# Editor example Custom delete / remove message

The three button types that Editor adds to DataTables (`create`, `edit` and `remove`) each have the option of being able to show a custom message in the Editor form when activated through their `formMessage` option (which in turn is passed to the `message()` method).

This ability can be particularly useful for the `remove` button, where a message could be shown which includes details of the selected rows, ensuring the end user is aware of which records will be deleted.

In this case the `modifier()` method is used to get the rows that will be deleted and `rows().data()` to get the data for these rows. Finally `pluck()` is used to gather a single data point from each row, although this could potentially be made much more complex if you require.

Name | Position | Office | Extn. | Start date | Salary
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Name | Position | Office | Extn. | 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: "../../controllers/staff.php", table: "#example", fields: [ { label: "First name:", name: "first_name" }, { label: "Last name:", name: "last_name" }, { label: "Position:", name: "position" }, { label: "Office:", name: "office" }, { label: "Extension:", name: "extn" }, { label: "Start date:", name: "start_date", type: "datetime" }, { label: "Salary:", name: "salary" } ] } ); var table = $('#example').DataTable( { dom: "Bfrtip", ajax: "../../controllers/staff.php", columns: [ { data: null, render: function ( data, type, row ) { // Combine the first and last names into a single table field return data.first_name+' '+data.last_name; } }, { data: "position" }, { data: "office" }, { data: "extn" }, { data: "start_date" }, { data: "salary", render: $.fn.dataTable.render.number( ',', '.', 0, '$' ) } ], select: true, buttons: [ { extend: "create", editor: editor }, { extend: "edit", editor: editor }, { extend: "remove", editor: editor, formMessage: function ( e, dt ) { var rows = dt.rows( e.modifier() ).data().pluck('first_name'); return 'Are you sure you want to delete the entries for the '+ 'following record(s)? <ul><li>'+rows.join('</li><li>')+'</li></ul>'; } } ] } ); } );`

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

- https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.20/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.6.0/js/dataTables.buttons.min.js
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.3.1/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:

`div.DTE_Form_Info { text-align: left; }`

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

- https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.20/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.6.0/css/buttons.dataTables.min.css
- https://cdn.datatables.net/select/1.3.1/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.