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.

[edit] Specifying simple keywords

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|| 
|-
|}

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 Flamsteed	1675	1719
Professor Edmond Halley	1720	1742
Dr James Bradley	1742	1762
Nathaniel Bliss	1762	1764
Rev'd Nevil Maskelyne	1765	1811
John Pond	1811	1835
Sir George Biddell Airy	1835	1881
Sir William Christie	1881	1910
Sir Frank Dyson	1910	1933
Sir Harold Spencer Jones	1933	1955
Professor Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley	1956	1971
Professor Sir Martin Ryle	1972	1982
Professor Sir Francis Graham-Smith	1982	1990
Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale	1991	1995
Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow	1995

[edit] Specifying more complex content

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
200701055 January 2007	12	twelve drummers drumming
4 January 200720070104	11	eleven pipers piping
200701033 January 2007	10	ten lords a-leaping
2 January 200720070102	9	nine ladies dancing
1 January 200720070101	8	eight maids a-milking
2006123131 December 2006	7	seven swans a-swimming
2006123030 December 2006	6	six geese a-laying
2006122929 December 2006	5	five gold rings
2006122828 December 2006	4	four calling birds
2006122727 December 2006	3	three french hens
2006122626 December 2006	2	two turtle doves
2006122525 December 2006	1	a partridge in a pear tree