datatables Getting started with datatables DataTables API

Example

DataTables comes with an extensive API which is used to manipulate or obtain information about the DataTables on a page.

The API can be accessed in 3 ways:

var table = $('#tableid').DataTable(); //DataTable() returns an API instance immediately
var table = $('#tableid').dataTable().api(); //dataTable() returns a jQuery object
var table = new $.fn.dataTable.Api('#tableid');

Once the object has been set, you can call any of the API functions on that object.

var columns = table.columns();

A more complex example is adding some rows to your table:

table.rows.add( [ {
        "name":       "John Doe",
        "employee_id":   "15135",
        "department":     "development",
    }, {
        "name":       "Jane Smith",
        "employee_id":   "57432",
        "department":     "quality assurance",
    } ] )
    .draw();

The full list of API functions can be found here.