String column

Video versionA video overview of string column 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 columnsString column type and when to use it

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: The only thing to note is that newline characters in the input data source will be translated to “<br/>” tag in the front-end.
  • Sorting rules: alphabetical.
  • Applicable filter types: text, selectbox, multi selectbox, checkbox.

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

ExampleA wpDataTable that uses string columns

First Name“, “Last Name” and “Position” columns of this table are string type columns: