Complex headers (using colspan / rowspan) can be used to group columns of similar information in DataTables, creating a very powerful visual effect.
In addition to the basic behaviour, DataTables can also take colspan and rowspans into account when
working with hidden columns. The colspan and rowspan attributes for each cell are automatically
calculated and rendered on the page for you. This allows the columns.visible option and column().visible() method to take into account rowspan / colspan cells, drawing
the header correctly.
Note that each column must have at least one unique cell (i.e. a cell without colspan) so DataTables can use that cell to detect the column and use it to apply ordering.
The example below shows a header spanning multiple cells over the contact information, with one of the columns that the span covers being hidden.
| Name | HR Information | Contact | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Salary | Office | Extn. | ||
| Name | Position | Salary | Office | Extn. | |
| Tiger Nixon | System Architect | $320,800 | Edinburgh | 5421 | t.nixon@datatables.net |
| Garrett Winters | Accountant | $170,750 | Tokyo | 8422 | g.winters@datatables.net |
| Ashton Cox | Junior Technical Author | $86,000 | San Francisco | 1562 | a.cox@datatables.net |
| Cedric Kelly | Senior Javascript Developer | $433,060 | Edinburgh | 6224 | c.kelly@datatables.net |
| Airi Satou | Accountant | $162,700 | Tokyo | 5407 | a.satou@datatables.net |
| Brielle Williamson | Integration Specialist | $372,000 | New York | 4804 | b.williamson@datatables.net |
| Herrod Chandler | Sales Assistant | $137,500 | San Francisco | 9608 | h.chandler@datatables.net |
| Rhona Davidson | Integration Specialist | $327,900 | Tokyo | 6200 | r.davidson@datatables.net |
| Colleen Hurst | Javascript Developer | $205,500 | San Francisco | 2360 | c.hurst@datatables.net |
| Sonya Frost | Software Engineer | $103,600 | Edinburgh | 1667 | s.frost@datatables.net |
| Jena Gaines | Office Manager | $90,560 | London | 3814 | j.gaines@datatables.net |
| Quinn Flynn | Support Lead | $342,000 | Edinburgh | 9497 | q.flynn@datatables.net |
| Charde Marshall | Regional Director | $470,600 | San Francisco | 6741 | c.marshall@datatables.net |
| Haley Kennedy | Senior Marketing Designer | $313,500 | London | 3597 | h.kennedy@datatables.net |
| Tatyana Fitzpatrick | Regional Director | $385,750 | London | 1965 | t.fitzpatrick@datatables.net |
| Michael Silva | Marketing Designer | $198,500 | London | 1581 | m.silva@datatables.net |
| Paul Byrd | Chief Financial Officer (CFO) | $725,000 | New York | 3059 | p.byrd@datatables.net |
| Gloria Little | Systems Administrator | $237,500 | New York | 1721 | g.little@datatables.net |
| Bradley Greer | Software Engineer | $132,000 | London | 2558 | b.greer@datatables.net |
| Dai Rios | Personnel Lead | $217,500 | Edinburgh | 2290 | d.rios@datatables.net |
| Jenette Caldwell | Development Lead | $345,000 | New York | 1937 | j.caldwell@datatables.net |
| Yuri Berry | Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) | $675,000 | New York | 6154 | y.berry@datatables.net |
| Caesar Vance | Pre-Sales Support | $106,450 | New York | 8330 | c.vance@datatables.net |
| Doris Wilder | Sales Assistant | $85,600 | Sidney | 3023 | d.wilder@datatables.net |
| Angelica Ramos | Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | $1,200,000 | London | 5797 | a.ramos@datatables.net |
| Gavin Joyce | Developer | $92,575 | Edinburgh | 8822 | g.joyce@datatables.net |
| Jennifer Chang | Regional Director | $357,650 | Singapore | 9239 | j.chang@datatables.net |
| Brenden Wagner | Software Engineer | $206,850 | San Francisco | 1314 | b.wagner@datatables.net |
| Fiona Green | Chief Operating Officer (COO) | $850,000 | San Francisco | 2947 | f.green@datatables.net |
| Shou Itou | Regional Marketing | $163,000 | Tokyo | 8899 | s.itou@datatables.net |
| Michelle House | Integration Specialist | $95,400 | Sidney | 2769 | m.house@datatables.net |
| Suki Burks | Developer | $114,500 | London | 6832 | s.burks@datatables.net |
| Prescott Bartlett | Technical Author | $145,000 | London | 3606 | p.bartlett@datatables.net |
| Gavin Cortez | Team Leader | $235,500 | San Francisco | 2860 | g.cortez@datatables.net |
| Martena Mccray | Post-Sales support | $324,050 | Edinburgh | 8240 | m.mccray@datatables.net |
| Unity Butler | Marketing Designer | $85,675 | San Francisco | 5384 | u.butler@datatables.net |
| Howard Hatfield | Office Manager | $164,500 | San Francisco | 7031 | h.hatfield@datatables.net |
| Hope Fuentes | Secretary | $109,850 | San Francisco | 6318 | h.fuentes@datatables.net |
| Vivian Harrell | Financial Controller | $452,500 | San Francisco | 9422 | v.harrell@datatables.net |
| Timothy Mooney | Office Manager | $136,200 | London | 7580 | t.mooney@datatables.net |
| Jackson Bradshaw | Director | $645,750 | New York | 1042 | j.bradshaw@datatables.net |
| Olivia Liang | Support Engineer | $234,500 | Singapore | 2120 | o.liang@datatables.net |
| Bruno Nash | Software Engineer | $163,500 | London | 6222 | b.nash@datatables.net |
| Sakura Yamamoto | Support Engineer | $139,575 | Tokyo | 9383 | s.yamamoto@datatables.net |
| Thor Walton | Developer | $98,540 | New York | 8327 | t.walton@datatables.net |
| Finn Camacho | Support Engineer | $87,500 | San Francisco | 2927 | f.camacho@datatables.net |
| Serge Baldwin | Data Coordinator | $138,575 | Singapore | 8352 | s.baldwin@datatables.net |
| Zenaida Frank | Software Engineer | $125,250 | New York | 7439 | z.frank@datatables.net |
| Zorita Serrano | Software Engineer | $115,000 | San Francisco | 4389 | z.serrano@datatables.net |
| Jennifer Acosta | Junior Javascript Developer | $75,650 | Edinburgh | 3431 | j.acosta@datatables.net |
| Cara Stevens | Sales Assistant | $145,600 | New York | 3990 | c.stevens@datatables.net |
| Hermione Butler | Regional Director | $356,250 | London | 1016 | h.butler@datatables.net |
| Lael Greer | Systems Administrator | $103,500 | London | 6733 | l.greer@datatables.net |
| Jonas Alexander | Developer | $86,500 | San Francisco | 8196 | j.alexander@datatables.net |
| Shad Decker | Regional Director | $183,000 | Edinburgh | 6373 | s.decker@datatables.net |
| Michael Bruce | Javascript Developer | $183,000 | Singapore | 5384 | m.bruce@datatables.net |
| Donna Snider | Customer Support | $112,000 | New York | 4226 | d.snider@datatables.net |
The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:
$(document).ready(function() {
$('#example').dataTable( {
"columnDefs": [ {
"visible": false,
"targets": -1
} ]
} );
} );
In addition to the above code, the following Javascript library files are loaded for use in this example:
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:
The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:
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.