How do I find a developer to help with Airtable/DataTables setup and customisation for Wordpress

GaryB

Hi There. I am new to this forum and hope I am asking this question in the correct place. I have A DIVI/Wordpress site and have just setup my tables in Airtable. My problem now is displaying them correctly on my relevant pages as static tables, this is hopefully where DataTables can help based on the examples I have seen.

I assume it will only be a small job once configured and would like to know the best place to request the help of a developer.

Thanks for your help.

tangerine

Are you sure you want Airtable and DataTables?

I'd never heard of Airtable, but I just took a quick look at its site and it seems to provide what you need. Trying to incorporate DataTables looks like overkill to me. I would suggest one or the other. DataTables would probably provide more flesxibility, but of course it's up to you to assess your requirements.

GaryB

This is an extract from a site I was looking for a solution from

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"With Airtable, you create a “base” and start entering content into a table as if you’re editing a spreadsheet. You can even start by importing data from a CSV file. The beautiful thing about this is that every “base” has an API. With this API you can communicate directly to your fancy database from other applications. In other words, Airtable is a method of moving a large data set into a collection and using the API to extract the data and display it in an HTML table on a page in a WordPress website.

But HTML tables get a bad rap. They are “old school” and not all that flexible. Introducing DataTables. DataTables is a JavaScript library for formatting and displaying HTML tables. Combining Airtable with DataTables solves the problem of storing data and displaying it in a modern, intuitive way. It makes your table look great while providing an intuitive interface that improves usability."

tangerine

This is an extract from a site I was looking for a solution from

Oh - okay. In that case, is there anyone at that site who knows how to do it? I've never seen Airtable mentioned in here.

GaryB

I have left them a post, but no reply as yet.

The idea is that you can have dynamic data displayed in a formatted table. So any edits made to the database will be live instantly.

gyrocode

Airtable and DataTables are two separate products.

You just need to decide which one works for you better. DataTables is good for adding ordering, searching and pagination for tabular data. Airtable is more like live spreadsheet with similar functionalities, yet has some unique features as well.

The one you chooses depends on what functionality is needed, number of rows in your tables, editing capabilities, etc.

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See more articles about jQuery DataTables on gyrocode.com.

tangerine

@gyrocode : I agree with you. That's pretty much the point I was making in the first place.

However, take a look at this:
https://rumspeed.com/create-beautiful-highly-functional-data-table/

I still don't get why anyone would need Airtable and DataTables, but apparently it has been done.

GaryB

However, take a look at this:
https://rumspeed.com/create-beautiful-highly-functional-data-table/

This is the site I quoted before.

My goal is to populate the DataTables with Airtable data which is more easily edited and filtered. Is this possible? As I like the way DataTables displays on the front end but want to use a dynamic database to populate.

I appreciate your continued comments.

GaryB

Let me ask this a different way.... If I don't use Airtable to populate the DataTable is there another way of showing dynamic data that is easily editable?

gyrocode

@GaryB, I left a comment on that site you quoted, maybe author would share the code.

Otherwise, why can't you use Airtable alone without DataTables?

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See more articles about jQuery DataTables on gyrocode.com.

allan

But HTML tables get a bad rap. They are “old school” and not all that flexible.

I take exception to that line . Yes, they are terrible for layout. Never use them for layout. But for displaying data - yes, that is what they were designed for, and that is what they should be correctly used for. That is what DataTables uses.

Regarding using AirTable and DataTables together - you wouldn't use them on the same table (I doubt that would be possible), but if you import your data into AirTable and it presents an API to then get that data via Ajax (which it appears to do) you could use the ajax option in DataTables to get the data from their APIs.

Allan

ysagal

Hi @GaryB,

Airtable allows you to embed its tables into another site (e.g. Wordpress). Formatting aside, is there a reason that wouldn't meet your needs? Or, are you primarily trying to reformat how the data is displayed?

Here're Airtable's embed instructions: https://support.airtable.com/hc/en-us/articles/217846478-Embedding-a-view-or-base

Thanks!