search/filter on specific columns only - not working

genealogy_guy

Have spent a few days getting my head around this DataTables v1.8 and am very impressed. Just need assistance with two problems.

My database table consists of addresses - state, county, town, aka_town, street, zip code. I am using the following to display/format my table:

[code]
$(document).ready(function() {
$('#example').dataTable( {
"aaSorting": [[ 2, "asc" ]],
"aLengthMenu": [10, 25, 50],
"sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
"aoColumnDefs": [
/* State */
{ "sName": "state", "aTargets": [ 0 ] },
{ "bSearchable": false, "aTargets": [ 0 ] }, /* do NOT search this field/column */
/* County */
{ "sName": "county", "aTargets": [ 1 ] },
{ "bSearchable": false, "aTargets": [ 1 ] }, /* do NOT search this field/column */
/* Town */
{ "sName": "town", "aTargets": [ 2 ] },
/* AKA_Town - other name for Town */
{ "sName": "aka_town", "aTargets": [ 3 ] },
{ "bVisible": false, "aTargets": [ 3 ] }, /* hide this field/column - still searchable */
/* Street */
{ "sName": "street", "aTargets": [ 4 ] },
/* Zip */
{ "sName": "zip", "aTargets": [ 5 ] },
{ "sClass": 'center', "aTargets": [ -4, -4 ] },
/* Combine Town & AKA_Town as needed */
{ "fnRender": function ( oObj ) {
if ( oObj.aData[3] != "" ) {
return oObj.aData[2] +'
a.k.a.
'+ oObj.aData[3];
}
else {
return oObj.aData[2];
}

},
"aTargets": [ 2 ]
},
],

"bProcessing": true,
"bServerSide": true,
"sAjaxSource": "scripts/server_processing.php",
"fnServerData": fnDataTablesPipeline /* This is used to load 5 screens of data - less server processing */
} );
} );
[/code]

Problem 1: - If I enter "tex" in search field, the results include states with "tex", as well as county, town & street.
I would like my global search to NOT search state and county, only search town, aka_town, street and zipcode. Can somebody see what is wrong in my code???

Problem 2: - I would like to be able to have select/drop-down for first two columns only - state & county. I would like filter boxes for other columns for user to enter their preferred values to search for. In the examples, there is one example where all columns have drop-down boxes. In another example, all columns have search-entry or filter boxes. Is it possible to have some columns with drop-down boxes and some-other columns (not all) with search-entry boxes?

Love this technology. It will be ideal if I can get these two small problems resolved.

Regards
Genealogy Guy

genealogy_guy

My solution to problem #1 was to concatenate two fields (town, aka_town) in the database into a third field called town1and2. DataTables was set to retrieve three fields amongst others - town (visible/searchable) , aka_town(hidden/searchable), town1and2(hidden/searchable). Function fnRender() was used to format the column values for Town column using the values in town and aka_town. The search filter for that column was tweaked to search the values in the hidden column town1and2.

fbas

the problem is probably using separate objects referring to the same columns. the system probably ends up clobbering one and only using the other. (this is just a guess, but I think this is the case)

instead of:
[code]
{ "sName": "state", "aTargets": [ 0 ] },
{ "bSearchable": false, "aTargets": [ 0 ] }, /* do NOT search this field/column */
[/code]


use:
[code]
{ "sName": "state", "aTargets": [ 0 ] , "bSearchable": false }, /* do NOT search this field/column */
[/code]

genealogy_guy

Thats neat. So can that be written as follows:

[code]{ "aTargets": [ 0 ] , "sName": "state", "bSearchable": false }, /* do NOT search this field/column */
{ "aTargets": [ 1 ] , "sName": "county", "bSearchable": true }[/code]

axllaruse

This is not working for me.
When I try to search the message "processing..." appears and nothing happens.
I think there is a column that the filtering cannot handle.
I am trying to tell the search(filtering) to do not use the other columns except for one.
Still cannot make it work :P