# Editor example Multi-item editing (rows, columns, cells)

This example demonstrates Editor's multi-item editing capabilities, showing specifically that multi-item editing is not limited to rows, but columns and cells can also be selected and edited with a single click. Furthermore, it is possible to combine the selection of rows, columns and cells to provide complex data updates with ease.

The item selection here (and all other examples) is provided by the Select extension for DataTables. It has the ability to select the individual components of the table - which item type is selected can be controlled through the `select.items()` method, or the `selectRows`, `selectColumns` and `selectCells` buttons that Select provides.

These buttons are utilised in this example to allow the end user to easily change what items will be selected.

Name | Position | Office | Extn. | Start date | Salary
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Name | Position | Office | Extn. | Start date | Salary

- Javascript
- HTML
- CSS
- Ajax
- Server-side script

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

`var editor = new DataTable.Editor({ ajax: '../../controllers/staff.php', 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' } ], formOptions: { main: { scope: 'cell' // Allow multi-row editing with cell selection } }, table: '#example' }); $('#example').DataTable({ ajax: '../../controllers/staff.php', buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor: editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor: editor }, { extend: 'remove', editor: editor }, 'selectRows', 'selectColumns', 'selectCells', 'selectNone' ], columns: [ { data: null, render: function (data, type, row) { // Combine the first and last names into a single table field return data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name; }, editField: ['first_name', 'last_name'] }, { data: 'position' }, { data: 'office' }, { data: 'extn' }, { data: 'start_date' }, { data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') } ], dom: 'Bfrtip', select: true });`
`const editor = new DataTable.Editor({ ajax: '../../controllers/staff.php', 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' } ], formOptions: { main: { scope: 'cell' // Allow multi-row editing with cell selection } }, table: '#example' }); new DataTable('#example', { ajax: '../../controllers/staff.php', buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor }, { extend: 'remove', editor }, 'selectRows', 'selectColumns', 'selectCells', 'selectNone' ], columns: [ { data: null, render: data => data.first_name + ' ' + data.last_name, editField: ['first_name', 'last_name'] }, { data: 'position' }, { data: 'office' }, { data: 'extn' }, { data: 'start_date' }, { data: 'salary', render: DataTable.render.number(null, null, 0, '$') } ], dom: 'Bfrtip', select: true });`

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

- https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.0.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.13.5/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/2.4.1/js/dataTables.buttons.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.7.0/js/dataTables.select.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/datetime/1.5.1/js/dataTables.dateTime.min.js
- ../../js/dataTables.editor.min.js

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

`a.buttons-select-rows, a.buttons-select-none { margin-left: 1em; }`

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.13.5/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/2.4.1/css/buttons.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.7.0/css/select.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/datetime/1.5.1/css/dataTables.dateTime.min.css
- ../../css/editor.dataTables.min.css

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.