DataTables Introduction

DataTables — Introduction

DataTables.js is the most widely used "smart" HTML table library in PHP land. It supports two modes:

• Client-side — the browser loads every row and does the paging / sorting / searching itself.
• Server-side — the browser sends a structured request (draw, start, length, search, order) to your backend and the backend returns just the matching slice.

Server-side mode is the right choice the moment your table has more than a few thousand rows — anything else hurts page load time and memory.

This package ships a server-side helper that takes care of the protocol so your controller stays a one-liner. It is the one piece of original code in initphp/database — the rest of the package re-exports the InitORM stack.

What the helper does

Given a query and a column list, the helper:

1. Parses the DataTables request payload — draw, start, length, search, order.
2. Runs an unfiltered count → goes into recordsTotal.
3. Runs a filtered count that applies the global search → goes into recordsFiltered.
4. Runs the page query with LIMIT, OFFSET, the search filter and the client-requested ordering.
5. Applies any per-column render callbacks you registered.
6. Returns the JSON envelope DataTables expects.

That's three database round-trips per request — one for each count + one for the page — and one prepared statement per round-trip.

The smallest possible example

<?phprequire__DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
useInitPHP\Database\DB;
useInitPHP\Database\Utils\Datatables\Datatables;
DB::createImmutable([
'dsn' => '...',
'username' => '...',
'password' => '...',
]);
header('Content-Type: application/json');
echo (newDatatables(DB::getDatabase()))
->from('users')
->setColumns('id', 'name', 'email', 'created_at');

(string) $datatables is equivalent to json_encode($datatables->toArray()). That single chain runs all three queries and emits the JSON envelope.

Client side — minimal markup

<tableid="users" class="display"></table><script>$('#users').DataTable({serverSide: true,processing: true,ajax: '/api/users/datatables',columns: [{data: 'id',title: 'ID'},{data: 'name',title: 'Name'},{data: 'email',title: 'Email'},{data: 'created_at',title: 'Created'}]});</script>

The columns[].data keys on the client must match the column names you registered with setColumns() on the server. See DataTables — Bootstrap recipe for a complete page.

The response envelope

{
"draw": 7,
"recordsTotal": 1024,
"recordsFiltered": 12,
"data": [
{ "id": 5, "name": "Ada", "email": "ada@example.com", "created_at": "2026-04-01 12:00:00" },
{ "id": 8, "name": "Bob", "email": "bob@example.com", "created_at": "2026-04-02 09:00:00" }
],
"post": {
"draw": 7,
"start": "0",
"length": "25",
"search": { "value": "" }
}
}

Field	Meaning
draw	Opaque client token, echoed back. DataTables uses it to drop stale responses.
recordsTotal	The unfiltered total row count.
recordsFiltered	The row count after applying the global search filter.
data	The page of rows after paging + ordering + renderers.
post	The original request payload, verbatim. Not part of the DataTables spec — a debugging convenience the helper adds.

Constructor

newDatatables(
DatabaseInterface|ModelInterface $db,
?RequestParser $request = null,
?Renderer $renderer = null,
);

Argument	Default	When to pass your own
$db	— required —	A Model instance picks up that model's soft-delete / writability gates automatically.
$request	RequestParser::fromGlobals()	Inject a new RequestParser($psr7Body) when feeding the helper from PSR-7.
$renderer	new Renderer()	Almost never — use $dt->addRender('col', fn …) instead.

RequestParser::fromGlobals() merges $_GET, $_POST and the JSON body of php://input. Outside of an HTTP context (CLI scripts, tests) it returns an empty-payload parser.

A model-bound chain

$dt = newDatatables(newApp\Model\Posts());
$dt->where('status', 1)
->setColumns('id', 'title', 'created_at');

When the helper is constructed with a Model, every model-side guarantee applies — soft-deleted posts are excluded, the $readable gate is honoured, and so on.

Three pages, three roles

This page is the overview. The next three go deeper:

• Search, Sort, Paging — what setColumns() and the request payload actually drive.
• Renderers — addRender() and the closure signature.
• Advanced — groupBy count behaviour, permanentSelect, custom request parsers, parameter binding internals.

For an end-to-end working example, see Recipe — DataTables Bootstrap.