Persist Function References of Custom Command Buttons in the Grid

Updated on Dec 10, 2025

Environment

Product	Progress® Kendo UI® Grid for jQuery
Operating System	Windows 10 64bit
Browser	Google Chrome
Browser Version	Latest
Product Version	2017.3.913

Description

How can I persist the function references of the custom command buttons in the Kendo UI Grid after serialization?

Solution

Just before you pass the options to the setOptions method of the Grid, add the function reference to the parsed JSON file.

    <div id="example">
      <div class="box wide">
        <a href="#" class="k-button" id="save">Save State</a>
        <a href="#" class="k-button" id="load">Load State</a>
      </div>
      <div id="grid"></div>

      <script>
        $(document).ready(function () {
          $("#grid").kendoGrid({
            dataSource: {
              transport: {
                read: "https://demos.telerik.com/service/v2/core/Customers"
              },
              pageSize: 20
            },
            height: 550,
            groupable: true,
            sortable: true,
            reorderable: true,
            resizable: true,
            columnMenu: true,
            filterable: {
              mode: "row"
            },
            pageable: {
              refresh: true,
              pageSizes: true,
              buttonCount: 5
            },
            columns: [{ command: { text: "View Details", click: showDetails }, title: " ", width: "180px" },{
              field: "ContactName",
              title: "Contact Name",
              width: 250,
            }, {
              field: "ContactTitle",
              title: "Contact Title",
              width: 350
            }, {
              field: "CompanyName",
              title: "Company Name",
              width: 350
            }, {
              field: "Country",
              width: 450
            }]
          });

          var grid = $("#grid").data("kendoGrid");

          $("#save").click(function (e) {
            e.preventDefault();
            localStorage["kendo-grid-options"] = kendo.stringify(grid.getOptions());
          });

          $("#load").click(function (e) {
            e.preventDefault();
            var options = localStorage["kendo-grid-options"];
            if (options) {
              var parsedOptions = JSON.parse(options)
              // Add the function reference
              parsedOptions.columns[0].command.click = showDetails
              grid.setOptions(parsedOptions);
            }
          });

          function showDetails(e) {
            e.preventDefault();
            var dataItem = this.dataItem($(e.currentTarget).closest("tr"));
            console.log(dataItem);
          }
        });
      </script>
    </div>