Preamble

This example shows how DataTables with scrolling can be used together with jQuery UI tabs (or indeed any other method whereby the table is in a hidden (display:none) element when it is initialised). The reason this requires special consideration, is that when DataTables is initialised and it is in a hidden element, the browser doesn't have any measurements with which to give DataTables, and this will require in the misalignment of columns when scrolling is enabled.

The method to get around this is to call the fnAdjustColumnSizing API function. This function will calculate the column widths that are needed based on the current data and then redraw the table - which is exactly what is needed when the table becomes visible for the first time. For this we use the 'show' method provided by jQuery UI tables. We check to see if the DataTable has been created or not (note the extra selector for 'div.dataTables_scrollBody', this is added when the DataTable is initialised). If the table has been initialised, we re-size it. An optimisation could be added to re-size only of the first showing of the table.

Live example

Initialisation code

$(document).ready(function() {
	$("#tabs").tabs( {
		"show": function(event, ui) {
			var table = $.fn.dataTable.fnTables(true);
			if ( table.length > 0 ) {
				$(table).dataTable().fnAdjustColumnSizing();
			}
		}
	} );
	
	$('table.display').dataTable( {
		"sScrollY": "200px",
		"bScrollCollapse": true,
		"bPaginate": false,
		"bJQueryUI": true,
		"aoColumnDefs": [
			{ "sWidth": "10%", "aTargets": [ -1 ] }
		]
	} );
} );

Other examples