Absolute sorting

Keep one or more items at the top and/or bottom of a table when sorting

• Author: Allan Jardine

When sorting a DataTable you might find that you want to keep a specific item at the top or bottom of the table. For example when sorting a column of numbers, if a value is null or N/A you might want to keep it at the bottom of the table, regardless of if ascending or descending sorting is applied. This plug-in provides that ability.

You must call the $.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrder with information about the value(s) you wish to make absolute in the sorting order and store the returned value, assigning it to the columns.type option for the column you wish this sorting to be applied to.

For number based columns a $.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrderNumber function is also available.

Plug-in code

(function( factory ){
    if ( typeof define === 'function' && define.amd ) {
        // AMD
        define( ['jquery', 'datatables.net'], function ( $ ) {
            return factory( $, window, document );
        } );
    }
    else if ( typeof exports === 'object' ) {
        // CommonJS
        module.exports = function (root, $) {
            if ( ! root ) {
                root = window;
            }

            if ( ! $ || ! $.fn.dataTable ) {
                $ = require('datatables.net')(root, $).$;
            }

            return factory( $, root, root.document );
        };
    }
    else {
        // Browser
        factory( jQuery, window, document );
    }
}(function( $, window, document, undefined ) {
'use strict';

// Unique value allowing multiple absolute ordering use cases on a single page.
var _unique = 0;

// Function to encapsulate code that is common to both the string and number
// ordering plug-ins.
var _setup = function ( values ) {
    if ( ! $.isArray( values ) ) {
        values = [ values ];
    }

    var o = {
        name: 'absoluteOrder'+(_unique++),
        alwaysTop: {},
        alwaysBottom: {}
    };

    // In order to provide performance, the symbols that are to be looked for
    // are stored as parameter keys in an object, allowing O(1) lookup, rather
    // than O(n) if it were in an array.
    for ( var i=0, ien=values.length ; i<ien ; i++ ) {
        var conf = values[i];

        if ( typeof conf === 'string' ) {
            o.alwaysTop[ conf ] = true;
        }
        else if ( conf.position === undefined || conf.position === 'top' ) {
            o.alwaysTop[ conf.value ] = true;
        }
        else {
            o.alwaysBottom[ conf.value ] = true;
        }
    }

    // Ascending ordering method
    o.asc = function ( a, b, isNumber ) {
        if ( o.alwaysTop[ a ] && o.alwaysTop[ b ] ) {
            return 0;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysBottom[ a ] && o.alwaysBottom[ b ] ) {
            return 0;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysTop[ a ] || o.alwaysBottom[ b ] ) {
            return -1;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysBottom[ a ] || o.alwaysTop[ b ] ) {
            return 1;
        }

        if ( isNumber ) {
            // Cast as a number if required
            if ( typeof a === 'string' ) {
                a = a.replace(/[^\d\-\.]/g, '') * 1;
            }
            if ( typeof b === 'string' ) {
                b = b.replace(/[^\d\-\.]/g, '') * 1;
            }
        }

        return ((a < b) ? -1 : ((a > b) ? 1 : 0));
    };

    // Descending ordering method
    o.desc = function ( a, b, isNumber ) {
        if ( o.alwaysTop[ a ] && o.alwaysTop[ b ] ) {
            return 0;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysBottom[ a ] && o.alwaysBottom[ b ] ) {
            return 0;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysTop[ a ] || o.alwaysBottom[ b ] ) {
            return -1;
        }
        else if ( o.alwaysBottom[ a ] || o.alwaysTop[ b ] ) {
            return 1;
        }

        if ( isNumber ) {
            if ( typeof a === 'string' ) {
                a = a.replace(/[^\d\-\.]/g, '') * 1;
            }
            if ( typeof b === 'string' ) {
                b = b.replace(/[^\d\-\.]/g, '') * 1;
            }
        }

        return ((a < b) ? 1 : ((a > b) ? -1 : 0));
    };

    return o;
};

// String based ordering
$.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrder = function ( values ) {
    var conf = _setup( values );

    $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order[ conf.name+'-asc' ] = conf.asc;
    $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order[ conf.name+'-desc' ] = conf.desc;

    // Return the name of the sorting plug-in that was created so it can be used
    // with the `columns.type` parameter. There is no auto-detection here.
    return conf.name;
};

// Number based ordering - strips out everything but the number information
$.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrderNumber = function ( values ) {
    var conf = _setup( values );

    $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order[ conf.name+'-asc' ] = function ( a, b ) {
        return conf.asc( a, b, true );
    };
    $.fn.dataTable.ext.type.order[ conf.name+'-desc' ] = function ( a, b ) {
        return conf.desc( a, b, true );
    };

    return conf.name;
};


}));

CDN

This plug-in is available on the DataTables CDN:

Note that if you are using multiple plug-ins, it is beneficial in terms of performance to combine the plug-ins into a single file and host it on your own server, rather than making multiple requests to the DataTables CDN.

Version control

If you have any ideas for how this plug-in can be improved, or spot anything that is in error, it is available on GitHub and pull requests are very welcome!

• This plug-in: absolute.js
• Full DataTables plug-ins repository: DataTables/Plugins

Example

var namesType = $.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrder( [
    { value: '', position: 'top' }
  ] );

  var numbersType = $.fn.dataTable.absoluteOrderNumber( [
    { value: 'N/A', position: 'bottom' }
  ] );

  $('#example').DataTable( {
    columnDefs: [
      { type: namesType, targets: 0 },
      { type: numbersType, targets: 1 }
    ]
  } );