# Editor example Selected columns only

It can sometimes be useful to allow editing on specific columns only. This is done by only calling the `inline()` method for the cells that you wish to be editable when activated (typically a click). There are a number of methods for doing this, primarily involving the jQuery selector for which cells the event should activate on.

This example uses the method of applying a class name (`editable` in this case, but it could be anything) to the columns that should be editable (using `columns.className`). Then the selector for the event handler for `inline()` simply becomes `tbody td.editable`.

In this example only the first name, last name and salary columns are inline editable. They are styled using the class name to indicate this.

| First name | Last name | Position | Office | Start date | Salary
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---

- Javascript
- HTML
- CSS
- Ajax
- Server-side script

The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

`var editor; // use a global for the submit and return data rendering in the examples $(document).ready(function() { editor = new $.fn.dataTable.Editor( { ajax: "../php/staff.php", table: "#example", fields: [ { label: "First name:", name: "first_name" }, { label: "Last name:", name: "last_name" }, { label: "Salary:", name: "salary" } ] } ); // Activate an inline edit on click of a table cell $('#example').on( 'click', 'tbody td.editable', function (e) { editor.inline( this ); } ); $('#example').DataTable( { dom: 'Bfrtip', ajax: '../php/staff.php', columns: [ { data: null, defaultContent: '', className: 'select-checkbox', orderable: false }, { data: 'first_name', className: 'editable' }, { data: 'last_name', className: 'editable' }, { data: 'position' }, { data: 'office' }, { data: 'start_date' }, { data: 'salary', render: $.fn.dataTable.render.number( ',', '.', 0, '$' ), className: 'editable' } ], select: { style: 'os', selector: 'td:first-child' }, buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor: editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor: editor }, { extend: 'remove', editor: editor } ] } ); } );`

In addition to the above code, the following Javascript library files are loaded for use in this example:

- //code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.5.0/js/dataTables.buttons.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.2.4/js/dataTables.select.min.js
- ../../js/dataTables.editor.min.js

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

`td.editable { font-weight: bold; }`

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.5.0/css/buttons.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.2.4/css/select.dataTables.min.css
- ../../css/editor.dataTables.min.css

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.