 8-9 - X
Tasman Internet Explorer 5.1 Mac OS 7.6-9 1 C
Tasman Internet Explorer 5.2 Mac OS 8-X 1 C
Misc NetFront 3.1 Embedded devices - C
Misc NetFront 3.4 Embedded devices - A
Misc Dillo 0.8 Embedded devices - X
Misc Links Text only - X
Misc Lynx Text only - X
Misc IE Mobile Windows Mobile 6 - C
Misc PSP browser PSP - C
Other browsers All others - - U

Initialisation code

$(document).ready(function() {
	oTable = $('#example').dataTable({
		"fnDrawCallback": function ( oSettings ) {
			if ( oSettings.aiDisplay.length == 0 )
			{
				return;
			}
			
			var nTrs = $('#example tbody tr');
			var iColspan = nTrs[0].getElementsByTagName('td').length;
			var sLastGroup = "";
			for ( var i=0 ; i<nTrs.length ; i++ )
			{
				var iDisplayIndex = oSettings._iDisplayStart + i;
				var sGroup = oSettings.aoData[ oSettings.aiDisplay[iDisplayIndex] ]._aData[0];
				if ( sGroup != sLastGroup )
				{
					var nGroup = document.createElement( 'tr' );
					var nCell = document.createElement( 'td' );
					nCell.colSpan = iColspan;
					nCell.className = "group";
					nCell.innerHTML = sGroup;
					nGroup.appendChild( nCell );
					nTrs[i].parentNode.insertBefore( nGroup, nTrs[i] );
					sLastGroup = sGroup;
				}
			}
		},
		"aoColumnDefs": [
			{ "bVisible": false, "aTargets": [ 0 ] }
		],
		"aaSortingFixed": [[ 0, 'asc' ]],
		"aaSorting": [[ 1, 'asc' ]],
		"sDom": 'lfr<"giveHeight"t>ip'
	});
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

Advanced initialisation

Data sources

Server-side processing

API

Plug-ins

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about its API properties and methods.