Editor example AutoFill and KeyTable together

To emulate the Excel interface as closely as possible, KeyTable and AutoFill can both be used on the same table, as in this example. This can be particularly beneficial for cases were you are transitioning staff from Excel spreadsheets to your own online application - an interface that they are familiar with is shown to them.

First name Last name Position Office Start date Salary

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

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var editor; // use a global for the submit and return data rendering in the examples
 
$(document).ready(function() {
    editor = new $.fn.dataTable.Editor( {
        ajax: "../php/staff.php",
        table: "#example",
        fields: [ {
                label: "First name:",
                name: "first_name"
            }, {
                label: "Last name:",
                name: "last_name"
            }, {
                label: "Position:",
                name: "position"
            }, {
                label: "Office:",
                name: "office"
            }, {
                label: "Extension:",
                name: "extn"
            }, {
                label: "Start date:",
                name: "start_date",
                type: "datetime"
            }, {
                label: "Salary:",
                name: "salary"
            }
        ]
    } );
 
    var table = $('#example').DataTable( {
        dom: "Bfrtip",
        ajax: "../php/staff.php",
        columns: [
            {
                data: null,
                defaultContent: '',
                className: 'select-checkbox',
                orderable: false
            },
            { data: "first_name" },
            { data: "last_name" },
            { data: "position" },
            { data: "office" },
            { data: "start_date" },
            { data: "salary", render: $.fn.dataTable.render.number( ',', '.', 0, '$' ) }
        ],
        autoFill: {
            columns: ':not(:first-child)',
            editor:  editor
        },
        keys: {
            columns: ':not(:first-child)',
            editor:  editor
        },
        select: {
            style:    'os',
            selector: 'td:first-child',
            blurable: true
        },
        buttons: [
            { extend: "create", editor: editor },
            { extend: "edit",   editor: editor },
            { extend: "remove", editor: editor }
        ]
    } );
 
    // Disable KeyTable while the main editing form is open
    editor
        .on( 'open', function ( e, mode, action ) {
            if ( mode === 'main' ) {
                table.keys.disable();
            }
        } )
        .on( 'close', function () {
            table.keys.enable();
        } );
} );

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

Editor submits and retrieves information by Ajax requests. The two blocks below show the data that Editor submits and receives, to and from the server. This is updated live as you interact with Editor so you can see what is submitted.

Submitted data:

The following shows the data that has been submitted to the server when a request is made to add, edit or delete data from the table.

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// No data yet submitted

Server response:

The following shows the data that has been returned by the server in response to the data submitted on the left and is then acted upon.

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// No data yet received