ANNOUNCE: TSTable() template, sortable/filterable table generator

[neilw]

TsTable() documentation

The beast is finally ready for public consumption. I would very much appreciate feedback, both in terms of the template functionality and the documentation (which is distressingly long).

TSTable() uses the jQuery Tablesorter extension to generate tables with intelligent column sorting and, optionally, filtering. Sortability can either be applied to an existing table on the page, or the template can generate the table itself using supplied data. While it is very easy to generate highly functional tables using default values, extensive customization is also possible if you're willing to slog through the documentation and figure it out.

The table generator generally eliminates the need to touch HTML. Just provide the data and the template will build the table. The template does extensive error checking and provides a whole bunch of informative error messages to help the user.

The documentation gives many examples; have a look to see how much you can accomplish with a few lines of code. While this template joins a growing list of sortable table utilities for Deki; I hope this one brings something unique and/or useful to the table.

[neilw]

TSTable() now supports pagination. It's not quite as polished in all respects as it could be, but it's usable. The pager does not yet play nicely with the filter; if anyone needs this feature let me know and I'll work on it. This of course assumes that anyone else is using this.

[baum]

Great template, neilw!
Though the buttons do only work in IE and not in Firefox (3.0.12) - at least for me. Keep up the great work - i learn a lot from your templates.
Thanks

[neilw]

Great template, neilw!
Though the buttons do only work in IE and not in Firefox (3.0.12) - at least for me. Keep up the great work - i learn a lot from your templates.
Thanks

Thanks.

But I'm troubled that it's not working for you in Firefox... It certainly does for me, both on my Mac (running 3.0.something) and my PC (previously running 3.0.x, now 3.5.x. What exactly are you experiencing?

[craigsivils]

Buttons work for me, and this is a very useful template.

Thank you!

[baum]

Funny enough, after taking a few days off and came back to your template http://developer.mindtouch.com/User:...plates/TSTable everything works... i haven't changed anything (at least not that i am aware of while being away...)
So, again: great piece of work!

[SteveB]

neilw, again great work! Thanks for sharing it!

[neilw]

For those using this template (or perhaps decided not to use it), I'd love to get some feedback on which features you're using, what (if anything) you don't like or couldn't figure out, and/or what new features you'd like. The whole thing is such a monstrosity and I'm highly curious about which parts are proving useful.

I've been having the horrible thought lately of rewriting the whole thing to use the Datatables extension, which has better filtering capabilities than the Tablesorter extension I'm using now, but I have no idea if it'd be worth it. The functionality would occasionally be useful on my wiki, but not enough to justify the effort, at least not right now....

[zippgunn]

I'm just trying this out and we would be using it definitely.
So far the pager function seems to fail, it does not generate the bottom selection row and if you click a top field it rolls everything up. Might be a bug somewhere, but sure you could sort it out.

One feature I would like is if the generated table would include any clickable links if already there. Meaning if I generate a table like the example of the most read pages, the page headers should be clickable in the table as well. Does this make sense?

Great temple anyway.
I will add to your Reputation for you regardless.

Adrian.

[neilw]

I'm just trying this out and we would be using it definitely.
So far the pager function seems to fail, it does not generate the bottom selection row and if you click a top field it rolls everything up. Might be a bug somewhere, but sure you could sort it out.

Ha ha, I get it!

Erm, anyway, if you post your code I'll try to help see what's going on. I don't understand the "click a top field it rolls everything up" explanation. Also, are you trying this on the Mindtouch wiki or your own?

One feature I would like is if the generated table would include any clickable links if already there. Meaning if I generate a table like the example of the most read pages, the page headers should be clickable in the table as well. Does this make sense?

You can certainly have links in the table; I do this all the time. If the table already has links in it, then they will be retained. If you're using the table generator, then you have to make sure to generate the links either using an evaluated expression for the field, or create the links directly in your data argument.

In any case, if I see your example then I can try to help you out with more specifics.

Thanks for the feedback.