Disable initial automatic ajax call - DataTable server side paging

I could do it with a workaround by passing an extra parameter with the URL to identify the event.

For example, for on load I initialized the data table with action="load" as query param and for other action like search, am passing action="search". With this I, at the back end, will be able to identify the call origin. If it is anything other than "load", I am pulling the data & passing (as the implementation is now). Otherwise (if "load") then I am passing empty data, which will show me "No Data Found" message as if it did not made the ajax call.

Here is my code - Table initialization:

function initTestTable(){
    myTable =  $('#testTable').dataTable({
    "processing": true,
    "serverSide": true,
    "ajax": {
        "url": "testTableData.html?action=load",
        "type": "GET",
    },
    "columns": [
        { "data": "code" },
        { "data": "description" }
    ]
 });
}

For events other than load (say button click):

    var newUrl = 'testTableData.html?action=search';
    myTable.api().ajax.url(newUrl).load();

This was the one I had to take up without modifications to table init that would cause errors.

Thank you @JSelser and @davidkonrad for all your suggestions :)

After almost 10 years, I came back to this thread... again. It is true, that I do have serverSide and processing set to false, so it is a little bit different and in my case defererLoading did no favor to me, but! I think I found a solution that disable init call for both cases, yet works as expected later, when e.g. button is pressed, without needing some custom logic with bool or destroying table over and over.

function initTestTable(){
   myTable =  $('#testTable').dataTable({
      initComplete: function(settings) {
         settings.ajax = {
             "url": "testTableData.html",
             "type": "GET",
         }
      }
   });
}

This way, the ajax is set after init, bypassing the init call (because of missing ajax settings). No need to duplicate settings, controlling if it was called first time or reinit table over.

Still not sure why we cannot have simple bool in the setting tho, hopefully helps to others :)

This is how I initially load my empty dataTable on page load. Then I load it with data via ajax using an eventListener. I couldn't find any documentation I just kind of played around with it and it works like a charm.

ref files - dataTables.js, table-advanced.js

$(document).ready(function(){
   option = "I";
  // pick a table list or something
  $("#dropdownList").on("change", function(){
      option = $('option:selected:not(:disabled)',this).val();
    if($.fn.DataTable.isDataTable('#table_001')){
       $('#table_001').dataTable().fnDestroy();
       InitDataTable(option); 
     }
     else{
       InitDataTable("disabled");   
     }    
    });

     //add/delete/update a row maybe?
     $("#signupForm #add_btn").on("click",function(e){
       if($("#signupForm").valid()){
            var oTable1 = $('#table_001').DataTable(); ///load .ajax structure 
             //Successful Submit!
             oTable1.ajax.reload(); 
            $("#note").html(<img src="/images/loading.gif" alt="loading">');
        }
     });

     //On draw occurs everytime you call table.ajax.reload(); 
     $('#table_001').on( 'draw.dt', function () { 
            if(option !== "I")
                  var evtname = $('select[name="EVENT"] option:selected:not(:disabled)').text();

            if(evtname !== undefined)
                $("#event_name").html("The " + evtname + " Signup Sheet").addClass("xs-small");
            // keep track of values for table input fields on each draw
            $("[aria-controls='table_001'][type='search']").attr('hth_orig',$("            [aria-controls='table_001'][type='search']").val());
            //Don't initialize on draw 
            TableAdvanced.init('table_001','N');
});


  var InitDataTable = function(choice){

            var oTable1 = $('#table_001').dataTable( {
                "processing": true,
                "serverSide": true,
                "lengthMenu": [10,25,50,100], // records pulldown
                "iDisplayLength": 25, // # records to initially display
                "ajax": {
                    "url": "http://www.domain.com",
                    "data": function (d) { // pass additional        
                                d.user = user; 
                                d.choice = choice; 
                                d.cols = "15"; // TOTAL <td> tags per <tr> tag  
                    },
                    // Load attendee total and pending total sections 
                    complete: function (d) {
                        recordstotal = d.responseJSON.recordsTotal;
                        attendeetotal = d.responseJSON.attendeeTotal;
                        //console.log(JSON.stringify(d.responseJSON.data));
                        if ( attendeetotal == '0') {
             $("#totalAttendees").html("No one has signed up for this event yet");
                        }
                        else {
        $("#totalAttendees").html("Event Total: " +  attendeetotal + " attendees");                     
                        }  
                        $("#add-atn").removeClass("hidden");
                    } 
                }, 
                // insert code to execute after table has been redrawn
                "fnDrawCallback": function( oSettings ) {
                    // Column filtering
                    var table = $('#table_001').DataTable();
                    $("#table_001 tfoot th").each( function ( i ) { // i = 0,1...
                        if($.trim($(this).html()) != '') {
                            save_html = $(this).html();
                            $(this).empty(); 
                            var select = $(save_html)
                            .appendTo( this )
                            .on( 'change', function () {
               table.column( i, { filter: 'applied'                }).search($(this).val()).draw();
                            }); 
                            $("#table_001 tfoot th:eq("+i+") input").val(save_value);
                        } 
                    });     
                    //console.log($("#table_001 tfoot th").length);
                 },

                "columns": [// set "data" to next sequential number in double quotes
                        {"data":"0",// Set "name" to field name that will be refd
                        "name": "skip"},        
                        {"data":"1", 
                        "name": "skip"}, 
                        {"data": "2",
                        "name": "skip"},
                        {"data":"3", 
                        "name": "lname"},
                        {"data":"4", 
                        "name": "fname"}
                          {"data":"5",
                           "name": "skip"}
                ],      
                "columnDefs": [                    
                        // what columns should be hidden?       
                        {
                        "targets": [1], // what element starting with 0
                        "class":"hidden" // class to attach to <td>
                        },
                        // what columns should NOT be sortable?       
                        {
                        "targets": [0,1,2,5,6,7,8,9,12,13,14], 
                        "sortable": false, // sortable?
                        },
                        // what columns should NOT be searchable?       
                        {
                        "targets": [0,1,2,6,7,8,9,12,13,14],  
                        "searchable": false, // searchable?
                        }
                ],  
                "createdRow": function( row, data, dataIndex ) { 
                    //manipulate the specific column in the row   
                     //$(row).addClass( 'form-group' ); 
                     // $('td', row).eq(2).addClass('form-group'); // Added to <td>

                 },
                // Specify initial sort order       
               "order": [[ '10', "desc" ],[ '11', "desc" ],['3',"asc"],['4',"asc"]]   
            });

            // handle 1st page table load initialization using 
            TableAdvanced.init('table_001','Y');

    });
    }

NOTE: You could add some logic that selects a default option if there is one that is available and not disabled.

The correct (working) way is:

$(document).ready(function() {
  tableConfig = {
      pageLength: 5,  
      "columns": [
            { "data": "name" },
            { "data": "position" },
            { "data": "office" },
            { "data": "extn" },
            { "data": "start_date" },
            { "data": "salary" }
        ]
    };
  
  var table = $('#example').DataTable(tableConfig);

  $('#ajaxLoad').on('click', function() {
    tableConfig.ajax = {
      "url": "ajax/objects_root_array.txt",
      "dataSrc": ""
    };    
    
    table.destroy();
    table = $('#example').DataTable( tableConfig );
  })
} );

Working example

Source