Data Grid Server-Side Data

Client-side mode ends where the browser’s memory does. When your dataset lives in a database with tens of thousands of rows or more, hand the work to your backend: set dataProvider and the grid stops computing row models locally and asks your API for each page instead. This is the single biggest adoption unlocker for large data.

Server-side data

Set dataProvider and the grid switches to server-side mode — every sorting, filtering or pagination change triggers one debounced request (stale responses are dropped automatically), a loading overlay covers the viewport and totals come from your totalRows. Server-side mode implies pagination. This live demo hits CoreUI’s public demo API (apitest.coreui.io/demos/users) — 10,000+ records sorted, filtered and paged server-side.

<div id="dataGridServer"></div>

new coreui.DataGrid(document.getElementById('dataGridServer'), {
  columns: [
    { key: 'first_name', label: 'First name' },
    { key: 'last_name', label: 'Last name' },
    { key: 'email', label: 'Email' },
    { key: 'country', label: 'Country' },
    { key: 'ip_address', label: 'IP' }
  ],
  itemKey: item => String(item.id),
  columnFilters: true,
  async dataProvider({ sorting, columnFilters, pagination }) {
    const params = new URLSearchParams({
      offset: String(pagination.pageIndex * pagination.pageSize),
      limit: String(pagination.pageSize)
    })
    for (const { id, value } of columnFilters) {
      params.append(id, String(value))
    }

    const [sort] = sorting
    if (sort) {
      params.append('sort', `${sort.id}%${sort.desc ? 'desc' : 'asc'}`)
    }

    const response = await fetch(`https://apitest.coreui.io/demos/users?${params}`)
    const result = await response.json()
    const totalRows = Number(result.number_of_matching_records)
    return { items: totalRows ? result.records : [], totalRows }
  }
})

The dataProvider contract

new coreui.DataGrid(element, {
  columns,
  dataProvider: async ({ sorting, columnFilters, globalFilter, pagination }) => {
    // fetch from your API and return the matching page
    return { items, totalRows }
  },
  pagination: true, // server-side mode implies pagination
})

• One request per state change. sorting, columnFilters, globalFilter and pagination arrive as structured state; return the page of items plus the full totalRows count so the pager can render.
• Debounced & race-safe. Rapid changes coalesce into one request and only the latest response is applied — stale ones are dropped by request id.
• Loading UX. A .data-grid-loading overlay with a spinner covers the viewport and aria-busy is set while a request is in flight (labels.loading).
• Errors. A rejected fetch emits dataError.coreui.data-grid { error }, shows the empty state (labels.loadError) and leaves the grid interactive.
• Success. Each load emits dataLoad.coreui.data-grid { items, totalRows }.

Selection semantics

rowSelection is keyed by itemKey, so a selection survives page changes by design. getSelectedItems() returns only the items present in the current page’s data — the grid does not cache full objects for pages it has scrolled past.

The same page-bound rule applies to CSV export: in server-side mode every scope (filtered, all, selected) exports the currently loaded page only.

When the filter menu is used, a column’s entry in columnFilters carries the structured value — { conditions: [{ operator, value, value2? }], join: 'and' | 'or' } for typed operators or { operator: 'in', value: [...] } for the set filter — instead of a plain string. Servers should handle both shapes.