caption()

Since: DataTables 2.0

Get / set the table's caption.

Description

HTML tables have an optional element called caption which can be used to show the title of a table to the end user. This can greatly enhance accessibility since it can give a summary of the contents of the table without the end user needing to read the surrounding text.

This method is provides to control the contents of a DataTables' caption element.

Types

function caption()

Description:

Get the contents of the caption element for the table.

Note that if the API instance references multiple tables, only the first table in the collection will be considered for the getter.

Returns:

string

Contents of the caption element. Will be null if there is no caption.

function caption( set [, side ] )

Description:

Set the contents of the caption element. If the table doesn't have a caption element, one will be created automatically.

Note that is the API instance references multiples tables, the caption will be set for all tables referenced.

Parameters:

	Name	Type	Optional
1	`set`	`string`	No
	The value to show in the table's `caption`.
2	`side`	`string`	Yes
	Typically the position of the `caption` element will be defined by the `caption-side` CSS property for the table, but this option provides the ability to set that option directly. It can be given `top` or `bottom`. If not given at all, the position of the caption relative to the table will be defined by the page's CSS. By default in browsers this is above the table.

Returns:

DataTable.Api

DataTables API instance for chaining.

Examples

Set the table's caption:

var table = new DataTable('#myTable');

table.caption('Table 1: Class averages');

Set the table's caption and display at the bottom of the table:

var table = new DataTable('#myTable');

table.caption('Table 2: Year averages', 'bottom');

The following options are directly related and may also be useful in your application development.

API

caption.node()

Options

caption