How to use DataTables fnDestroy method - datatables

Question

I am using the DataTables plugin for jQuery but keep getting the following error when I attempt to use the fnDestroy method:
Undefined
I have tried using all of the following variants:
1)
$('#data').dataTable().fnDestroy();
2)
var dt = $('#data').dataTable();
dt.fnDestroy();
3)
var data = document.getElementById('data');
data.fnDestroy();
The 'data' object exists - The HTML is as follows:
<div class="resultset">
<table class="display" id="data">
<tbody>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
The DataTable is built with Javascript (not shown here), but the base object is hard-coded.
The API documentation shows that the second method should work:
$(document).ready(function() {
// This example is fairly pointless in reality, but shows how fnDestroy can be used
var oTable = $('#example').dataTable();
oTable.fnDestroy();
} );
EDIT
The DataTable displays fine and otherwise works well. The issue arises when I attempt to execute this function.

Answer 1

It seems to be the difference between...
_table = jQuery('table#fp-table-table').dataTable(); // .fnDestroy() works
and
_table = jQuery('table#fp-table-table').DataTable(); // .fnDestroy() doesn't work
DataTable seems to be for API calls back into the object and dataTable seems to be the intialisation method.
In my project I had changed the initialisation to use DataTable instead of dataTable to perform a filtering task. After this my AJAX reloads would throw the 'undefined' error, so I changed it back... i esta.

Answer 2

If you go to http://www.datatables.net/manual/installation and scroll towards the bottom you will see the following:
"Upgrade note:
If you are upgrading from DataTables 1.9 or earlier, you might notice that a capital D is used to initialise the DataTable here. $().DataTable() returns a DataTables API instance, while $().dataTable() will also initialise a DataTable, but returns a jQuery object.
Please refer to the API manual for further information.

Answer 3

Are you sure you are running your fnDestroy within document.ready?
Maybe you are getting the undefined error because the dom is not correctly loaded yet ?
It could also mean your table is incorrect, but I would have to be able to look at that to be sure.
Take a look at this fiddle, which uses your second option, and runs perfectly: http://jsfiddle.net/timsommer/m5sZU/2/

Answer 4

From the datables 1.10 manual:
It is important to note the difference between $( selector ).DataTable() and $( selector ).dataTable(). The former returns a DataTables API instance, while the latter returns a jQueryJS object. An api() method is added to the jQuery object so you can easily access the API, but the jQuery object can be useful for manipulating the table node, as you would with any other jQuery instance (such as using addClass(), etc.).
So you can use DataTable() but then you need to use _table.api().fnDestroy(); it seems.

Answer 5

You can try
table.destroy()
This works in my case