How to turn bServerSide on/off programmatically

kidalex

I have a table that gets re-loaded with data. If I have more than 1,000 I would prefer to turn bServerSide on so I only get 10 records at a time. Otherwise, over 1,000 will slow down or freeze the browser.

Once my JavaScript code is running, it runs a test that determines how many records I'm going to have ( more or less than 1,000 ). And that point, how can I turn bServerSide on or off PROGRAMATICALLY, and then load the table with the data from a DIFFERENT URL. I use fnReloadAjax to change the URL that it uses, but I can't figure out how to toggle the bServerSide flag

This is my current pathetic attempt to do that:

[code]
table.fnReloadAjax({"oFeatures": { "bServerSide": [true|false] }, "sAjaxSource": new_url},function() {
// whatever
});

[/code]

allan

You cannot - when you initialise the table you tell it what mode to operate in. It cannot be changed on-thefly.

Allan

kidalex

So, what are my choices? Should I remove the table DIV, insert it again and then re-apply the table every time to avoid any kind of memory leaks caused by "lost" listeners and DOM references?

allan

Basically yes - the bServerSide option can only be set at initialisation time, so you would need to destroy the existing table and create a new one if you want to toggle that option. The reason that it can't be toggled via the public API is that adding that ability would add a considerable amount of code for a feature that would rarely be used.

Allan

kidalex

Thank you, Allan. So, do you recommend the JQuery's remove() function to remove the table or is there something better that can clean up everything to avoid memory leaks?

allan

The fnDestroy method is available, or bDestroy to reinitialise a table (destroy and then create a new one). These will unbind all of DataTables listeners, although if you added any yourself, they should also be unbound.

Allan

kidalex

Allan, so would you recommend to just $('#tables_parent_div').remove() it like that?

allan

I'd recommend fnDestroy or bDestroy , although, yes you could use remove() as well - but make sure you destroy the table first, otherwise it will leak RAM.

Allan