datatables object of objects instead of array of objects

Question

I'm very new to this whole area of js and datatables.

How can this be represented in datatables

var data = {"jaxm":
    {
      "name": "Tiger Nixon",
      "position": "System Architect"
    },
    "jaxb" :
    {
     "name": "Garrett Winters",
     "position": "Accountant"
    }

}

I tried

$(duTable).DataTable({
    data:  data,
});

not sure if this possible without arrays or not but even I couldnt print single row in datatables using

$(duTable).DataTable({
    data:  data.jaxm,
});

Answer 1

You cannot (the short answer). The above is more like a hash table, or a kind of associate array: You have an object with multiple keys (not indexes) each of them holding an object. You need to sanitize such construct into an indexed array :

function sanitizeData() {
  var d = [];
  Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key) {
    d.push(data[key]);
  });
  return d;
}

var table = $('#example').DataTable({
  data:  sanitizeData(),
  // **and** instruct dataTables which object property belongs to which column
  columns: [
    { data: 'name' },
    { data: 'position' }
  ]
})  

See demo -> http://jsfiddle.net/0c52ra0c/

It is basically just an algorithmic version of

var table = $('#example').DataTable({
  data:  [data.jaxm, data.jaxb],
  columns: [
    { data: 'name' },
    { data: 'position' }
  ]
})  

which would do the same. So you could use data: [data.jaxm] as a solution for the last attempt of "print single row". Either way, you need to pass an indexed array to dataTables.