It's great to see we're using jQuery DataTables sorting for report output now (i.e., instant header-click sorting by column).
It would also be nice to build in some configurable sorting options that would support, say, multi-column sorting. It would be even cooler to add in support for section headers with totals (which would depend on the sorting to work properly).
This would let us turn something like this (sorted by size only, in one long list)
+-------------------------+
| SIZE | ID | FRUIT |
+--------+--------+-------+
| Large | 1 | kiwi |
+--------+--------+-------+
| Large | 3 | apple |
+--------+--------+-------+
| Small | 4 | plum |
+--------+--------+-------+
| Small | 8 | kiwi |
+--------+--------+-------+
| Small | 11 | apple |
+--------+--------+-------+
into something like this (sorted by size and fruit, and sectioned by size with total counts per section):
+-----------------+
| SIZE: Large (2) |
+-----------------+
| ID | FRUIT |
+--------+--------+
| 3 | apple |
+--------+--------+
| 1 | kiwi |
+-----------------+
| Size: Small (3) |
+-----------------+
| ID | FRUIT |
+-----------------+
| 11 | apple |
+--------+--------+
| 8 | kiwi |
+--------+--------+
| 4 | plum |
+--------+--------+
In a not-too-recent thread, Lobo guessed 40-50 hours for getting generalized sorting into the reporting framework. We may be interested in building and submitting a patch for the sorting feature, and possibly something in support of section headers as well.
Does anyone want to offer their thoughts on the value of these features? And possibly any pointers on potential headaches to watch out for?
Thanks,
TM
