Bootstrap's dropdown hidden by datatables

Question

I'm using Twitter Bootstrap to create a button with a DropDown menu for each row in a DataTables grid, but the data container from DataTables is using "overflow: hidden" what is making the DropDown to be cut.

I cannot just switch to "overflow: auto" as this will cause to appear an unnecessary vertical scrollbar.

Here is a JSFiddle

HTML

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="pretty" id="example"></table>

JS

/* API method to get paging information */
$.fn.dataTableExt.oApi.fnPagingInfo = function (oSettings) {
    return {
        "iStart": oSettings._iDisplayStart,
            "iEnd": oSettings.fnDisplayEnd(),
            "iLength": oSettings._iDisplayLength,
            "iTotal": oSettings.fnRecordsTotal(),
            "iFilteredTotal": oSettings.fnRecordsDisplay(),
            "iPage": oSettings._iDisplayLength === -1 ? 0 : Math.ceil(oSettings._iDisplayStart / oSettings._iDisplayLength),
            "iTotalPages": oSettings._iDisplayLength === -1 ? 0 : Math.ceil(oSettings.fnRecordsDisplay() / oSettings._iDisplayLength)
    };
}

/* Bootstrap style pagination control */
$.extend($.fn.dataTableExt.oPagination, {
    "bootstrap": {
        "fnInit": function (oSettings, nPaging, fnDraw) {
            var oLang = oSettings.oLanguage.oPaginate;
            var fnClickHandler = function (e) {
                e.preventDefault();
                if (oSettings.oApi._fnPageChange(oSettings, e.data.action)) {
                    fnDraw(oSettings);
                }
            };

            $(nPaging).addClass('pagination').append(
                '<ul>' +
                '<li class="prev disabled"><a href="#">&larr; ' + oLang.sPrevious + '</a></li>' +
                '<li class="next disabled"><a href="#">' + oLang.sNext + ' &rarr; </a></li>' +
                '</ul>');
            var els = $('a', nPaging);
            $(els[0]).bind('click.DT', {
                action: "previous"
            }, fnClickHandler);
            $(els[1]).bind('click.DT', {
                action: "next"
            }, fnClickHandler);
        },

            "fnUpdate": function (oSettings, fnDraw) {
            var iListLength = 5;
            var oPaging = oSettings.oInstance.fnPagingInfo();
            var an = oSettings.aanFeatures.p;
            var i, j, sClass, iStart, iEnd, iHalf = Math.floor(iListLength / 2);

            if (oPaging.iTotalPages < iListLength) {
                iStart = 1;
                iEnd = oPaging.iTotalPages;
            } else if (oPaging.iPage <= iHalf) {
                iStart = 1;
                iEnd = iListLength;
            } else if (oPaging.iPage >= (oPaging.iTotalPages - iHalf)) {
                iStart = oPaging.iTotalPages - iListLength + 1;
                iEnd = oPaging.iTotalPages;
            } else {
                iStart = oPaging.iPage - iHalf + 1;
                iEnd = iStart + iListLength - 1;
            }

            for (i = 0, iLen = an.length; i < iLen; i++) {
                // Remove the middle elements
                $('li:gt(0)', an[i]).filter(':not(:last)').remove();

                // Add the new list items and their event handlers
                for (j = iStart; j <= iEnd; j++) {
                    sClass = (j == oPaging.iPage + 1) ? 'class="active"' : '';
                    $('<li ' + sClass + '><a href="#">' + j + '</a></li>')
                        .insertBefore($('li:last', an[i])[0])
                        .bind('click', function (e) {
                        e.preventDefault();
                        oSettings._iDisplayStart = (parseInt($('a', this).text(), 10) - 1) * oPaging.iLength;
                        fnDraw(oSettings);
                    });
                }

                // Add / remove disabled classes from the static elements
                if (oPaging.iPage === 0) {
                    $('li:first', an[i]).addClass('disabled');
                } else {
                    $('li:first', an[i]).removeClass('disabled');
                }

                if (oPaging.iPage === oPaging.iTotalPages - 1 || oPaging.iTotalPages === 0) {
                    $('li:last', an[i]).addClass('disabled');
                } else {
                    $('li:last', an[i]).removeClass('disabled');
                }
            }
        }
    }
});

/* Table initialisation */
$(document).ready(function () {
    $('#example').dataTable({
        "aaData": [
        /* Reduced data set */ ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Internet Explorer 4.0", "Win 95+", 4, "X"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Internet Explorer 5.0", "Win 95+", 5, "C"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Internet Explorer 5.5", "Win 95+", 5.5, "A"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Internet Explorer 6.0", "Win 98+", 6, "A"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Internet Explorer 7.0", "Win XP SP2+", 7, "A"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Firefox 1.5", "Win 98+ / OSX.2+", 1.8, "A"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Firefox 2", "Win 98+ / OSX.2+", 1.8, "A"],
            ['<div class="btn-group" style="float: left">' +
                                '<a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">Actions' +
                                    '<span class="caret"></span>' +
                                '</a>' +
                                '<ul class="dropdown-menu">' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">Approve</a></li>' +
                                    '<li><a href="#">View</a></li>' +
                                '</ul>' +
                            '</div>' +
                            '<a href="#" id="editButton" class="btn btn-small"><i class="icon-pencil"></i></a>' +
                            '<a href="#" class="btn btn-small deleteButton"><i class="icon-trash"></i></a>', "Firefox 3", "Win 2k+ / OSX.3+", 1.9, "A"]
        ],
            "aoColumns": [{
            "sTitle": "Engine"
        }, {
            "sTitle": "Browser"
        }, {
            "sTitle": "Platform"
        }, {
            "sTitle": "Version",
            "sClass": "center"
        }, {
            "sTitle": "Grade",
            "sClass": "center"
        }],

            'sScrollX': "100%",
            'sScrollXInner': "150%",
            'bScrollCollapse': true,
            'bAutoWidth': false,
            'bDeferRender': true,
            'bLengthChange': false, "sPaginationType": "bootstrap",
            "oLanguage": {
            "sLengthMenu": "_MENU_ records per page"
        }
    });
    $('.acoes').dropdown();
});

Answer 1

What worked for me was to adjust the positioning of the Bootstrap dropdown menu to fixed and move the menu to a specific section of the screen.

And it works with mobile view since it's relative to the window.

table .dropdown-menu {
    position: fixed !important;
    top: 50% !important;
    left: 92% !important;
    transform: translate(-92%, -50%) !important;
}

This way you can keep the behavior of the scroller extension, scrollX and scrollY properties of DataTables.