Answers

• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  September 2020

  This should help:
  https://www.datatables.net/blog/2017-02-28

  I am using it myself to sort differently depending on user language:

  //sorting:
  //Use the phonebook variant of the German sort order, 
  //which expands umlauted vowels to character pairs: ä → ae, ö → oe, ü → ue.
  if (lang === 'de') {
      $.fn.dataTable.ext.order.intl("de-DE-u-co-phonebk");
  } else {
      $.fn.dataTable.ext.order.intl("en-GB");
  }
  
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  September 2020

  Probably better to use this:

  //sorting of leading apostrophe columns
  $.extend( $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order, { 
      "leading-apostrophe-pre": function ( a ) {
          if (a.substr(0, 1)  === "'") {
              return a.substr(1);
          }
          return a;
      },
      "leading-apostrophe-asc": function ( a, b ) {
          return a - b;
      },
      "leading-apostrophe-desc": function ( a, b ) {
          return b - a;
      }
  } );
  

  Then in columnDefs you would need to assign the right class to all of the cells of the respective column(s):

  columnDefs: [
      //targets can be classes!
      { type: 'leading-apostrophe', targets: "lead_ap" }
  

  So if you assign class "lead_ap" to the respective column(s) in your HTML this will assign the right class for sorting to all of the cells of the column(s).
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  September 2020 Answer ✓

  won't work for strings but this should work ...

  //sorting of leading apostrophe columns
  $.extend( $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order, {
      "leading-apostrophe-pre": function ( a ) {
          if (a.substr(0, 1)  === "'") {
              return a.substr(1);
          }
          return a;
      },
      "leading-apostrophe-asc": function ( a, b ) {
          return ((a < b) ? -1 : ((a > b) ? 1 : 0));
      },
      "leading-apostrophe-desc": function ( a, b ) {
          return ((a < b) ? 1 : ((a > b) ? -1 : 0));
      }
  } );
  

  more here: https://datatables.net/plug-ins/sorting/
• kkittell518 Posts: 25Questions: 8Answers: 0

  October 2020

  columnDefs: [
  //targets can be classes!
  { type: 'leading-apostrophe', targets: "lead_ap" }

  The above has me confused. I know it's column 2 that will have the leading apostrophe. And where does "lead_app" tell it to sort using the function?
• kkittell518 Posts: 25Questions: 8Answers: 0

  October 2020

  $.extend($.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order, {
  "name-pre": function (a) {
  if (a.substr(0, 1) === "'") {
  return a.substr(1);
  }
  return a;
  },
  "name-asc": function (a, b) {
  return a - b;
  },
  "name-desc": function (a, b) {
  return b - a;
  }
  });

  and in columnDefs:
  {
  type: 'name', targets: 2,
  }

  I changed the names only, but it doesn't work. Did I do something wrong?
• kthorngren Posts: 21,140Questions: 26Answers: 4,918

  October 2020

  The columnDefs.targets docs explain all the options you can use. A string represents a class name assigned to one or more columns. You can use column indexes instead.

  Kevin
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  October 2020 Answer ✓

  Did I do something wrong?

  Yes, you took my first wrong example and not the second one ... Please check again!
  You need "return ((a < b) ? -1 : ((a > b) ? 1 : 0));" instead of "return a - b;" etc..

  The above has me confused. I know it's column 2 that will have the leading apostrophe. And where does "lead_app" tell it to sort using the function?

  So if you assign class "lead_ap" to the respective column(s) in your HTML this will assign the right class for sorting to all of the cells of the column(s).

  "lead_app" tells it when you assign it to your column in your HTML ... otherwise it doesn't. But you can also hard code column 2. I don't do that because if I insert anoter column into the table this is very likely to cause trouble. Up to you.
• kkittell518 Posts: 25Questions: 8Answers: 0

  October 2020

  Awesome! When I saw your 3rd comment "won't work with strings, but this should work," I didn't realize you meant your previous comment.
  Thank you!
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  October 2020

  Never mind! Glad you got it fixed. And I learned something, too.
• kkittell518 Posts: 25Questions: 8Answers: 0

  October 2020

  I take that back. It's only partly working.
  My data looks like this: (desc)
  STAR ROG
  'STAR'
  Satin leaf
  Star Apple
  'Star Witch'
  'Star'

  So the leading apostrophes aren't all grouped together, but not alphabetizing correctly. I guess my problem isn't only leading apostrophes. I need it sorted regardless of case and apostrophes. Not sure why 'Star Witch' should come before 'Star'. When there are a list of names without apostrophes, it's sorted correctly.
  Am I going to need something that makes everything sort lower case as well?
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  October 2020

  Well, now you know how to do that ...

  Just adjust this to return lower case and replace all apostrophes for example. Experimenting is the fun about coding! Enjoy!

  "leading-apostrophe-pre": function ( a ) {
      if (a.substr(0, 1)  === "'") {
          return a.substr(1);
      }
      return a;
  },
  

  Maybe this works? Just give it a try!

  "leading-apostrophe-pre": function ( a ) {
      var str = a.split("'").join(""); //get rid of all apostrophes
      return str.toLowerCase();
  },
  
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  October 2020 Answer ✓

  I found this here https://datatables.net/manual/plug-ins/sorting and it is confusing me:

  

  So if you really can't use a pre-formatter in this case then my suggestion above should be rewritten as:

  function format( a ) {
      a = a.split("'").join(""); //get rid of all apostrophes;
      return a.toLowerCase();
  }
  
  //sorting of leading apostrophe columns
  $.extend( $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order, {
      "leading-apostrophe-asc": function ( a, b ) {
          a = format( a );
          b = format( b );
          return ((a < b) ? -1 : ((a > b) ? 1 : 0));
      },
      "leading-apostrophe-desc": function ( a, b ) {
          a = format( a );
          b = format( b );
          return ((a < b) ? 1 : ((a > b) ? -1 : 0));
      }
  } );
  
• kkittell518 Posts: 25Questions: 8Answers: 0

  October 2020

  Thanks again! That's probably as good as I'm going to get when I have
  'Star', 'STAR', and STAR.
  I get 'STAR', 'Star', 'Star', STAR, 'Star'...
  I'll have to ask the powers-that-be if this ok.
• rf1234 Posts: 2,937Questions: 87Answers: 415

  October 2020

  Well, you could play around with the a and b variables BEFORE formatting and not return 0 when Star and STAR are compared but rather -1 etc.

  Maybe you just check how it works with only removing the apostrophes:

  function format( a ) {
      return a.split("'").join(""); //get rid of all apostrophes;
  }