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User:TimR/Tables

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This page gives some examples of my extensions to sortable tables. Currently, sorting is done on the content of table cells, which is a good start, but not very flexible. The current guidance illustrates a workaround by using non-displayed text:

The most versatile is alphabetic sorting using a sortkey which due to CSS is not displayed:
<span style="display:none">...</span>
(however, this more cumbersome method is less often needed after the described fixes are applied)

but this is a little clumsy to use.

I have adapted the table sorting code slightly to allow a sorting key for a cell to be defined anywhere in that cell. To see this in action, you need to edit your monobook.js file to include the following line:

importScript('User:TimR/sorttable.js');

Without it, the following tables will still be sortable, but will sort according to the default rules. With this line added to your configuration, you will be able to see these new sorting mechanisms.

Specifying simple keywords

[edit]

Provided that the word or phrase which you wish to use to sort on is already in a cell, you can simply mark it with the {{sortkey}} template. It will still get displayed just as it would without the template, but its value will be used to sort the table. For example, it can be used to mark a person's surname so that the column will sort on that:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Astronomer Royal!!From!!To
|-
|Rev'd John {{sortkey|Flamsteed}}||1675||1719
|-
|Professor Edmond {{sortkey|Halley}}||1720||1742
|-
|Dr James {{sortkey|Bradley}}||1742||1762

...

|Martin {{sortkey|Rees}}, Baron Rees of Ludlow||1995||&nbsp;
|-
|}

Of course, the table still looks the same, but it sorts properly. Here is the example. (Remember that it will not sort properly unless you have edited your monobook.js file.) Try clicking on the icon at the top of the first column to see the sort by surname.

Astronomer Royal From To
Rev'd John 1675 1719
Professor Edmond 1720 1742
Dr James 1742 1762
Nathaniel 1762 1764
Rev'd Nevil 1765 1811
John 1811 1835
Sir George Biddell 1835 1881
Sir William 1881 1910
Sir Frank 1910 1933
Sir Harold Spencer 1933 1955
Professor Sir Richard 1956 1971
Professor Sir Martin 1972 1982
Professor Sir Francis 1982 1990
Professor Sir Arnold 1991 1995
Martin , Baron Rees of Ludlow 1995  

Specifying more complex content

[edit]

In many cases, you want more than just plain text in a table cell, such as links. You may also want to specify a sort key for this content. This is where a sort key and other markup might come into conflict.

If you simply want to specify the text of a link as the sort key, you simply make the link inside the template, as shown here:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Date!!Day!!Present
|-
|{{hiddenkey|20070105}}[[5 January]] [[2007]]
|12||twelve {{sortkey|[[drummers]]}} drumming
|-
|[[4 January]] [[2007]]{{hiddenkey|20070104}}
|11||eleven {{sortkey|[[pipers]]}} piping

...

|{{hiddenkey|20061225}}[[25 December]] [[2006]]
|1||a {{sortkey|[[partridge]]}} in a pear tree
|-
|}

Note that in the case of piped links, the displayed text acts as the sort key, not the article name.

With this table, we also want to be able to sort on the first column by date. In this case we need to specify a sort key which can be used to sort the rows in the right order, but doesn't get displayed. We do that with the {{hiddenkey}} template. The usage is just the same as the {{sortkey}} template: it can come anywhere in the cell and you simply specify the sort key, but the key itself is invisible. I have demonstrated this by putting it in different places within the cell in various rows in the table:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Date!!Day!!Present
|-
|{{hiddenkey|20070105}}[[5 January]] [[2007]]
|12||twelve {{sortkey|[[drummers]]}} drumming
|-
|[[4 January]] [[2007]]{{hiddenkey|20070104}}
|11||eleven {{sortkey|[[pipers]]}} piping

...

|{{hiddenkey|20061225}}[[25 December]] [[2006]]
|1||a {{sortkey|[[partridge]]}} in a pear tree 
|-
|}

So here is the final product. Try playing with the columns to see how it sorts.

Date Day Present
5 January 2007 12 twelve drumming
4 January 2007 11 eleven piping
3 January 2007 10 ten a-leaping
2 January 2007 9 nine dancing
1 January 2007 8 eight a-milking
31 December 2006 7 seven a-swimming
30 December 2006 6 six a-laying
29 December 2006 5 five
28 December 2006 4 four
27 December 2006 3 three
26 December 2006 2 two
25 December 2006 1 a in a pear tree