Help:Datatables format

Datatables format
Provides a complete porting of DataTables JavaScript library into Semantic MediaWiki
Collection

Further Information
Provided by:	Extension "Semantic Result Formats"
Added:	4.1.0
Removed:	still supported
Requirements:	none
Format name:	datatables
Enabled? Indicates whether the result format is enabled by default upon installation of the respective extension.	yes
Authors:	thomas-topway-it for KM-A
Categories:	table

Group:	smwapi
Table of Contents
Contents 1 Features 2 Usage 2.1 Minimal 2.2 All options (does not include #Printouts parameters) 3 Parameters 3.1 Format specific 3.2 Native datatables options 3.3 Native SearchPanes options 3.4 SearchBuilder options 3.5 Native Mark.js options 3.6 Printouts parameters 4 SearchPanes 5 SearchBuilder 5.1 General 6 Known issues and limitations 7 Design notes 8 Demos

Starting with Semantic Result Formats 4.1.0, a full-fledged version of the powerful DataTables JavaScript library has been integrated, now replacing the precursing result format "Datatables format (legacy)"A progressive table result printer that integrates the DataTables JavaScript library. Besides the core library, the updated DataTables version includes a wide range of plugins and precisely:

DataTables 1.13.2 (the core library)
Buttons 2.3.4
Column visibility 2.3.4
HTML5 export 2.3.4
Print view 2.3.4
FixedColumns 4.2.1
FixedHeader 3.3.1
KeyTable 2.8.1
Responsive 2.4.0
RowGroup 1.3.0
Scroller 2.1.0
SearchBuilder 1.4.0
SearchPanes 2.1.1
Select 1.6.0
StateRestore 1.2.1

All of them can be customized using the native Datatables options listed here through the "datatables-" prefix, to be used in the ask query before the native datatable option. (for instance using datatables-pageLength=100 to set the default page length)

By contrast to the legacy version, the current version does not seek to introduce additional functionalities besides the base library (namely the "query-panel" and "instant update") but instead seeks to entirely rely on the latest Datatables library and a large number of official plugins, which are now well developed and cover all querying requirements, including within the extent of SemanticMediaWiki.

Also, the current version now produces results entirely consistent with the base table format (including the possibility to format the printouts using the standard Semantic MediaWiki modifiers) and relies on a dedicated Ajax API to display tables of any length. (not limited by the limit set for inline ask queries or the limit set as a parameter).

Since the latest commit, datatables offer a greater accessibility since initially the table is statically included in the article, and "infused" in a second time. This of course guarantees that the data are immediately accessible by both search engines and users before that the page is fully reactive

Features[edit]

cells content fully consistent with the standard SMW table format (including the use of Printouts format)
can access all the results of a query using Ajax when necessary
supports navigation, filtering, and sorting against the complete data set (using Ajax when necessary)
supports sorting using multiple columns
a wide range of native Datatables options are accessible through the ask query
supports SearchPanes also used in conjunction with Ajax

Latest features added:

supports SearchBuilder (see here for a demo)
adds mark.js (with native parameters, see SemanticResultFormats/pull/776)
better accessibility: the table is first included in the article statically and then converted to a dynamic table
supports Datatype Keyword with normalized values
supports search of columns with multiple values

Usage[edit]

Minimal[edit]

{{#ask:
 [[Modification date::+]]
 |?Modification date
 |format=datatables
}}

All options (does not include #Printouts parameters)[edit]

{{#ask: 
 [[Modification date::+]]
 |?Modification date
 |format=datatables
 |class=
 |mainlabel-template=
 |noajax=false
 |sep=, 
 |prefix=none
 |defer-each=0

 |datatables-autoWidth=false
 |datatables-deferRender=false
 |datatables-info=true
 |datatables-lengthChange=true
 |datatables-ordering=true
 |datatables-paging=true
 |datatables-processing=false
 |datatables-scrollX=false
 |datatables-scrollY=
 |datatables-searching=true
 |datatables-stateSave=false
 |datatables-displayStart=0
 |datatables-pagingType=full_numbers
 |datatables-pageLength=20
 |datatables-lengthMenu=10, 20, 50, 100, 200
 |datatables-scrollCollapse=false
 |datatables-buttons=
 |datatables-dom=lfrtip
 |datatables-fixedHeader=false
 |datatables-responsive=true
 |datatables-keys=false
 |datatables-columns.type=
 |datatables-columns.width=false

