Specifying a fixed column width in jQuery Datatables

Question

I'm trying to specify a fixed width for a few columns in a jQuery datatable. I've attempted to accomplish this via the column definitions specified in the datatables documentation, but the column and column header still get auto-sized.

Here's the jsFiddle I've been working with: jsFiddle

JavaScript:

var table = $('#example2').DataTable({
        "tabIndex": 8,
        "dom": '<"fcstTableWrapper"t>lp',
        "bFilter": false,
        "bAutoWidth": false,
        "data": [],
        "columnDefs": [
            {
                "class": 'details-control',
                "orderable": false,
                "data": null,
                "defaultContent": '',
                "targets": 0
            },
            { 
                "targets": 1},
            { 
                "targets": 2,
                "width": "60px"},
            { 
                "targets": 3,
                "width": "1100px"},
            { 
                "targets": 4},
            { 
                "targets": "dlySlsFcstDay"},
            { 
                "targets": "dlySlsFcstWkTtl",
                "width": "60px"}
        ],
        "order": [
            [1, 'asc']
        ]
    });

HTML:

<div class="forecastTableDiv">
            <table id="example2" class="display" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
                <thead>
                <tr>
                    <th colspan="5"></th>
                    <th  class="slsFiscalWk" colspan="8">201424</th>
                    <th  class="slsFiscalWk" colspan="8">201425</th>
                    <th  class="slsFiscalWk" colspan="8">201426</th>
                    <th  class="slsFiscalWk" colspan="8">201427</th>
                </tr>
                <tr>
                    <!--<th></th>-->
                    <!--<th>Vendor</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Origin ID</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Destination</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Vendor Part Nbr</th>-->
                    <!--<th>SKU</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Mon</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Tue</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Wed</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Thu</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Fri</th>-->
                    <!--<th>Week Ttl</th>-->

                    <th></th>
                    <th>Vendor</th>
                    <th>Origin ID</th>
                    <th style="width: 200px">Vendor Part Nbr</th>
                    <th>SKU</th>
                    <!-- First week -->
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Mon</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Tue</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Wed</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Thu</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Fri</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sat</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sun</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstWkTtl" >Week Ttl</th>
                    <!-- Second week -->
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Mon</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Tue</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Wed</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Thu</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Fri</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sat</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sun</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstWkTtl" >Week Ttl</th>
                    <!-- Third week -->
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Mon</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Tue</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Wed</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Thu</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Fri</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sat</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sun</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstWkTtl" >Week Ttl</th>
                    <!-- Fourth and final week -->
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Mon</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Tue</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Wed</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Thu</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Fri</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sat</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstDay" >Sun</th>
                    <th class="dlySlsFcstWkTtl" >Week Ttl</th>
                </tr>
                </thead>

                <tfoot>
            </table>
        </div>

When I inspect the live code, I can see that the width I'm specifying in the column definition is getting added to the column as a style attribute, but it doesn't match the actual width of the column.

Answer 1

This is not a DataTables issue. See how column widths are determined. Based on this algorithm I see the following two solutions.

Solution 1

Calculate yourself the table width and set it accordingly.

#example {
  width: 3562px;
}

See live example here: http://jsfiddle.net/cdog/jsf6cg6L/.

Solution 2

Set the minimum content width (MCW) of each cell and let the user agent to determine the column widths.

To do this, add classes to the target columns to be able to style them:

var table = $('#example').DataTable({
  tabIndex: 8,
  dom: '<"fcstTableWrapper"t>lp',
  bFilter: false,
  bAutoWidth: false,
  data: [],
  columnDefs: [{
    class: 'details-control',
    orderable: false,
    data: null,
    defaultContent: '',
    targets: 0
  }, {
    targets: 1
  }, {
    class: 'col-2',
    targets: 2
  }, {
    class: 'col-3',
    targets: 3
  }, {
    targets: 4
  }, {
    targets: 'dlySlsFcstDay'
  }, {
    targets: 'dlySlsFcstWkTtl'
  }],
  order: [[1, 'asc']]
});

Then set the desired value of the minimum width property for each class:

.col-2,
.dlySlsFcstWkTtl {
  min-width: 60px;
}

.col-3 {
  min-width: 1100px;
}

See live example here: http://jsfiddle.net/cdog/hag7Lpm5/.