I was wondering, when updating DataTables using AJAX, how do you delete column headers left over from a previous DataTable? I have bDestroy set to true in both of my functions to draw the table, however, one of the tables has fewer columns than the other, and when loading the smaller table after loading the larger one, I get leftover column headers from the larger table.

Here are my two functions:

function binedAgeGender() {
(function($) {
    $('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');
    $('#data-entry').dataTable({
        "bProcessing": true,
        "bScrollInfinite": true,
        "bScrollCollapse": true ,
        "bAutoWidth": false,    
        "iDisplayLength": -1,
        "bDestroy": true,
        "sDom": '<"top">rt<"bottom">',
        "aaSorting": [],
        "sAjaxSource": "/CensusDatabase/database_scripts/CombinedAgeGender.php",
        "aoColumns": [
            { "sTitle": "Age group" },
            { "sTitle": "National total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "National male population" },
            { "sTitle": "National female population" },
            { "sTitle": "National % (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "National male %" },
            { "sTitle": "National female %" },
            { "sTitle": "National males per 100 females" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona male population" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona female population" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona % (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona male %" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona female %" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona males per 100 females" }

        ]

    });
})(jQuery);
}

function nationalAgeGender() {
(function($) {
    $('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');
    $('#data-entry').dataTable({
        "bProcessing": true,
        "bScrollInfinite": true,
        "bScrollCollapse": true ,
        "bAutoWidth": false,
        "bDestroy": true,   
        "iDisplayLength": -1,   
        "sDom": '<"top">rt<"bottom">',
        "aaSorting": [],
        "sAjaxSource": "/CensusDatabase/database_scripts/NationalAgeGender.php",
        "aoColumns": [
            { "sTitle": "Age group" },
            { "sTitle": "Total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Male population" },
            { "sTitle": "Female population" },
            { "sTitle": "% (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Male %" },
            { "sTitle": "Female %" },
            { "sTitle": "Males per 100 females" }
        ]

    });
})(jQuery);
}

I was wondering, when updating DataTables using AJAX, how do you delete column headers left over from a previous DataTable? I have bDestroy set to true in both of my functions to draw the table, however, one of the tables has fewer columns than the other, and when loading the smaller table after loading the larger one, I get leftover column headers from the larger table.

Here are my two functions:

function binedAgeGender() {
(function($) {
    $('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');
    $('#data-entry').dataTable({
        "bProcessing": true,
        "bScrollInfinite": true,
        "bScrollCollapse": true ,
        "bAutoWidth": false,    
        "iDisplayLength": -1,
        "bDestroy": true,
        "sDom": '<"top">rt<"bottom">',
        "aaSorting": [],
        "sAjaxSource": "/CensusDatabase/database_scripts/CombinedAgeGender.php",
        "aoColumns": [
            { "sTitle": "Age group" },
            { "sTitle": "National total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "National male population" },
            { "sTitle": "National female population" },
            { "sTitle": "National % (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "National male %" },
            { "sTitle": "National female %" },
            { "sTitle": "National males per 100 females" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona male population" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona female population" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona % (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona male %" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona female %" },
            { "sTitle": "Arizona males per 100 females" }

        ]

    });
})(jQuery);
}

function nationalAgeGender() {
(function($) {
    $('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');
    $('#data-entry').dataTable({
        "bProcessing": true,
        "bScrollInfinite": true,
        "bScrollCollapse": true ,
        "bAutoWidth": false,
        "bDestroy": true,   
        "iDisplayLength": -1,   
        "sDom": '<"top">rt<"bottom">',
        "aaSorting": [],
        "sAjaxSource": "/CensusDatabase/database_scripts/NationalAgeGender.php",
        "aoColumns": [
            { "sTitle": "Age group" },
            { "sTitle": "Total population (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Male population" },
            { "sTitle": "Female population" },
            { "sTitle": "% (both genders)" },
            { "sTitle": "Male %" },
            { "sTitle": "Female %" },
            { "sTitle": "Males per 100 females" }
        ]

    });
})(jQuery);
}

• javascript
• ajax
• formatting
• datatables

3 Answers 3

You need to change on fnDrawCallback like below:

(function($) {
$('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');
$('#data-entry').dataTable({
    "bProcessing": true,
    "bScrollInfinite": true,
    "bScrollCollapse": true ,
    "bAutoWidth": false,
    "bDestroy": true,   
    "iDisplayLength": -1,   
    "sDom": '<"top">rt<"bottom">',
    "aaSorting": [],
    "sAjaxSource": "/CensusDatabase/database_scripts/NationalAgeGender.php",
    "aoColumns": [
        { "sTitle": "Age group" },
        { "sTitle": "Total population (both genders)" },
        { "sTitle": "Male population" },
        { "sTitle": "Female population" },
        { "sTitle": "% (both genders)" },
        { "sTitle": "Male %" },
        { "sTitle": "Female %" },
        { "sTitle": "Males per 100 females" }
    ],
    "fnDrawCallback": function () {
         $('#data-entry thead').html('');            
     }

});
})(jQuery);

and Let me know !!!

Before this line:

$('#data').html('<table width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" id="data-entry"></table>');

try adding

 $('#data-entry').remove();

Since each function calls the $('#data').html(...) function, you are really replacing the entire table.

See this http://jsfiddle/DL6Bj/

bqb

Datatables doesn't seems to handle it. Apparently the bDestroy parameter is only for table data.

This worked for me:

$('#myDataTableZone').empty();
$('#myDatatableZone').html('<table id="myDataTable"></table>');
$.getJSON('url', data, function(json) {
    $('#myDataTable'.datatable({
        "aaData": json.aaData,
        "aoColumns": json.aoColumns
    });
});