DataTables example Ordering plug-ins (no type detection)

Although DataTables will order a number of data types using the built in methods, when dealing with more complex formatted data, it can be desirable to define the ordering order yourself. Using plug-in ordering functions, you can have DataTables order data in any manner you wish.

This is done by using the columns.type parameter, in combination with a ordering plug-in. The ordering plug-in can be of any level of complexity (natural ordering for example can be fairly complex while also very powerful), and is defined by attaching to the $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order object. For more information about ordering plug-ins, creating them and their requirements, please refer to the plug-in development documentation.

This example shows ordering with using an enumerated type.

A wide variety of ready made ordering plug-ins can be found on the DataTables plug-ins page.

Name Position Office Age Start date Salary
Name Position Office Age Start date Salary
Tiger Nixon System Architect Edinburgh 61 2011/04/25 Low
Garrett Winters Accountant Tokyo 63 2011/07/25 Low
Ashton Cox Junior Technical Author San Francisco 66 2009/01/12 Low
Cedric Kelly Senior Javascript Developer Edinburgh 22 2012/03/29 Medium
Airi Satou Accountant Tokyo 33 2008/11/28 Low
Brielle Williamson Integration Specialist New York 61 2012/12/02 Medium
Herrod Chandler Sales Assistant San Francisco 59 2012/08/06 Low
Rhona Davidson Integration Specialist Tokyo 55 2010/10/14 Low
Colleen Hurst Javascript Developer San Francisco 39 2009/09/15 Low
Sonya Frost Software Engineer Edinburgh 23 2008/12/13 Low
Jena Gaines Office Manager London 30 2008/12/19 Low
Quinn Flynn Support Lead Edinburgh 22 2013/03/03 Low
Charde Marshall Regional Director San Francisco 36 2008/10/16 Medium
Haley Kennedy Senior Marketing Designer London 43 2012/12/18 Low
Tatyana Fitzpatrick Regional Director London 19 2010/03/17 Medium
Michael Silva Marketing Designer London 66 2012/11/27 Low
Paul Byrd Chief Financial Officer (CFO) New York 64 2010/06/09 High
Gloria Little Systems Administrator New York 59 2009/04/10 Low
Bradley Greer Software Engineer London 41 2012/10/13 Low
Dai Rios Personnel Lead Edinburgh 35 2012/09/26 Low
Jenette Caldwell Development Lead New York 30 2011/09/03 Low
Yuri Berry Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) New York 40 2009/06/25 High
Caesar Vance Pre-Sales Support New York 21 2011/12/12 Low
Doris Wilder Sales Assistant Sidney 23 2010/09/20 Low
Angelica Ramos Chief Executive Officer (CEO) London 47 2009/10/09 High
Gavin Joyce Developer Edinburgh 42 2010/12/22 Low
Jennifer Chang Regional Director Singapore 28 2010/11/14 Medium
Brenden Wagner Software Engineer San Francisco 28 2011/06/07 Low
Fiona Green Chief Operating Officer (COO) San Francisco 48 2010/03/11 High
Shou Itou Regional Marketing Tokyo 20 2011/08/14 Low
Michelle House Integration Specialist Sidney 37 2011/06/02 Low
Suki Burks Developer London 53 2009/10/22 Low
Prescott Bartlett Technical Author London 27 2011/05/07 Low
Gavin Cortez Team Leader San Francisco 22 2008/10/26 Low
Martena Mccray Post-Sales support Edinburgh 46 2011/03/09 Low
Unity Butler Marketing Designer San Francisco 47 2009/12/09 Low
Howard Hatfield Office Manager San Francisco 51 2008/12/16 Low
Hope Fuentes Secretary San Francisco 41 2010/02/12 Low
Vivian Harrell Financial Controller San Francisco 62 2009/02/14 Medium
Timothy Mooney Office Manager London 37 2008/12/11 Low
Jackson Bradshaw Director New York 65 2008/09/26 Medium
Olivia Liang Support Engineer Singapore 64 2011/02/03 Low
Bruno Nash Software Engineer London 38 2011/05/03 Low
Sakura Yamamoto Support Engineer Tokyo 37 2009/08/19 Low
Thor Walton Developer New York 61 2013/08/11 Low
Finn Camacho Support Engineer San Francisco 47 2009/07/07 Low
Serge Baldwin Data Coordinator Singapore 64 2012/04/09 Low
Zenaida Frank Software Engineer New York 63 2010/01/04 Low
Zorita Serrano Software Engineer San Francisco 56 2012/06/01 Low
Jennifer Acosta Junior Javascript Developer Edinburgh 43 2013/02/01 Low
Cara Stevens Sales Assistant New York 46 2011/12/06 Low
Hermione Butler Regional Director London 47 2011/03/21 Medium
Lael Greer Systems Administrator London 21 2009/02/27 Low
Jonas Alexander Developer San Francisco 30 2010/07/14 Low
Shad Decker Regional Director Edinburgh 51 2008/11/13 Low
Michael Bruce Javascript Developer Singapore 29 2011/06/27 Low
Donna Snider Customer Support New York 27 2011/01/25 Low

The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

$.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order['salary-grade-pre'] = function ( d ) { switch ( d ) { case 'Low': return 1; case 'Medium': return 2; case 'High': return 3; } return 0; }; $(document).ready(function() { $('#example').DataTable( { "columnDefs": [ { "type": "salary-grade", "targets": -1 } ] } ); } );

In addition to the above code, the following Javascript library files are loaded for use in this example:

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.