 |datatables-scroller=false
 |datatables-scroller.displayBuffer=50
 |datatables-scroller.loadingIndicator=false
 |datatables-scroller.loadingIndicator=false

 |datatables-searchPanes=false
 |datatables-searchPanes.initCollapsed=false
 |datatables-searchPanes.collapse=true
 |datatables-searchPanes.columns=
 |datatables-searchPanes.threshold=0.6
 |datatables-searchPanes.minCount=1
 |datatables-searchPanes.htmlLabels=false
 |datatables-searchPanes.show=

 |datatables-searchBuilder=false

 |datatables-mark=false
 |datatables-mark.separateWordSearch=false
 |datatables-mark.accuracy=partially
 |datatables-mark.diacritics=true
 |datatables-mark.acrossElements=false
 |datatables-mark.caseSensitive=false
 |datatables-mark.ignoreJoiners=false
 |datatables-mark.ignorePunctuation=
 |datatables-mark.wildcards=disabled
}}

Parameters[edit]

Format specific[edit]

parameter	description	data-type	default
class	adds additional classes to the table	string
mainlabel-template	template to be applied to the mainlabel. Use the canonical form `\|?=my label \|+ template = my template` to set multiple parameters	string	null
noajax	disable Ajax. Use this option wisely since when the data set exceeds a few thousand rows, the request might not complete	boolean	false
sep	separator for datavalues in the same column	string	`, `
defer-each	number of rows retrieved for each Ajax request (when the number of rows exceeds the set limit) -- it can be greater than pageLength (see here for more information)	integer	length required by Datatables (corresponding to pageLength or a greater value if scroller is enabled)

Native datatables options[edit]

parameter	description	data-type	default
datatables-autoWidth	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-deferRender	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-info	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-lengthChange	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-ordering	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-paging	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-processing	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-scrollX	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-scrollY	native Datatables option	string	300px if Scroller is enabled
datatables-searching	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-stateSave	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-displayStart	native Datatables option	integer	0
datatables-pagingType	native Datatables option	string	full_numbers
datatables-pageLength	native Datatables option	integer	20
datatables-lengthMenu	native Datatables option	comma separated values	10, 20, 50, 100, 200
datatables-scrollCollapse	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-scroller	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-scroller.displayBuffer	native Datatables option	integer	50
datatables-scroller.loadingIndicator	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-buttons	native Datatables option	comma separated values
datatables-dom	native Datatables option	string	lfrtip
datatables-fixedHeader	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-responsive	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-keys	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-columns.type	columns-type applied to all columns used for sorting ("auto", "any-number" plus the default types listed here). To set a column type for each column, use the form `\|+datatables-columns.type = string` besides the printout	string
datatables-columns.width	columns-width applied to all columns. To set a column width for each column, use the form `\|+datatables-columns.width = 80px` besides the printout	string

Native SearchPanes options[edit]

parameter	description	data-type	default
datatables-searchPanes	Enable SearchPanes	boolean	false
datatables-searchPanes.initCollapsed	native Datatables option	boolean	false
datatables-searchPanes.collapse	native Datatables option	boolean	true
datatables-searchPanes.columns	native Datatables option, use a value in the form `0,2,3` to enable the searchPanes for the first, third and fourth column	comma separated values
datatables-searchPanes.threshold	native Datatables option	number	0.6
datatables-columns.searchPanes.show	enable the searchPanes for all columns. To enable the searchPanes for specific columns use `datatables-searchPanes.columns` or the form `\|+datatables-columns.searchPanes.show = true` besides the printout	boolean
datatables-searchPanes.minCount	include in searchPanes entries with occurrence greater or equal than "count"	integer	1
datatables-searchPanes.htmlLabels	enable/disable HTML in searchPanes	boolean	false

SearchBuilder options[edit]

parameter	description	data-type	default
datatables-searchBuilder	Enable SearchBuilder	boolean	false

Native Mark.js options[edit]

parameter	description	data-type	default
datatables-mark	enable Mark.js	boolean	false
datatables-mark.separateWordSearch	native Mark.js option Whether to search for each word separated by a blank instead of the complete term	boolean
datatables-mark.accuracy	native Mark.js option "partially", "complementary" or "exactly"	string	partially
datatables-mark.diacritics	native Mark.js option	boolean	true
datatables-mark.acrossElements	native Mark.js option	boolean	false
datatables-mark.caseSensitive	native Mark.js option	boolean	false
datatables-mark.ignoreJoiners	native Mark.js option	boolean	false
datatables-mark.ignorePunctuation	native Mark.js option e.g. :;.,-–—‒_(){}[]!\'"+=	string
datatables-mark.wildcards	native Mark.js option	string	disabled

