Hi, E.

1. I did not fully understand what you are trying exactly with the "BEFORE", but

I am pretty sure that it is not currently possible to do something like that,

because for our Single-Cell Shortcode, with our current built-in options,

needs to have a fixed row value for it to work.

But I will elaborate a bit more about this, because there was another user who wanted to somehow filter/ make the single cell shortcode value dynamic,

here is what our developers said on that subject :

It is not possible for the single cell shortcode to be connected with the filtering of the table,

or in other words, the single cell shortcode was not intended to be working after the table loads, 

if any filters are applied to the table.

But, you could filter the shortcode with a hook before the page loads,

for the row_id

wpdatatables_cell_filter_row_id

For example :

/*
 * $rowID - int
 * $columnKey - string
 * $columnID - string
 * $columnIDValue - int
 * $table_id - int
 * */
function filterRowIDSingleCell($rowID, $columnKey, $columnID, $columnIDValue, $table_id){
    // for specific table ID or 
    // can create different condition
    if ($table_id == 1){
        //here to create logic
        $rowID = 1;
    }
    return $rowID;
}
add_filter('wpdatatables_cell_filter_row_id', 'filterRowIDSingleCell',10, 5);

We don't have this hook yet on our Documentation,  

but you can take a look at the function that generates Single Cell shortcode and to see which filters are available in this PHP file :

wp-content/plugins/wpdatatables/controllers/wdt_functions.php

at line 654

-

I hope that might help.

Let me know how it goes. Thank you

2. The single cell shortcode doesn't seem to work when I want to use a null or different placeholder value. Do single cell shortcodes support placeholders (var1, var2, etc.)?

- Sorry to disappoint you, but it is not currently possible to use dynamic placeholders with single cell shortcode feature.

But you can add a development suggestion for 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.

-

If you have coding skills and wish to try to make a custom solution now,

you can check out our available hooks for Developers on this documentation and see if you can find any hook that might help.

Please be advised that custom solutions with hooks are not included in our support.

You can also research resources such as Stack Overflow to see if any other user perhaps found a workaround.

( We do like to give examples for certain solutions, but for this use-case, we, unfortunately, don't have anything yet)