Performance issue with large tables in IE8

sronsiek

I've come across DataTables while working on a new implementation of an old project.
It provides all the features I'm looking for - sorting /pagination / filtering and even inline
edit.

I've been building prototypes - which work great in Firefox and Chrome. Unfortunately
I'm also forced to support IE8. Initial tests with large tables ( up to 4000 rows, 5-7 columns)
show IE is simply too slow in the post-transfer phase, where DataTables must be processing /
indexing (?) the data before rendering. 15-20seconds before the user sees any data is too long.

Currently I'm rendering the empty table, then requesting table content via Ajax/Json.

As filtering on the page in question is a central feature - I've assumed the whole page data
needs to be transferred.

Could you provide some tips on how to improve - at least the perceived - performance?
For example is it possible to start rendering before the client side javascript processing is completed?
I've also seen that server side processing is an option - does this remove some of the client
side post processing load on the browser? Is this perhaps a better approach? At present my
options are still open.

I've even toyed with the idea of different behaviour according to browser ...

fbas

yes, server-side. 4000 rows is too much to put on the client, especially if you're trying to make IE work.

sd_zuo

You must take a look at this example:
http://www.datatables.net/release-datatables/examples/ajax/defer_render.html

I'm using the deferred rendering feature and now, on IE8, 3000 records are loaded within 1 second--no "s" behind the word "second".

max4ever

also use fnRowCallback which is much faster and prevents erorrs ('Script not respoding') instead of the much slower fnDrawCallback