Hi,

I use JavaScript to sort tables on the client. However, I now have discovered that if the table is jagged (Rowspan and Colspan) the sorting does not work.

The table get all mixed up and the rowspan and colspan it not respected.

Is it possible to sort a jagged table in JavaScript??????

I'd appreciate any suggestions and help.

Thanks again, all.


This is the function I use to do the comparisson:

function RowCompareNumbers(a, b)
{
var tdArrayA = a.getElementsByTagName('td')
var tdArrayB = b.getElementsByTagName('td')

var aVal, bVal

if(tdArrayA[lastSort].firstChild)
{
aVal = parseInt(tdArrayA[lastSort].firstChild.nodeValue.replace(/\$/g,""))
}
else
{
aVal = 0
}

if(tdArrayB[lastSort].firstChild)
bVal = parseInt(tdArrayB[lastSort].firstChild.nodeValue.replace(/\$/g,""))
else
bVal = 0

return (aVal - bVal);
}

This is the Table:

<table class="example" id="tblGrid" cellspacing="0" border="1">
<thead>
<tr style="top: 0px">
<th style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; left: 0px; border-left: 0px;
border-bottom: 0px; background-color: #859eb5" colspan="2">
&nbsp;</th>
<th colspan="4">
2007</th>
<th colspan="2">
&nbsp;
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="top: 0px">
<th style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; left: 0px; border-left: 0px;
border-bottom: 0px; background-color: #859eb5" colspan="2">
&nbsp;</th>
<th colspan="2">
Q1</th>
<th colspan="2">
Q2</th>
<th colspan="2">
&nbsp;
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="top: 0px">
<th style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; left: 0px; border-left: 0px;
border-bottom: 0px; background-color: #859eb5" colspan="2">
&nbsp;</th>
<th colspan="2">
MAR</th>
<th colspan="2">
APR</th>
<th colspan="2">
Total</th>
</tr>
<tr style="top: 0px">
<th style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; left: 0px; border-left: 0px;
border-bottom: 0px; background-color: #859eb5" colspan="2">
&nbsp;</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(0)">
Total Pages</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(1)">
Cost Gross</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(2)">
Total Pages</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(3)">
Cost Gross</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(4)">
Total Pages</th>
<th onclick="SortTable(5)">
Cost Gross</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px" rowspan="2">
CARDIOLOGY</th>
<th style="left: 0px">
CARDIOLOGY NEWS</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$5,210.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$5,210.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$10,420.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY</th>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$12,620.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$13,154.00</td>
<td>
4.00</td>
<td>
$25,774.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
INTERNAL MEDICINE</th>
<th style="left: 0px">
INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWS</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,055.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,055.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$22,110.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px" rowspan="6">
MULTISPECIALTY</th>
<th style="left: 0px">
AMERICAN FAMILY PHYSICIAN</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,655.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$23,310.00</td>
<td>
3.00</td>
<td>
$34,965.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS - MINI-MASS DEMO</th>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$23,326.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,663.00</td>
<td>
3.00</td>
<td>
$34,989.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
FAMILY PRACTICE NEWS</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$12,235.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$12,235.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$24,470.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
JAMA MINI</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,167.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$11,167.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$22,334.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
MEDICAL ECONOMICS</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$12,140.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$24,280.00</td>
<td>
3.00</td>
<td>
$36,420.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE</th>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$10,090.00</td>
<td>
1.00</td>
<td>
$10,090.00</td>
<td>
2.00</td>
<td>
$20,180.00</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th style="left: 0px">
&nbsp;
</th>
<th style="left: 0px">
Total</th>
<td>
11.00</td>
<td>
$109,498.00</td>
<td>
12.00</td>
<td>
$122,164.00</td>
<td>
23.00</td>
<td>
$231,662.00</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
</table>

is is possible to sort a table with rowspan and colspan in javascript or not?

Could someone please shed some light?

Cheers

C

Well I'd say it's definitely doable, but firstly you'd have to define the requirements. If you sort on a column and one row doesn't have that column, because another column extends into it, what happens? Similarly how do you deal with row spans, are they teated as on row, which row takes precendence in the sort etc?

Once you know that it's just a question of churning out the code which is going to fairly time consuming I'd have thought. I don't think this is a thirty minute job by any means.

__________________
Joe
http://joe.fawcett.name/

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the reply.

As I suspected this will be too difficult. I will have to find another solution.

Cheers

C