jqxDataTable with Server-side Sorting, Paging and Filtering Using JSP

In this help topic you will learn how to bind a jqxDataTable to a MySQL database using JSP (JavaServer Pages) and implement server-side sorting, paging and filtering.

Important: before proceeding, please make sure you have followed the instructions of the tutorial Configure MySQL, Eclipse and Tomcat for Use with jQWidgets.

1. Connect to the Database and Retrieve the Data table Data

To populate the data table, we need a JSP file that connects to the Northwind database and retieves data from it depending on the sorting and filtering applied to the data table, the current page it is on and the page size.

Create a new JSP by right-clicking the project's WebContent folder, then choosing New → JSP File. Name the file populate-datatable.jsp.

Import the necessary classes in the beginning of the JSP:

Finally, add a scriptlet to the JSP that does the following:

  1. Gets the request parameters (based on the current sorting, paging and filtering).
  2. Makes a database connection.
  3. Gets the total count of the filtered records (needed for determining the page count).
  4. Selects the necessary (filtered, ordered and limited) data from the database in a ResultSet.
  5. Converts the ResultSet to a JSON array and passes the total count of the filtered records as a field of the first array member.
  6. Prints (returns) the JSON array.

2. Create a Page with a jqxDataTable

Create a new HTML page by right-clicking the project's WebContent folder, then choosing New → HTML File. Here is the code of the page in our example:

Through jqxDataAdapter, the data table is populated by the data retrieved from the database by populate-datatable.jsp. In the formatData callback of data adapter, we create and format new parameters to be passed to the server-side. These parameters are retrieved and used in populate-datatable.jsp. In the source callback beforeprocessing, we get the source.totalRecords from the data passed to the first element of the data array. Another key point is that the data table's serverProcessing property has to be set to true.

To run the page, right-click it and select Run As → Run on Server. In the window that appears, select Tomcat v8.0 Server at localhost and click Finish.