Hello,

Sorry to disappoint you, but at this time, we don't have any built-in solution to achieve this.

The main issue is coming from the chart engines themselves.

It is not possible for any chart to use string data as the series.

A chart can only take one string or date column to provide labels for X axis while any other column for series must be numeric.

At the moment, our Table doesn't have a way to somehow transform/read that kind of data as numeric and also the charts don't have a way to read it like that.

You can suggest it to our developers, though - they will do their best to make a solution in the future, but I can't honestly say a realistic ETA if or when this might become possible.

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.

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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)

Hi Gurtner,

I can understand the disappointment, but our Plugin currently does not have any built-in way to read any numeric data which is not purely numeric as numbers, if that makes sense.

So, if there is any kind of a letter/character or a symbol combined with numbers in the same cell, this can not be read by our Plugin as 'integer' or 'Float' Numeric Column type.

If you have data in a cell, for example something like 58Co - our Plugin can only display this if you choose a String column type, since it has a letter as part of the cell value.

Same goes for "1.73E-06"  or "1.00E-06". 

Right now we only have the 'integers' and 'floats' available for numeric data types - and for them you can only use pure numbers, if you need this data to work as series for a Chart.

Since our Plugin can only render it as String(text) data type, then it can't be used in a chart as series.

And also the chart engines do not have any way to take data from a String Column and 'transform/convert' it to numeric data to be able to provide chart series.

You can only try a completely custom solution, but our Support does not cover custom work.

If you wish to see a column type as 'scientific notation', you can make a development suggestion, but we can't say if or when something like that might be added to our Plugin.

Even if we manage to add it in the future, there is the other question, is it possible to add data like that to charts as numeric series - so that would be the 'second part of the solution' for your use-case.

2. Now, about the numbers leading with zeroes : such as 0.00000018.

We are aware of this issue with the numbers 'starting with zeroes'.

 I will advise you why that happens and a possible 'workaround', but we don't currently have an ideal solution.

Unfortunately, if you try to import some data into an SQL database from a file ( via our Plugin or via PHPMyAdmin), like from CSV/Excel/ or Google Sheets which has cells as leading zeroes.

Here is my example, if I try this Excel file with the first column having leading zero values like 001, 025 and so on...

Now, in my Excel I first have to tell it to format this column as Text, because even in Excel, if we set this to a numeric format, is escaping/removing any zeroes.

But if we set it to "plain text format" for the Column, then Excel accepts it like that.

Now, in our Plugin, if you have less than around 5, 6 thousand rows, you can directly import your data without having to import it via PHPMyAdmin( or any other Database management tool).

Then, our Manual table, during the import process, allows you to choose the Column type for each Field from your source :

If you try setting this Column to integer, this saves it in the SQL Database as 'integer' and then we have that issue, because when importing integer values in SQL, it escapes the leading zero by default.

The only way to have this rendering as leading zeroes right now, is if you choose "String type" Column during import.

If you choose "one line string", it will make a VARCHAR(255 character limit) DataType in the Database;

or "multi line string", that stores it as TEXT (suitable for large text).

So, for example, if your data set does not have more than around 6 thousand rows, you should be able to import the data directly with our Plugin.

If you import the file, the plugin reads the source file and creates a manual table. 

Once the table is created, it is no longer linked to the source file, so changing data in the table will not show up in Excel or Google Spreadsheet, and vice-versa. 

This table is fully editable in our Plugin.

You can also pull other SQL Query Tables from the same data(if needed);

( just check in the Editing what is the MySQL Table name, then call this TableName in Query like : SELECT * FROM TableName);

For quicker editing, you can either switch to the Excel-like view, 

and then select and copy the range of cells you want to paste from the source file, and paste it in the Excel-like view;

or you can import a new/edited CSV to update the table, as well, in the following ways :

• Update manual tables: Replace data within an existing table.
• Update manual tables: Add data to an existing table.
•  Update manual tables: Replace the entire table with new data.

If you have more rows than around 6 thousand, let's say if you have 20 thousand rows.

Then you could separate your data in multiple files and import them in our Manual Table in 'smaller pieces'.

Create a Manual table by importing around 5 thousand rows first;

then you can use the "Add data to existing table" method from above to add another 5 thousand;

and so on, until you have inserted all your rows.

Just make sure to set that Column with leading zeroes to "String", so it saves in your Database as VARCHAR or TEXT and it will work.

You just won't be able to sort or filter this column as numerical data, it can only work as text data. The only other way is, if you make a non editable ( non server side) table "linked from Excel".

Then, you also need to change the Column type in our Table to "String" in order to show the leading zeroes.

So, as you can see, the only current way to show data leading as zeroes in our Plugin can be as "String" type, which is also not possible to be added to any chart as 'series data' if that makes sense.

I hope that this explanation at least provides some clarity of our current Plugin limitations as well as Chart Engine limitations.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Hi André,

Thank you for the suggestion and feedback, I am passing it to our developers.

Yes. Our Plugin is based on the libraries from the JQuery dataTables Plugin and it inherits the limitations from it.

As mentioned, one of the main limitations we have is that, if we wish to use a numeric type column like integer or float, it can simply not work to render values if there is any letter or symbol included in the cell.

For the time being, integer or float ( numeric field) can only accept pure numerical data.

We did not have many users who requested the scientific format so that is why it has not been set as a high priority feature, but we will advise management and our devs will do their best to try to find a solution.

I just can't say an ETA on it.

No problem, we can completely understand this is a crucial point for your use case.

If you haven't cancelled your licence already, you can do so if you wish, just to prevent the auto renewal process, but you can follow our ChangeLog during updates and subscribe to the newsletter so if we develop this feature in the near future, we hope to see you again as a premium user.

Thank you for the kind words about the Plugin.