Customizing the appearance of DataTable button

Question

Good day everyone.

I'm recently working with a web application using ASP.Net (MVC 4) and found a pretty impressive kind of HTML table which is by using Datatable.

I'm able to create default buttons inline with the search element of the said table but my problem is their appearance it very simple and I've been reading it's documentation but i cant find a way to change their appearance specifically their background-image.

Thanks in advance

Here is my code for the Table.

    <table id="exampledatatable" class="table table-striped table-bordered dt-responsive nowrap" cellspacing="0" >
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Customer Code</th>
                <th>Customer Name</th>
                <th>Customer Type</th>
                <th>Industry Type</th>
                <th>Website</th>
                <th>Email</th>
                <th>Off Day 1</th>
                <th>Off Day 2</th>
                <th>E-mail</th>
                <th>Actions</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr>
                <td>Tiger</td>
                <td>Nixon</td>
                <td>System Architect</td>
                <td>Edinburgh</td>
                <td>61</td>
                <td>2011/04/25</td>
                <td>$320,800</td>
                <td>5421</td>
                <td>[email protected]</td>
                <td>
                    @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "UpdateCompany") |
                    @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "DeleteCompany") |
                    @Html.ActionLink("Restore", "RestoreCompany")
                </td>
            </tr>
       </tbody>
    </table>

And here is my code for generating it buttons

<script>

        $(document).ready(function () {
            $('#exampledatatable').DataTable({
                dom: 'Bfrtip',
                buttons: [
                    {
                        extend: 'copyHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-                                              plus-circle fa-x5"></i> New</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Create New Record'
                    },  
                    {
                        extend: 'csvHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-pencil fa-x5"></i> Edit</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Edit Existing Record'
                    },
                    {
                        extend: 'csvHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-trash fa-x5"></i> Delete</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Delete Existing Record'
                    },
                    {
                        extend: 'pdfHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-reply-all fa-x5"></i> Restore</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Restore Deleted Record'
                    },
                    {
                        extend: 'pdfHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-refresh fa-x5"></i> Refresh</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Restore Deleted Record'
                    },
                    {
                        extend: 'pdfHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-print fa-x5"></i> Print</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Restore Deleted Record'
                    },
                    {
                        extend: 'pdfHtml5',
                        text: '<h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-times-circle fa-x5"></i> Close</h4>',
                        titleAttr: 'Restore Deleted Record'
                    }
               ]
            });
        });
    </script>

Here is the generated HTML code:

<div class="dt-buttons">
<a class="dt-button buttons-copy buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Create New Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-plus-circle fa-x5"></i> New</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-csv buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Edit Existing Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-pencil fa-x5"></i> Edit</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-csv buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Delete Existing Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-trash fa-x5"></i> Delete</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-pdf buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Restore Deleted Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-reply-all fa-x5"></i> Restore</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-pdf buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Restore Deleted Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-refresh fa-x5"></i> Refresh</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-pdf buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Restore Deleted Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-print fa-x5"></i> Print</h4>
    </span>
</a>
<a class="dt-button buttons-pdf buttons-html5" tabindex="0" aria-controls="exampledatatable" href="#" title="Restore Deleted Record">
    <span>
        <h4 style="font-size: 13px;"><i class="fa fa-times-circle fa-x5"></i> Close</h4>
    </span>
</a>

Answer 1

it's more easy to use the the classname attribute

https://datatables.net/reference/option/buttons.buttons.className

Example:

$('#table2excel').DataTable({
paging: false,
"info": false,
searching: false,
dom: 'Bfrtip',
buttons: [
    { extend: 'copy', className: 'btn btn-primary glyphicon glyphicon-duplicate' },
    { extend: 'csv', className: 'btn btn-primary glyphicon glyphicon-save-file' },
    { extend: 'excel', className: 'btn btn-primary glyphicon glyphicon-list-alt' },
    { extend: 'pdf', className: 'btn btn-primary glyphicon glyphicon-file' },
    { extend: 'print', className: 'btn btn-primary glyphicon glyphicon-print' }
]

});

using bootstrap icons and style:

• http://getbootstrap.com/components/