Sorting alphabetically by last name if first and last name are in the same column

schmolzp

Is there an easy way to sort alphabetically by last name if first and last name are in the same column or would I have to use a hidden column? Thanks for any help you can provide.

allan

Yes indeed, a custom type based sorting plug-in could be created: http://datatables.net/development/sorting#type_based . Just split the work on ' ' and then sort on the second index.

Allan

dotmundo

This is how I got it to work. Note that I have a six column table with one column being hidden.

[code]
jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['full_name-asc'] = function(x,y) {
var last_name_x = x.split(" ")[1];
var last_name_y = y.split(" ")[1];
return ((last_name_x < last_name_y) ? -1 : ((last_name_x > last_name_y) ? 1 : 0));
};

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['full_name-desc'] = function(x,y) {
var last_name_x = x.split(" ")[1];
var last_name_y = y.split(" ")[1];
return ((last_name_x < last_name_y) ? 1 : ((last_name_x > last_name_y) ? -1 : 0));
};

oTable = $('#tblPeople').dataTable({
"iDisplayLength": NUM_DISPLAY_RECS,
"sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
"bProcessing": false,
"bLengthChange": false,
"bFilter": false,
"sDom": 'tp',
"aoColumns": [{"sType": "full_name"},
{"sType": "string"},
{"sType": "string"},
{"sType": "string"},
{"sType": "string"},
{"sType": "string"}],
});
[/code]

dotmundo

Ok I just found out the problem. That type definition and sort handler needed to be placed before the Datables declaration.

Thanks

allan

If first name and last name are in different columns, the easiest way of doing this is to set the aDataSort option for the columns. That will let DataTables automatically do a multi-column sort.

Allan