The jQuery DataTables plugin allows developers to add innovative interaction controls to any HTML table.
It supports a multitude of options and a wide range of extensions. ASP.NET MVC developers are also able to include this plugin in their own projects. The purpose of this chapter is not only to show you how to use the DataTables plugin, but also to illustrate how you can use almost any open source JavaScript and CSS plugin or framework with ASP.NET MVC.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- An overview of jQuery
DataTables - How to include jQuery
DataTablesin your ASP.NET MVC project - Changing jQuery
DataTablesto support Bootstrap 4 - Loading and displaying data with jQuery
DataTablesand ASP.NET - Using
DataTablesplugins and extensions
DataTables is a free, open source plugin for the jQuery JavaScript library that was designed and created by a company called SpryMedia Ltd. This plugin makes adding features such as ordering, filtering, pagination, and searching to any standard HTML table incredibly easy to implement.
It also offers various extensions that enable Excel-like features, inline editing, and fixed columns, to name a few. The DataTables website offers well-documented examples, a blog, and a forum, which you can find on www.datatables.net.
The jQuery DataTables plugin can be added to your ASP.NET MVC project in a variety of ways, including NPM, Bower, or the DataTables Content Delivery Network (CDN).