Preamble

When dealing with your own data formats, it can be desirable to define how you want sorting to occur. Using plug-in sorting functions, you have have DataTables sort data in any manner you wish. You tell DataTables how to sort a column by using the sType parameter - if it is not given then DataTables will attempt to automatically detect the type based on it's built in formatting functions.

This example shows sorting with a comma (',') for a decimal place. This sorting plug-in (and others can be found on DataTables.net.

Live example

Initialisation code

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['numeric-comma-asc']  = function(a,b) {
	var x = (a == "-") ? 0 : a.replace( /,/, "." );
	var y = (b == "-") ? 0 : b.replace( /,/, "." );
	x = parseFloat( x );
	y = parseFloat( y );
	return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ?  1 : 0));
};

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['numeric-comma-desc'] = function(a,b) {
	var x = (a == "-") ? 0 : a.replace( /,/, "." );
	var y = (b == "-") ? 0 : b.replace( /,/, "." );
	x = parseFloat( x );
	y = parseFloat( y );
	return ((x < y) ?  1 : ((x > y) ? -1 : 0));
};

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#example').dataTable( {
		"aoColumns": [
			null,
			null,
			null,
			{ "sType": "numeric-comma" },
			null
		]
	} );
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

• Zero configuration
• Feature enablement
• Sorting data
• Multi-column sorting
• Multiple tables
• Hidden columns
• DOM positioning
• State saving
• Alternative pagination styles
• Scrolling: Horizontal / Vertical / Both / Themed / Infinite
• 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)
• Defining length menu options
• Custom toolbar (element) around table
• Row highlighting with CSS
• 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 (using "input" elements)
• Individual column filtering (using "select" elements)
• 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
• API function use in initialisation object (callback)
• DataTables scrolling and tabs
• Regular expression filtering

Plug-ins

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

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about it's API properties and methods.