Why is the API context element an array? When would there ever be more than 1 element?

jLinux

This is really just out of curiosity, but when I initiate a table and poke around the DataTables object, I find the context element:

var dt = new $.fn.dataTable.Api( '#example' )
dt.context // Array 
dt.context[0] // Object
dt.context[0].sTableId // "example"

My question is: is there a reason that dt.context doesn't go right to the object currently stored at dt.context[0]? I'm assuming theres some logical reason that context is an array, I just don't see at the moment and thought id ask.

Thanks!
-J

P.S. HI ALLAN! Long time no talk. Hope all is well.

allan

Hi - good to hear from you again. Yup, all going well here thanks - hope likewise with yourself!

The DataTables API is capaible of operating on multiple tables at a time, which is why the context (i.e. basically the settings object for the tables) can be an array.

e.g. $('.dataTable').DataTable().data() will get the data from all DataTables on the page, not just a single one.

Sometimes its useful, sometimes not! It felt right to generalised it to allow for multiple tables though.

Allan

jLinux

All is well. Im noticing that I have a ton of alerts on here and in my DataTables related plugins at Github, so spending some time trying to take care of those.... And I do miss working with DataTables :-D lol

How does that work if the two contexts are nested under the var dt = new $.fn.dataTable.Api( '#example' ) part? One would think that the variable dt now only points to the #example table.

If you have time, do you think you can provide an example where it could be leveraged appropriately? (Not if itll take too much of your time. I know you're a busy guy)

jLinux

P.S. I thought of another plugin, similar to my DT Keep Conditions plugin - where the developer can basically code table conditions that will be indexed by strings for shortcuts. So you could link someone to #Table1=goto:TopUsers for example, and it would automatically implement the table conditions (search, sorting, etc) that would show the top users. Whatcha think?

allan

One would think that the variable dt now only points to the #example table.

Correct. With an ID selector it will result ins a single context only. If you use some other selector such as class selector, it can pick up multiple tables: var dts = new $.fn.dataTable.Api( '.dataTable' ); for example.

You could use that to filter all tables on the page: dts.search('Hello').draw(). Example: http://live.datatables.net/kurohaqe/1/edit .

Your plug-in idea sounds like an interesting one. Deep linking can often be useful.

Allan

jLinux

Got it. Thanks for clarifying!