# DataTables example JavaScript sourced data

At times you will wish to be able to create a table from dynamic information passed directly to DataTables, rather than having it read from the document. This is achieved using the `data` option in the initialisation object, passing in an array of data to be used (like all other DataTables handled data, this can be arrays or objects using the `columns.data` option).

A `table` must be available on the page for DataTables to use. This examples shows an empty `table` element being initialising as a DataTable with a set of data from a JavaScript array. The columns in the table are dynamically created based on the `columns.title` configuration option.

- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
- Ajax
- Server-side script

The JavaScript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

`var dataSet = [ ['Tiger Nixon', 'System Architect', 'Edinburgh', '5421', '2011/04/25', '$320,800'], ['Garrett Winters', 'Accountant', 'Tokyo', '8422', '2011/07/25', '$170,750'], ['Ashton Cox', 'Junior Technical Author', 'San Francisco', '1562', '2009/01/12', '$86,000'], ['Cedric Kelly', 'Senior JavaScript Developer', 'Edinburgh', '6224', '2012/03/29', '$433,060'], ['Airi Satou', 'Accountant', 'Tokyo', '5407', '2008/11/28', '$162,700'], ['Brielle Williamson', 'Integration Specialist', 'New York', '4804', '2012/12/02', '$372,000'], ['Herrod Chandler', 'Sales Assistant', 'San Francisco', '9608', '2012/08/06', '$137,500'], ['Rhona Davidson', 'Integration Specialist', 'Tokyo', '6200', '2010/10/14', '$327,900'], ['Colleen Hurst', 'JavaScript Developer', 'San Francisco', '2360', '2009/09/15', '$205,500'], ['Sonya Frost', 'Software Engineer', 'Edinburgh', '1667', '2008/12/13', '$103,600'], ['Jena Gaines', 'Office Manager', 'London', '3814', '2008/12/19', '$90,560'], ['Quinn Flynn', 'Support Lead', 'Edinburgh', '9497', '2013/03/03', '$342,000'], ['Charde Marshall', 'Regional Director', 'San Francisco', '6741', '2008/10/16', '$470,600'], ['Haley Kennedy', 'Senior Marketing Designer', 'London', '3597', '2012/12/18', '$313,500'], ['Tatyana Fitzpatrick', 'Regional Director', 'London', '1965', '2010/03/17', '$385,750'], ['Michael Silva', 'Marketing Designer', 'London', '1581', '2012/11/27', '$198,500'], ['Paul Byrd', 'Chief Financial Officer (CFO)', 'New York', '3059', '2010/06/09', '$725,000'], ['Gloria Little', 'Systems Administrator', 'New York', '1721', '2009/04/10', '$237,500'], ['Bradley Greer', 'Software Engineer', 'London', '2558', '2012/10/13', '$132,000'], ['Dai Rios', 'Personnel Lead', 'Edinburgh', '2290', '2012/09/26', '$217,500'], ['Jenette Caldwell', 'Development Lead', 'New York', '1937', '2011/09/03', '$345,000'], ['Yuri Berry', 'Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)', 'New York', '6154', '2009/06/25', '$675,000'], ['Caesar Vance', 'Pre-Sales Support', 'New York', '8330', '2011/12/12', '$106,450'], ['Doris Wilder', 'Sales Assistant', 'Sydney', '3023', '2010/09/20', '$85,600'], ['Angelica Ramos', 'Chief Executive Officer (CEO)', 'London', '5797', '2009/10/09', '$1,200,000'], ['Gavin Joyce', 'Developer', 'Edinburgh', '8822', '2010/12/22', '$92,575'], ['Jennifer Chang', 'Regional Director', 'Singapore', '9239', '2010/11/14', '$357,650'], ['Brenden Wagner', 'Software Engineer', 'San Francisco', '1314', '2011/06/07', '$206,850'], ['Fiona Green', 'Chief Operating Officer (COO)', 'San Francisco', '2947', '2010/03/11', '$850,000'], ['Shou Itou', 'Regional Marketing', 'Tokyo', '8899', '2011/08/14', '$163,000'], ['Michelle House', 'Integration Specialist', 'Sydney', '2769', '2011/06/02', '$95,400'], ['Suki Burks', 'Developer', 'London', '6832', '2009/10/22', '$114,500'], ['Prescott Bartlett', 'Technical Author', 'London', '3606', '2011/05/07', '$145,000'], ['Gavin Cortez', 'Team Leader', 'San Francisco', '2860', '2008/10/26', '$235,500'], ['Martena Mccray', 'Post-Sales support', 'Edinburgh', '8240', '2011/03/09', '$324,050'], ['Unity Butler', 'Marketing Designer', 'San Francisco', '5384', '2009/12/09', '$85,675'], ]; new DataTable('#example', { columns: [ { title: 'Name' }, { title: 'Position' }, { title: 'Office' }, { title: 'Extn.' }, { title: 'Start date' }, { title: 'Salary' } ], data: dataSet });`

In addition to the above code, the following JavaScript library files are loaded for use in this example:

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

``

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.