Question

I am updating my table using ajax, the process is not tied to the datatables and I would like to perform a table refresh

$('#listing').dataTable( {
        "bDestroy": true,
            "bProcessing": true,
    "sAjaxSource": "getlist/",
            "bJQueryUI": true,


            "aoColumns": [
                    { "mDataProp": "id" },      
        { "mDataProp": "aname" },           
        { "mDataProp": "acode" },
        { "mDataProp": "editlink" },
                    { "mDataProp": "deletelink" },

    ],
            "aoColumnDefs": [ 
                    { "bSearchable": false, "bVisible": false, "aTargets": [ 0 ] }

    ]



} );

My data is customized to appear as {"aaData":[{"id":"14", and its working well because the table is being rendered.

Answer 1

You can update the datatable by calling fnDraw() method. However the Datatables will read the data again from the actual data source (Ajax URI, in your case) ONLY if bServerSide: true is set (by which you are telling the Datatables that all the processing is done at server side).

One side effect of bServerSide: true is that you need send the pagination details (iTotalRecords & iTotalDisplayRecords, .. ) & other data in the Ajax response (see Server-side Processing docs).

Othre side effect is that filtering will not work any longer 🙁 Datatable can’t filter the partial data which it has.