jQuery Datatables: Copy to clipboard using an external button - datatables

Question

I wanted to copy datatables contents to clipboard using a button that is not contained in datatables.
Doing it with a button inside Datatables is very easy with the buttons: ['copyHtml5'] option.
Is it possible to link the onclick() method of a html button to do this?
For example, I did the same with the search filter with this code that links an external html input (myFilter) with Datatables search action:
$("#myFilter").on("keyup", function() {
dataTable.search(this.value).draw();
});

Answer 1

You can do something like this to trigger copy.
var table= $('#example').DataTable( {
dom: 'Bfrtip',
buttons: [
'copy'
]
} );
$("#copycustomButton").on("click", function() {
table.button( '.buttons-copy' ).trigger();
});
.buttons-copy{
display:none !important
}
<script type="text/javascript" src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.0.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.11/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.1.2/js/dataTables.buttons.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="//cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.1.2/js/buttons.html5.min.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.11/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.datatables.net/buttons/1.1.2/css/buttons.dataTables.min.css">
<button id="copycustomButton">
copy
</button>
<table id="example" class="display" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Position</th>
<th>Office</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Position</th>
<th>Office</th>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Tiger Nixon</td>
<td>System Architect</td>
<td>Edinburgh</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Garrett Winters</td>
<td>Accountant</td>
<td>Tokyo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ashton Cox</td>
<td>Junior Technical Author</td>
<td>San Francisco</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cedric Kelly</td>
<td>Senior Javascript Developer</td>
<td>Edinburgh</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Airi Satou</td>
<td>Accountant</td>
<td>Tokyo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brielle Williamson</td>
<td>Integration Specialist</td>
<td>New York</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Herrod Chandler</td>
<td>Sales Assistant</td>
<td>San Francisco</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rhona Davidson</td>
<td>Integration Specialist</td>
<td>Tokyo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Colleen Hurst</td>
<td>Javascript Developer</td>
<td>San Francisco</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jennifer Chang</td>
<td>Regional Director</td>
<td>Singapore</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Donna Snider</td>
<td>Customer Support</td>
<td>New York</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>