How do I use text (string) columns in wpDataTables?

Text is probably the most common data type when working with tables in WordPress. In this post we briefly explain how to work with text columns in wpDataTables.

String column is the default, and the most basic column type of wpDataTables. You can put any content in a string column, and it will be rendered “as is”. If you, for example, want to put some specific HTML (buttons, iframes, or anything else) in a string column, you can generate it in the data source, and it will be rendered on the front-end.

• Rendering rules: newline characters in the input data source are translated to <br/> tags on the front-end. You can also use values from another table (foreign key) to configure relations to another wpDataTable and display names instead of IDs.
• Sorting rules: alphabetical.
• Applicable filter types: text, selectbox, multi selectbox, and checkbox.

Important note: if you use HTML inside string columns, sorting and filtering by that column can in some cases yield strange results, since the sorting rules also apply to the HTML itself.

In the example employee table, the “First Name”, “Last Name”, and “Position” columns are string-type columns. The table has 100 rows with the columns id, First Name, Last name, Birth Date, Date Hired, and Position.

• Configuration settings
• Calculation functions (totals row)
• Creating editable tables and filling table data manually
• Creating non-editable tables from Excel files
• Creating non-editable tables from Google Spreadsheets
• String (text) columns
• Float columns
• Date columns
• DateTime columns
• Time columns
• Image columns
• URL link columns
• E-mail link columns
• Currency/price columns
• Formula (calculated) columns
• Coloring and styling columns
• Hiding (dynamic) columns
• Column types overview