Preamble

This example shows how you can use information available in the DOM to sort columns. Typically DataTables will read information to be sorted during it's initialisation phase, and this will not be updated based on user interaction, so sorting on columns which have, for example, form elements in them, may not reflect the current value of the input. To overcome this problem, you must update the data that DataTables will sort on, just prior to the sort. This method is much more efficient than actually sorting using the DOM, since only one DOM query is needed for each cell to be sorted.

The example below shows the first two columns as normal text with sorting as you would expect. The following columns all have a form input element of different kinds, and the information contained within is what DataTables will perform the sort on, based on the value at the time of the sort.

This is a fairly simple example, but it you aren't constrained to just using form input elements, you could use anything and customise your DOM queries to suit yourself. You could also update the sorting live as a user in entered data into a form using an event handler calling fnSort() or fnDraw().

Live example

Initialisation code

/* Create an array with the values of all the input boxes in a column */
$.fn.dataTableExt.afnSortData['dom-text'] = function  ( oSettings, iColumn )
{
	return $.map( oSettings.oApi._fnGetTrNodes(oSettings), function (tr, i) {
		return $('td:eq('+iColumn+') input', tr).val();
	} );
}

/* Create an array with the values of all the select options in a column */
$.fn.dataTableExt.afnSortData['dom-select'] = function  ( oSettings, iColumn )
{
	return $.map( oSettings.oApi._fnGetTrNodes(oSettings), function (tr, i) {
		return $('td:eq('+iColumn+') select', tr).val();
	} );
}

/* Create an array with the values of all the checkboxes in a column */
$.fn.dataTableExt.afnSortData['dom-checkbox'] = function  ( oSettings, iColumn )
{
	return $.map( oSettings.oApi._fnGetTrNodes(oSettings), function (tr, i) {
		return $('td:eq('+iColumn+') input', tr).prop('checked') ? '1' : '0';
	} );
}

/* Initialise the table with the required column sorting data types */
$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#example').dataTable( {
		"aoColumns": [
			null,
			null,
			{ "sSortDataType": "dom-text" },
			{ "sSortDataType": "dom-text", "sType": "numeric" },
			{ "sSortDataType": "dom-select" },
			{ "sSortDataType": "dom-checkbox" }
		]
	} );
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

• Zero configuration
• Feature enablement
• Sorting data
• Multi-column sorting
• Multiple tables
• Hidden columns
• DOM positioning
• State saving
• Alternative pagination styles
• Change language information (internationalisation)
• ThemeRoller themes (Smoothness)

Advanced initialisation

• Events (pre initialisation)
• Events (post initialisation)
• Column rendering
• Sorting without HTML tags
• Multiple table controls (sDom)
• Custom toolbar (element) around table
• Set sorting controls
• Column grouping through col/row spans
• Row grouping
• Row callback
• Footer callback
• Change language information from a file (internationalisation)

Data sources

• DOM
• Javascript array
• Ajax source
• Server side processing

Server-side processing

• Obtain server-side data
• Add extra HTTP variables
• Use HTTP POST
• Custom column ordering (in callback data)
• Pipelining data (reduce Ajax calls for paging)
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)

API

• Dynamically add a new row
• Individual column filtering
• Highlight rows and columns
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)
• User selectable rows (single row) and delete rows
• Editable rows (with jEditable)
• Submit form with elements in table
• Index column (static number column)
• Show and hide columns dynamically
• Regular expression filtering

Plug-ins

• Add custom API functions
• Sorting and type detection
• Custom pagination controls
• Range filtering / custom filtering
• Live DOM sorting

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about its API properties and methods.