javascripthtmljquerycssdatatables

How can I implement row-count in DataTables when the results are paginated?

I use DataTables to paginate and order a table containing user data.

The full data set comes from a MySQL database via a .NET application.

The first column of the table has to contain the (current) row count in a manner that would make the count "immune" to rearranging the rows (sorting, in other words). This is why I have used a CSS-based row count, as visible below:

new DataTable('#employees', {
  info: false,
  paging: true,
  "aLengthMenu": [5, 10, 20],
  // "dom": 'rtip',
});
.dt-column-order:before {
  margin-bottom: 1px;
}

th {
  outline: none !important;
}

.dt-paging {
  margin-top: 15px !important;
}

.pagination {
  justify-content: flex-end;
}

/* CSS row count */
table {
  counter-reset: row-num;
}

table tbody tr {
  counter-increment: row-num;
}

table tbody tr td:first-child::before {
  content: counter(row-num) "";
}
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/jquery@3.7.1/dist/jquery.slim.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/js/dataTables.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/js/dataTables.bootstrap5.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/css/dataTables.bootstrap5.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<div class="container-fluid my-2">
  <h2>Data Tables</h2>
  <table id="employees" class="table table-bordered table-striped mx-1">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th data-dt-order="disable">No</th>
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Position</th>
        <th>Office</th>
        <th>Age</th>
        <th>Start date</th>
        <th>Salary</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Tiger Nixon</td>
        <td>System Architect</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>61</td>
        <td>2011-04-25</td>
        <td>$320,800</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Garrett Winters</td>
        <td>Accountant</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>63</td>
        <td>2011-07-25</td>
        <td>$170,750</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Ashton Cox</td>
        <td>Junior Technical Author</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>66</td>
        <td>2009-01-12</td>
        <td>$86,000</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Cedric Kelly</td>
        <td>Senior Javascript Developer</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>22</td>
        <td>2012-03-29</td>
        <td>$433,060</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Ștefan Popa</td>
        <td>Accountant</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>33</td>
        <td>2008-11-28</td>
        <td>$162,700</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Brielle Williamson</td>
        <td>Integration Specialist</td>
        <td>New York</td>
        <td>61</td>
        <td>2012-12-02</td>
        <td>$372,000</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Herrod Chandler</td>
        <td>Sales Assistant</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>59</td>
        <td>2012-08-06</td>
        <td>$137,500</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Rhona Davidson</td>
        <td>Integration Specialist</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>55</td>
        <td>2010-10-14</td>
        <td>$327,900</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Colleen Hurst</td>
        <td>Javascript Developer</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>39</td>
        <td>2009-09-15</td>
        <td>$205,500</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Sonya Frost</td>
        <td>Software Engineer</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>23</td>
        <td>2008-12-13</td>
        <td>$103,600</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Jena Gaines</td>
        <td>Office Manager</td>
        <td>London</td>
        <td>30</td>
        <td>2008-12-19</td>
        <td>$90,560</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Quinn Flynn</td>
        <td>Support Lead</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>22</td>
        <td>2013-03-03</td>
        <td>$342,000</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

There is a problem with this solution though: whenever the results set is big enough so that there is pagination, the row count starts at 1 for every page.

So, I actually need a row count based on JavaScript, which would not reset the count for every page. I did not find a way to do this bult into DataTables.

Questions

  1. Is there a built-in DataTables solution to this?
  2. If not, what would be a viable solution to the problem?
Solution

  • You might listen to draw event and update your CSS counter with the page.info().start number:

    const table = new DataTable('#employees', {
  info: false,
  paging: true,
  "aLengthMenu": [5, 10, 20],
  // "dom": 'rtip',
});

table.on('draw', () => table.table().node().style.setProperty('--n', table.page.info().start));
    .dt-column-order:before {
  margin-bottom: 1px;
}

th {
  outline: none !important;
}

.dt-paging {
  margin-top: 15px !important;
}

.pagination {
  justify-content: flex-end;
}

/* CSS row count */
table {
  --n: 0;
  counter-reset: row-num var(--n);
}

table tbody tr {
  counter-increment: row-num;
}

table tbody tr td:first-child::before {
  content: counter(row-num) "";
}
    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/jquery@3.7.1/dist/jquery.slim.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/js/dataTables.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/js/dataTables.bootstrap5.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="https://cdn.datatables.net/2.1.8/css/dataTables.bootstrap5.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<div class="container-fluid my-2">
  <h2>Data Tables</h2>
  <table id="employees" class="table table-bordered table-striped mx-1">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th data-dt-order="disable">No</th>
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Position</th>
        <th>Office</th>
        <th>Age</th>
        <th>Start date</th>
        <th>Salary</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Tiger Nixon</td>
        <td>System Architect</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>61</td>
        <td>2011-04-25</td>
        <td>$320,800</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Garrett Winters</td>
        <td>Accountant</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>63</td>
        <td>2011-07-25</td>
        <td>$170,750</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Ashton Cox</td>
        <td>Junior Technical Author</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>66</td>
        <td>2009-01-12</td>
        <td>$86,000</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Cedric Kelly</td>
        <td>Senior Javascript Developer</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>22</td>
        <td>2012-03-29</td>
        <td>$433,060</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Ștefan Popa</td>
        <td>Accountant</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>33</td>
        <td>2008-11-28</td>
        <td>$162,700</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Brielle Williamson</td>
        <td>Integration Specialist</td>
        <td>New York</td>
        <td>61</td>
        <td>2012-12-02</td>
        <td>$372,000</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Herrod Chandler</td>
        <td>Sales Assistant</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>59</td>
        <td>2012-08-06</td>
        <td>$137,500</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Rhona Davidson</td>
        <td>Integration Specialist</td>
        <td>Tokyo</td>
        <td>55</td>
        <td>2010-10-14</td>
        <td>$327,900</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Colleen Hurst</td>
        <td>Javascript Developer</td>
        <td>San Francisco</td>
        <td>39</td>
        <td>2009-09-15</td>
        <td>$205,500</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Sonya Frost</td>
        <td>Software Engineer</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>23</td>
        <td>2008-12-13</td>
        <td>$103,600</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Jena Gaines</td>
        <td>Office Manager</td>
        <td>London</td>
        <td>30</td>
        <td>2008-12-19</td>
        <td>$90,560</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td>Quinn Flynn</td>
        <td>Support Lead</td>
        <td>Edinburgh</td>
        <td>22</td>
        <td>2013-03-03</td>
        <td>$342,000</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>