Hello Karl.

If the table is linked to an existing data source (CSV, Excel, Google Spreadsheet), the plugin fetches all the rows, outputs the entire table to the front end all at once, and then split it into pages using JavaScript; all data processing (page switching, sorting, filtering) is done on the client’s computer by JavaScript.

wpDataTables with server-side processing enabled fetches only those rows needed on the page at the exact moment. By default, it equals the number of rows that the administrator defines for the table in the “Display length” setting; the front-user can, however, change it. For example: if the table is configured to show 10 rows by default, only 10 rows would be queried from MySQL. When the user switches to the next page, and sorts the table by some column, or filters by some column, an AJAX request is sent to the server, the query is processed by MySQL, and 10 more rows are returned.

I am not sure what button you're referring to, but it sounds like you'd need to use filters and/or hooks to achieve this. 

Please note that using hooks requires certain level of programming skills and included support refers only to advice.

Hi, Karl.

Sorry for the delayed response.

If we understood, your use-case is for the user to apply some filters,

and then for you to "save the filtered selection" and to make a custom hook with this.

As Aleksandar mentioned, custom solutions with hooks such as this are not covered by our support,

but we do our best to share any working examples when possible for some use-cases.

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For example, this is one where a user wanted to "save the filter selection".

this bit of custom js will update the browser url (without triggering a reload) to reflect what values have been entered in filters, thereby generating a direct link to the current 'view'. Note this only works for separate filter forms, but should only need a couple of tweaks to do a version for the simple in-table filter boxes ...

jQuery(window).load(function(){
  wpDataTables.table_1.addOnDrawCallback(function(){
    var params={};
    jQuery('.wpDataTableFilterSection').each(function(i, obj) {
      if ( inputbox = obj.id.match("table_1_(.+)_filter_sections") ) {
        if (jQuery(obj).find('input').val()) {
          var key='wdt_column_filter['+inputbox[1]+']';
          params[key] = jQuery(obj).find('input').val();
        }
      }
    }); 
    history.pushState('','','?'+jQuery.param(params));
  });
});

That was an example to save the filter selection.

2. For using a hook on currently displayed rows,  we don't currently have an example to show you, but we can provide some general guidance.

Filters (hooks) in WordPress are a type of callback functions that can be defined by the user, and are applied to certain values – strings, integers, objects, etc. It is a simple way to adjust code output without actually having to modify the code. Essentially, you add a given function on top of an existing one, to override the logic. Then, when the plugin is updated later, you won’t lose any of your changes.

You can get a detailed description on WordPress hooks here in WP Codex. In this section we will go through all the filters available in wpDataTables.

You can see all our currently available filters here.

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And here you can see our available Actions.

WordPress Actions provide a convenient way to “hook” into different plugins without changing their code. Basically, “actions” are user-defined functions, assigned to certain labels, that are called by the plugin core at defined moments of its execution. Unlike filters, actions do not return any data, they are simply executed.

You can read more about using WordPress actions and assigning your functions to actions in WordPress Codex. Here, we will provide a list of actions defined in wpDataTables plugin that you can use to customize it for your needs.

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We hope this helps.

Please note that using hooks requires certain level of programming skills and included support refers only to advice.

Hello Karl.

I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand what you're trying to achieve. Can you please explain in a bit more detail, and I'll check with our developers?