datatables sort by ticks and show date

Question

I'm using Jquery dataTable. doing ajax call to the server to get json array with data:

[{"ticks":635020621354830000,"created":"20/04/13 13:42","action":"1","reference":"1444","fee":"0.6"},{"ticks":635023360450070000,"created":"23/04/13 17:47","action":"0","reference":"1503","fee":"0.6"},{"ticks":635023360461470000,"created":"23/04/13 17:47","action":"0","reference":"1505","fee":"0.6"}]

then I build a table with javascript and call $('#mytable').dataTable({...options}); I want to show first column the "created" data, but to sort it by the "ticks". How can I do it ? the reason for it so there are many entries in the json array that the "created" field is the same value in "dd/MM/yy hh:mm" format (I don't want to show milliseconds) and the ticks are different.

Answer 1

Return the ticks as you do now, but hide them. Use the iDataSort parameter to tell the date column to sort using the hidden column.

See this jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/bFpmJ/

In the demo, click on the Column 0 header. Column 0 values are all the same date, but the table will sort correctly. Column 1 labels which is earliest/latest in agreement with the hidden column.

Here is the relevant code:

jQuery('#myTable').dataTable(
    { 
    "aoColumns": [
        { "sType":"string", "bSearchable": false, "bVisible":    false },
        { "iDataSort": 0 },
            null,
            null,
            null
        ] 
    }
    );

Note the first column is made invisible and non-searchable. Also, because of the length of the number, the default DataTables sorting wasn't working (perhaps it can't handle a long of that length, I'm not sure) - you can see this by just removing the "sType":"string" and then trying to sort by Column 0. So I had to change the "sType" to "string". Assuming the ticks are always the same number of digits, this shouldn't be a problem.