Editor example Custom delete / remove message

The three button types that Editor adds to DataTables (create, edit and remove) each have the option of being able to show a custom message in the Editor form when activated through their formMessage option (which in turn is passed to the message() method).

This ability can be particularly useful for the remove button, allowing a message to be shown which included details for the rows that are to be deleted, ensuring the the end user is aware of what records will be deleted.

In this case the modifier() method is used to get the rows that will be deleted and rows().data() to get the data for these rows. Finally pluck() is used to gather a single data point from each row, although this could potentially be made much more complex if you require.

Name Position Office Extn. Start date Salary
Name Position Office Extn. 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, render: function ( data, type, row ) {
                // Combine the first and last names into a single table field
                return data.first_name+' '+data.last_name;
            } },
            { data: "position" },
            { data: "office" },
            { data: "extn" },
            { data: "start_date" },
            { data: "salary", render: $.fn.dataTable.render.number( ',', '.', 0, '$' ) }
        ],
        select: true,
        buttons: [
            { extend: "create", editor: editor },
            { extend: "edit",   editor: editor },
            {
                extend: "remove",
                editor: editor,
                formMessage: function ( e, dt ) {
                    var rows = dt.rows( e.modifier() ).data().pluck('first_name');
                    return 'Are you such you want to delete the entries for the '+
                        'following record(s): <ul><li>'+rows.join('</li><li>')+'</li></ul>';
                }
            }
        ]
    } );
} );

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.

1
// No data yet received