novalue.js

Sort any "novalue" pattern as max or min (e.g. '-' treat as -1000 or 1000).

Author: Darek L https://github.com/dprojects
Deprecated: This plug-in has been deprecated and replaced with other functionality. Please see the detailed description below for more information.

When sorting values in a DataTable you might want to sort any 'novalue' pattern as max or min value in a column (e.g. '-' treat as -1000 or 1000).

This is very useful if You want to sort incomplete data, there is no data available for each entry in a column (e.g. Recovered for covid-19).

If You do not have data, You can set the 'novalue' pattern to '-' or any other pattern and set exact column to treat this 'novalue' pattern as the max value (sethigh) or the min value (setlow).

Use

This plug-in can be obtained and used in multiple different ways.

Browser

This plug-in is available on the DataTables CDN:

The plug-in will then automatically register itself against a global DataTables instance. This file can also be used if you are using an AMD loader such as Require.js.

Note that if you are using multiple plug-ins, it can be 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.

NPM

The plug-ins are all available on NPM (which can also be used with Yarn or any other Javascript package manager) as part of the datatables.net-plugins package. To use this plug-in, first install the plug-ins package:

npm install datatables.net-plugins

ES modules

Then, if you are using ES modules, import datatables.net, any other DataTables extensions you need, and the plug-in:

import DataTable from 'datatables.net';
import 'datatables.net-plugins/sorting/novalue.mjs';

CommonJS

If you are using a CommonJS loader for Node (e.g. with older versions of Webpack, or non-module Node code) use the following method to require the plug-in:

var $ = require('jquery');
var DataTable = require('datatables.net');
require('datatables.net-plugins/sorting/novalue.js');

Example

gTable = $('#covid-table').DataTable({
                "orderClasses": true,
                "responsive": true,
                "columnDefs": [ { "type": "sethigh", "targets": [2, ,3, 4, 7, 8] },
                                { "type": "setlow", "targets": [5, 6] } ]
    });

To change order later:

    gTable.order([8, 'asc'],[6, 'desc']).draw();

Keep in mind there must be "desc" in this case not "dsc".

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: novalue.js
Full DataTables plug-ins repository: DataTables/Plugins