string joining

Henry Rieke

Hello,

Can't seem to hack this out, so I am a wee bit embarrassed to inquire what I could be doing wrong.
I have a bash script to generate data in a json file that I wish to deliver to users via a web page.

I want to join some data elements together since we don't need to have twenty columns of data scrolling across the screen, but I still want to keep the data normalized for future proofing the data.
For the record, I have followed the examples given on:

https://www.datatables.net/examples/advanced_init/column_render.html
https://datatables.net/manual/data/renderers#Functions

Some work , others don't

This is what I have:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#Report_table').DataTable( {
        "ajax": {
            "url": "http://__URL__/__PATH__/__FILE__.json",
            "dataSrc": ""
        },
        "columnDefs": [
            {  "targets": 0, "render": function ( data, type, full, meta ) { return type === 'display' && data.length > 40 ? '<span title="'+data+'">'+data.substr(0,38)+'...</span>' : data; } },
            {  "targets": 1,  "render": function ( data, type, full, meta ) { return '<a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?q='+data+'" target="_blank">'+data+'</a>'; } },
            {  "targets": 2,  "render": function ( data, type, row ) { return data + '<br>' + data[3]; }, },

        ],
        "columns": [
            { "data": "Column_A" },
            { "data": "Column_B" },
            { "data": "Column_C" },
            { "data": "Column_D" },
        ]
    } );
} );
// $.fn.dataTable.ext.errMode = 'none';

Results:

Column_A  |  Column_B  |  Column_C  |  Column_D
Data         Data         Data         Data
                          undefined   <----- this should show Column_D's data

allan

I'd suggest you merge your columnDefs and columns arrays together - I think its just an extra level of indirection splitting them up and only using a single target for each def. e.g.:

{ data: "Column_A", render: function ... }

Having said that, you are telling column index 2 to get the data from Column_C and then using: data[3] - that would be the same as Column_C[3].

Is Column_C always an array, and do you actually want the fourth element from it every time?

Allan

Henry Rieke

Thank you Allan for your response.

For now, as I am still learning how to use Datatables, my plan is to keep things separated until I understand Datatables better.

if I am understanding your question at the end, in my json file, each row of data is an array.

[{
  "Column_A": "Value 1",
  "Column_B": "Value 2",
  "Column_C": "Value 3",
  "Column_D": "Value 4"
}]

The way that I am thinking of this problem is akin to Excel. I want to take the data from C1, D1 and join them in cell C1, and then hide cell D1.
Using my example json data, my output should be:

Column_A  |  Column_B  |  Column_C
Value 1      Value 2      Value 3         
                          Value 4   <----- this should show Column_D's data

allan

{
  data: 'Column_C',
  render: function ( data, type, row ) {
    return data+'<br>'+row.ColumnD;
  }
}

which is basically the same as:

{
  data: 'Column_C',
  render: function ( data, type, row ) {
    return row.Column_C+'<br>'+row.ColumnD;
  }
}

since data points to the Column_C property.

Allan

Henry Rieke

Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner. Thank you Allan.

Now, my final question to you is this:
How can I help you improve on your documentation to assist others?

allan

Tell me where you think it needs to be improved! The rendering page covers this, but is there anything missing?

Allan