I duplicated code and got different output

Got a weird one here. I’m just going to give snippets, they talk for themselves. I just want to know what is going on.

Controller:

$marketingData = DB::table('marketing')->orderBy('isActive','desc')->orderBy('materialName')->get();
    return Datatables::of($marketingData)
                    ->addColumn('tid', function ($i) use ($isActive){
                        if (isset($isActive)){
                            return $i->id == $isActive[0]->id;
                        }else{
                            return false;
                        }
                    })
                    ->addColumn('link', function ($i){

                        //$link = "<a href="".$i->materialLink."">Direct Link</a>";
                        $delete = "<a class='btn btn-xs btn-danger' onClick=showDeleteModal(".$i->id.")><i class='fa fa-fw fa-trash'></i> Delete</a>";
                        $user = Auth::user();
                        if($user->superadmin > 1){
                            $link = $delete;
                        }else{
                            $link = "";
                        }

                        return $link;
                    })
        ->addColumn('action', function ($i){

            $delete = "<a class='btn btn-xs btn-danger' onClick=showDeleteModal(".$i->id.")><i class='fa fa-fw fa-trash'></i> Delete</a>";

            $user = Auth::user();

            if($user->superadmin > 1){
                $action = $delete;
            }else{
                $action = "";
            }

            return $action;
        })
        ->make(true);

Then the view has this for data handling, and puts it in a table:

<script>
$(function() {
    $('#test-table').DataTable({
        pageLength: 25,
        serverSide: true,
        stateSave: true,
        ajax: '{!! url('marketing/data') !!}',
        columns: [
            {data: 'tid', name:'tid'},
            {data: 'materialName', name:'materialName'},
            {data: 'link', name:'link', orderable:false, searchable:false},
            {data: 'isActive', name:'isActive', searchable:false},
            {data: 'action', name:'action', orderable:false, searchable:false}],
        'order' : [[3,'desc'],[1,'asc']]
    });
});

Wanna see the result?Table of the output

As can be seen, there are 2 of the same columns (testing this thing out) and the first takes text literal, the second constructs the elements into a working delete button (well a button to show the modal asking if you’re sure you want to delete). We’re talking about the addColumn(link) and addColumn(action) sections in the controller. I have no idea why they would produce different results except if ‘action’ is a reserved name for a table column that leads to a different interpretation of the string (not sanitizing the string vs sanitizing).

Answer

By default, Yajra Datatables set ‘action’ column as raw, you can see it in the config file: vendor/yajra/laravel-datatables-oracle/src/config/datatables.php (if you didn’t publish this vendor file) under columns.raw

Edit: if you want to make the ‘link’ column as raw, you can chain the rawColumns function in your controller. Read more