Jquery plugin DataTables, custom filtering

jqueryjquery-datatables

How can I set a custom filter in my code to ignore accents and special character from the table before filtering?

I am using DataTables plugin (http://www.datatables.net/)

Best Answer

Include a version of the data that is missing the accents as a column in the datatable. You hide that column by adding an entry in the aoColumns array in the configuration literal.

Let's say you start with 4 columns. One of these has accents. Add a fifth column with non-accented data, and add a configuration literal with { "bVisible": false } so that it will not be displayed.

It's invisible, but it's still searchable / filterable:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#example').dataTable( {
        "aoColumns": [ 
            null,
            null,
            null,
            null,
            { "bVisible": false }
        ] } );
});

See the column documentation for more on configuration. DataTables with hidden columns is an example in use.

Related Solutions

Javascript – n “exists” function for jQuery

In JavaScript, everything is 'truthy' or 'falsy', and for numbers 0 means false, everything else true. So you could write:

if ($(selector).length)

You don't need that >0 part.

Javascript – Add table row in jQuery

The approach you suggest is not guaranteed to give you the result you're looking for - what if you had a tbody for example:

<table id="myTable">
  <tbody>
    <tr>...</tr>
    <tr>...</tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

You would end up with the following:

<table id="myTable">
  <tbody>
    <tr>...</tr>
    <tr>...</tr>
  </tbody>
  <tr>...</tr>
</table>

I would therefore recommend this approach instead:

$('#myTable tr:last').after('<tr>...</tr><tr>...</tr>');

You can include anything within the after() method as long as it's valid HTML, including multiple rows as per the example above.

Update: Revisiting this answer following recent activity with this question. eyelidlessness makes a good comment that there will always be a tbody in the DOM; this is true, but only if there is at least one row. If you have no rows, there will be no tbody unless you have specified one yourself.

DaRKoN_ suggests appending to the tbody rather than adding content after the last tr. This gets around the issue of having no rows, but still isn't bulletproof as you could theoretically have multiple tbody elements and the row would get added to each of them.

Weighing everything up, I'm not sure there is a single one-line solution that accounts for every single possible scenario. You will need to make sure the jQuery code tallies with your markup.

I think the safest solution is probably to ensure your table always includes at least one tbody in your markup, even if it has no rows. On this basis, you can use the following which will work however many rows you have (and also account for multiple tbody elements):

$('#myTable > tbody:last-child').append('<tr>...</tr><tr>...</tr>');

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Javascript – n “exists” function for jQuery

Javascript – Add table row in jQuery

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