Using a dropdown list to filter a table (dataTables)

Question

I'm using the dataTables jQuery plugin (which is totally awesome), but I'm having trouble getting my table to filter based on the change of my select box.

Function:

  $(document).ready(function() {
      $("#msds-table").dataTable({
        "sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
        "bFilter": false
       });

      var oTable;
      oTable = $('#msds-table').dataTable();

      $('#msds-select').change( function() { 
            oTable.fnFilter( $(this).val() ); 
       });
   });

HTML:

  <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="msds-table">
                    <thead>
                      <tr>
                        <th>Column 1</th>
                        <th>Column 2</th>
                        <th>etc</th>
                      </tr>
                    </thead>
                    <tbody>
                    <select id="#msds-select">
                    <option>All</option>
                    <option>Group 1</option>
                    <option>Group 2</option>
                    <option>Group 3</option>
                    <option>Group 4</option>
                    <option>Group 5</option>
                    <option>Group 6</option>
                    </select>
                    <tr class="odd">
                        <td>Group 1</td>
                        <td><img src="images/modules/download-icon.gif" width="12" height="17" alt="" /></td>
                        <td><a href="#">Download</a></td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr class="even">
                        <td>Group 1</td>
                        <td><img src="images/modules/download-icon.gif" width="12" height="17" alt="" /></td>
                        <td><a href="#">Download</a></td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr class="odd">
                        <td>Group 1</td>
                        <td><img src="images/modules/download-icon.gif" width="12" height="17" alt="" /></td>
                        <td><a href="#">Download</a></td>
                    </tr>
     </tbody>
 </table>

Table goes on to display a bunch of items, up to "Group 6", but you get the idea. Anyone ever tried to do this before?

Answer 1

dataTables features

I knew I had done this before, and you have to watch this little piece of information:

Note that if you wish to use filtering in DataTables this must remain 'true' - to remove the default filtering input box and retain filtering abilities, please use sDom.

you need to set {bFilter:true}, and move your <select></select> into a custom element registered through sDom. I can guess your code will look like this:

$(document).ready(function() {
      $("#msds-table").dataTable({
        "sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
        "bFilter": true,
        "sDom":"lrtip" // default is lfrtip, where the f is the filter
       });
      var oTable;
      oTable = $('#msds-table').dataTable();

      $('#msds-select').change( function() { 
            oTable.fnFilter( $(this).val() ); 
       });
   });

your code for oTable.fnFilter( $(this).val() ); will not fire while {bFilter:false}; according to the documentation