Version

Search Eloquent Relationships

DataTables supports searching and sorting on eager loaded Eloquent relationships using dot notation.

Setup and Searching

Backend: Eager Load Relationships

Use Laravel's with() to eager load relationships:

Route::get('user-data', function () {
    return DataTables::eloquent(User::with('posts'))
        ->addColumn('posts', fn (User $user) =>
            $user->posts
                ->map(fn(Post $post) => Str::limit($post->title, 30, '...'))
                ->implode('<br>')
        )
        ->toJson();
});

Frontend: Use Dot Notation for Searching

Use relation.column syntax in the name attribute:

$('#users-table').DataTable({
    processing: true,
    serverSide: true,
    ajax: '/user-data',
    columns: [
        { data: 'id', name: 'id' },
        { data: 'name', name: 'name' },
        { data: 'email', name: 'email' },
        { data: 'posts', name: 'posts.title' },
        { data: 'created_at', name: 'created_at' }
    ]
});

[!NOTE]

data: 'posts' - display key shown in the table

name: 'posts.title' - relationship.column for searching/sorting

Table Aliases

[!WARNING] Include select('table.*') in your query to prevent id column conflicts from related models.

Route::get('user-data', function () {
    // Use table alias to prevent id conflicts
    $model = Post::with('user')->select('posts.*');
 
    return DataTables::eloquent($model)->toJson();
});

Nested Relationships

Search through deeply nested relationships:

Route::get('user-data', function () {
    $model = User::with(['posts.comments', 'roles']);
 
    return DataTables::eloquent($model)->toJson();
});

In JavaScript, reference nested columns with dot notation:

{ data: 'comments', name: 'posts.comments.content' }

[!WARNING] Nested relationship sorting may have limitations. Searching is fully supported.