Hi, Corey 

Sorry for the delay

- Yes, first i will comment on creating a table that will be linked to source data coming from an API.

If you link the table to a JSON file, this file has to have structure as we pointed out on this documentation. I will copy the important part here :

 Currently, wpDataTables accepts this, and only this format of JSON (see example on the docs page): 

a one-level array of same-structured objects where each object will be parsed as a row, and each field inside of the object as a cell.

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 If your software does not return this format, you would need to prepare, for example, some PHP adapter to return one of the formats that wpDataTables would accept.

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2. If your JSON file has multiple levels, then you will have to try our NESTED JSON method.

3. If you wish to use API, and to pull data from it,  then you will have to adapt it to PHP Array, and make a table linked to PHP Array.

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Regarding the solution to have the user first select one or more filters,

in this use-case, the user can choose from "name" column filter, and you can set a "search" button ( you can customize the look and label of the button);

then a table would load only the filtered results.

This can be achieved with our premium add-on Powerful Filters,   if you use the "Hide Table" feature.

Please check more about the add-on here;

Before purchase, you can test all plugin and Add-on features on our sandbox site.

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And i just wanted to point out that you can try wpDataTables before purchasing

 on our sandbox Demo sites ( you can find links for the main plugin Demo,  

as well as add-on Demos, in my signature),

and there is a 15-day money-back guarantee period, 

so if you purchase the plugin, you can safely fully test it out, and if it doesn't fit your needs you can request and receive a refund in that period. ( same goes for all plugins and add-ons)

Let me know if you have any additional questions. 

Hi, Corey 

Sorry for the delay

1. I am glad to see that you worked out a solution with a PHP file, very good.

Let us know if you encounter any issues with that along the way.

2. Regarding this question, thank you for the screenshot, i believe that i can understand the idea.

Basically, you would like to have this additional "header row" to the left side,  but also the "years row" at the top like on the screenshot?

The only way to achieve something like this with our plugin, is if you make a Pivot table.

Pivoting the table is not a built-in option of wpDataTables, but please feel free to check out this ticket:

https://tmsplugins.ticksy.com/ticket/3042192/

One of our customers made a short tutorial for all customers that want to use the Pivot feature with wpDataTables. 

I hope that helps.

And unfortunately, that won't be possible with tables linked to a PHP file,

but you would have to try that custom workaround with the MySQL table method.

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If you wish to see a built-in option for this in the future, and for other table types other than SQL tables,

please don't hesitate to make a suggestion for our developers, we will do our best to work on it in the future.

Please feel free to search on our suggestions page, 

 to see if someone may be already suggested this feature. If you can't see it, feel free to add your suggestion there,  and as more people vote, the feature will move higher on the priority list.

You can certainly follow our changeLog page if you'd like ( it is also available in the plugin dashboard), where we state any changes/new features/bug fixes during updates;

and our newsletter, so you're informed about new features, bug fixes, freebies, etc.

Hi, Corey

The only nested method i know of is by using our Nested JSON method,

 If you wish to try making a JSON file that has multiple levels.

But i am not 100% sure, to be honest, this topic is not my best area of expertise, so i can check with our 2nd level Team.

Can you please first go through our Nested JSON documentation page here;

and let me know if you need something like that, or maybe something completely different?

Then i will ask our 2nd level Team to take another look and they will advise if it's possible with our plugin.

Thank you