DataTables example Row selection (multiple rows)

It can be quite useful at times to provide the user with the option to select rows in a DataTable. This can be done by simply using a click event to add / remove a class on the table rows. The rows().data()DT method can then be used to get the data for the selected rows. In this case it is simply counting the number of selected rows, but much more complex interactions can easily be developed.

If you are looking for a more complete row selection option TableTools for DataTables provides a complete API for selecting rows and acting upon those selected rows.

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

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$(document).ready(function() {
    var table = $('#example').DataTable();
 
    $('#example tbody').on( 'click', 'tr', function () {
        $(this).toggleClass('selected');
    } );
 
    $('#button').click( function () {
        alert( table.rows('.selected').data().length +' row(s) selected' );
    } );
} );

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