# DataTables example Object data source

The default data format that DataTables expects for server-side processing is a 2D array of data (rows by columns). However, this is often not flexible enough for either the server-side environment, or you might want to convey more information in the data source than is necessary to show in the table (row IDs from the database for example). For these situations DataTables supports the reading of data for objects as well as arrays.

In this example the server responds with an array of objects, where DataTables will look up and use each property that is specified by the `columns.data` property given for each column.

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

`$(document).ready(function () { $('#example').DataTable({ processing: true, serverSide: true, ajax: 'scripts/objects.php', columns: [ { data: 'first_name' }, { data: 'last_name' }, { data: 'position' }, { data: 'office' }, { data: 'start_date' }, { data: 'salary' }, ], }); });`

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

- https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.5.1.js
- ../../media/js/jquery.dataTables.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:

``

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

- ../../media/css/jquery.dataTables.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.