By contrast to the native behavior of the dom option, SRF's datatables requires that certain plugins are explicitly enabled with their specific parameter. Eg. datatables-searchPanes requires to be set to true also if 'P' (the symbol for searchPanes in the dom option) appears in the datatables-dom parameter

Printouts parameters[edit]

Printouts parameters are additional options for printouts in this form

|?=my label  |+ datatables-columns.type=string  |+ datatables-width=50px 
|?Modification date #-F[F j Y] = date |+template=mytemplate

Datatables (v2) supports virtually all the DataTables - Columns options listed here using the prefix |+ datatables-. However, the most suitable for SMW ask query are the following (the prefix of the options "columns." can be omitted, so for instance, columns.ariaTitle can be set using |+ datatables-ariaTitle=my title)

printout parameter	description (from the official docs)
columns.ariaTitle	Set the columns' aria-label attribute value
columns.className	Class to assign to each cell in the column.
columns.contentPadding	Add padding to the text content used when calculating the optimal width for a table.
columns.orderable	Enable or disable ordering on this column
columns.searchable	Enable or disable search on the data in this column
columns.title	Set the column title
columns.type	Set the column type - used for filtering and sorting string processing
columns.visible	Enable or disable the display of this column
columns.width	Column width assignment
columns.searchPanes.className	Add a custom class name to a pane
columns.searchPanes.collapse	Allow the SearchPanes to be collapsed for specific columns
columns.searchPanes.combiner	Set the type of logic to be implemented on the pane
columns.searchPanes.controls	Hide the Control buttons and disable searching in the pane of a specific column
columns.searchPanes.emptyMessage	Set custom empty messages for specific panes
columns.searchPanes.header	Set the title of the search pane
columns.searchPanes.hideCount	Deprecated. Hide the count column in the pane of a specific column
columns.searchPanes.initCollapsed	Collapse Specific SearchPanes on initialisation
columns.searchPanes.name	Set the name of the SearchPane
columns.searchPanes.orderable	Hide the ordering buttons in the pane of a specific column
columns.searchPanes.show	Force Panes to hide or show
columns.searchPanes.threshold	Set the minimum number of unique values needed in a specific column to display that pane
columns.searchPanes.viewCount	Hide the count column in the pane of a specific column

Here is/are the non datatables' native printout parameter(s):

printout parameter	description
template	Sets a template to be applied to the relevant printout, like in the form `\|?=my main label \|+ template = my template` (for the main label) or `\|?Organization name \|+ template = my template` (for usual properties)

Use printout parameters only with a single or a couple of columns in the table, with an undefined or low defer-each parameter, with an undefined or low limit, and with a low datatables-pagelength for it to work properly

SearchPanes[edit]

SearchPanes are a great way to interactively filter your results and to get an overview of each distinct values of your query! The current version of Datatables supports SearchPanes in conjunction with Ajax, and allows interactive filtering by categories and parameter formats, namely date-ranges, in addition than by all printouts included in the ask query.

In order to activate SearchPanes just add the parameter datatables-searchPanes=true and Datatables will determine which panes to show based on the default uniqueness threshold value (it can be changed using datatables-searchPanes.threshold for all printouts, or using |+ datatables-searchPanes.threshold for a specific printout, if set to 1 the pane will be always shown). Also use it in conjunction with |+ datatables-searchPanes.show besides each specific printout, in order to enable/disable panes in a granular way.

Date-ranges work setting a printout format like the following |?Modification date #-F[Y] = Year, or |?Modification date #-F[F Y] = Year, so that values are grouped by year in the first case, and month + year in the second one. (See here for a demo).

SearchPanes make your data more accessible, however a threshold greater than the default should be judiciously used, especially on medium-large data-sets, and consequently they should be kept disabled for the mainlabel (since page titles are always unique) and unless they aren't grouped in some way through the printout format.

A good rule-of-thumb is to activate SearchPanes, also on large data-sets, only for those printouts/columns that have a limited number of distinct values, i.e. not more than a few hundreds, where 50 should be considered an appropriate limit for a good user experience, that is where users can meaningfully play with SearchPanes, and to explicitly disable them for other columns using |+ datatables-searchPanes.show = false.

