Setting column names with HTML5 data-* attributes

rink_attendant_6

Is there any way to use HTML5 data-* attributes to set the values of the object outlined in https://datatables.net/reference/option/columns.name?
If not, are there any plans to add this feature?

allan

Yes, you can set column options using the data-* attributes as described here in the manual.

Allan

Jeff Buckles

I'm afraid it's still not clear to me how to use the data-* attributes to apply column names. For example, should it be sufficient to put a 'data-name' attribute on each <th>, or does it have to be on every <td>, or do I need to put a 'data-column-defs' attribute on the < table > with the entire array of names? I tried the first two unsuccessfully, though I would prefer to make it work with attributes on <th>.

Thanks and Best Regards,

allan

should it be sufficient to put a 'data-name' attribute on each <th>

Yes. The example I linked to shows how to use columns.className. The same applied to columns.name. Live example.

Allan

Jeff Buckles

Allan, thank you for the quick reply and excellent example.
Later I'll put up a live example of what I'm trying to do that seems to be not working.

In brief, I'm trying to refer to the column name provided by the HTML5 tag while inside the 'columnDefs' block of the dataTables invocation.

<th data-name="FName">....

var inst_table = $('#inst_table').DataTables({....
    "columnDefs": [
        { "visible": false, "targets": "FName:name" },
        ....
    ]
});

My fallback is using the column index, but I can imagine that quickly becoming a maintenance nightmare.

Thanks and Best Regards,

allan

Ah I see - the columns.targets option can't accept a name (since it is that option which can define a name - it couldn't find it based on that!).

The columns.targets reference documentation shows the values that it can take.

Allan