Preamble

When customising DataTables for your own usage, you might find that the default position of the feature elements (filter input etc) is not quite to your liking. To address this issue DataTables takes inspiration from the CSS 3 Advanced Layout Module and provides the sDom initialisation parameter which can be set to indicate where you which particular features to appear in the DOM. You can also specify div wrapping containers (with classes) to provide complete layout flexibility. The syntax available is:

• l - Length changing
• f - Filtering input
• t - The table!
• i - Information
• p - Pagination
• r - pRocessing
• < and > - div elements
• <"class" and > - div with a class
• Examples: <"wrapper"flipt>, <lf<t>ip>

In the example below I've moved the table information to the top of the table, and all the interaction elements to the bottom, each wrapper in a container div.

Live example

Initialisation code

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#example').dataTable( {
		"sDom": '<"top"i>rt<"bottom"flp><"clear">'
	} );
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

• Zero configuration
• Feature enablement
• Sorting data
• Multi-column sorting
• Multiple tables
• Hidden columns
• DOM positioning
• State saving
• Alternative pagination styles
• Change language information (internationalisation)
• ThemeRoller themes (Smoothness)

Advanced initialisation

• Events (pre initialisation)
• Events (post initialisation)
• Column rendering
• Sorting without HTML tags
• Multiple table controls (sDom)
• Custom toolbar (element) around table
• Set sorting controls
• Column grouping through col/row spans
• Row grouping
• Row callback
• Footer callback
• Change language information from a file (internationalisation)

Data sources

• DOM
• Javascript array
• Ajax source
• Server side processing

Server-side processing

• Obtain server-side data
• Add extra HTTP variables
• Use HTTP POST
• Custom column ordering (in callback data)
• Pipelining data (reduce Ajax calls for paging)
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)

API

• Dynamically add a new row
• Individual column filtering
• Highlight rows and columns
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)
• User selectable rows (single row) and delete rows
• Editable rows (with jEditable)
• Submit form with elements in table
• Index column (static number column)
• Show and hide columns dynamically
• Regular expression filtering

Plug-ins

• Add custom API functions
• Sorting and type detection
• Custom pagination controls
• Range filtering / custom filtering
• Live DOM sorting

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about its API properties and methods.