SearchBuilder[edit]

SearchBuilder allows to filter the table results by setting one or more conditions for a given field, and to define the logical operator (between 'And' and 'Or') between them. To activate it just set datatables-searchBuilder=true among the ask query's parameters. Then press the "Add condition" button to search the table using conditions!

This is by adding a condition:

Internally the conditions set by the SearchBuilder are transformed to SMW queries according to the following algorithm:

$str = ( $label !== '' ? "$label::" : '' );
switch( $criteria['condition'] ) {
	case '=':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}{$v}]]";
		break;
	case '!=':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}!~$v]]";
		break;
	case 'starts':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}~$v*]]";
		break;
	case '!starts':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}!~$v*]]";
		break;
	case 'contains':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}~*$v*]]";
		break;
	case '!contains':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}!~*$v*]]";
		break;
	case 'ends':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[{$str}~*$v]]";
		break;
	case '!ends':
		$searchBuilder[] = "[[$str}!~*$v]]";
		break;
	// case 'null':
	// 	break;
	case '!null':
		if ( $label ) {
			$searchBuilder[] = "[[$label::+]]";
		}
		break;
}

where $label is the printout related to the given field and $v is the search value. In short SearchBuilder is a great way (as SearchPanes) to use complex SMW queries through a simple interface. See here for a demo.

General[edit]

Semantic MediaWiki 3.0.0Released on 11 October 2018 and compatible with MW 1.27.0 - 1.31.x. introduced a set of predefined classes supporting a datatable output1 in the result format "Table"Outputs the results in a table (default for queries with printout statements).. Note that the table result format with the "datatable" class differs from the datatables result format!

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
source	text	empty	Alternative query source
limit	whole number	50	The maximum number of results to return
offset	whole number	0	The offset of the first result
link	text	all	Show values as links
sort	list of texts	empty	Property to sort the query by
order	list of texts	empty	Order of the query sort
headers	text	show	Display the headers/property names
mainlabel	text	no	The label to give to the main page name
intro	text	empty	The text to display before the query results, if there are any
outro	text	empty	The text to display after the query results, if there are any
searchlabel	text	... further results	Text for continuing the search
default	text	empty	The text to display if there are no query results

Note: The following parameters do not apply to this result format: headers and searchlabel despite them being listed here.

Known issues and limitations[edit]

SearchPanes might not work correctly with large data-sets or complex queries. In the first case, the responsibility to use SearchPanes only when the data include a reasonable number of distinct values is left to administrators, and in the second case it could be solved in future adding standard methods to SMW in order to safely manipulate SQL queries generated by Ask queries.

With the current version, only few of the available formats for specific printout types, are supported, i.e., they are handled correctly in queries performed by SearchPanes. Feel free to open a ticket in the official repository if you need to support more.

Sometimes a changed value is not ready displayed due to the MediaWiki cache system. For instance, if you use $wgMainCacheType = CACHE_ACCEL; in your LocalSettings.php, try disable it with $wgMainCacheType = CACHE_NONE; (the default value).

Design notes[edit]

Datatables is a natural fit for Semantic MediaWiki because queries can be performed through an accessible query language and saved within wiki pages. The current implementation also extends the functionality of Datatables:

when used with Ajax, it can retrieve more rows than those required in each single page and for a smoother and 'friction-less' navigation, it caches them until the page is reloaded.
it also adds a few custom parameters, at both query level and printout level, to the native options included in the original Datatables library. For instance,
- |+template=... (at printout level)
- datatables-searchPanes.minCount, datatables-searchPanes.htmlLabels (at query level).

Demos[edit]

Multiple filters and Ajax navigation: https://fina.knowledge.wiki/Test_Datatables
SearchPanes: https://fina.knowledge.wiki/Test_Datatables/SearchPanes_Categories
SearchBuilder:https://fina.knowledge.wiki/Catalogues_of_Numismatic_Collections/SearchBuilder
Printout formats: https://silver.knowledge.wiki/User:Admin/Datatables_test
Noajax (all data are retrieved on page load) https://fina.knowledge.wiki/Catalogues_of_Numismatic_Collections

References

^ Semantic MediaWiki: GitHub pull request gh:smw:2420

Status:	effective
Progress:	100%
Version:	4.1.0+