Hello,
Thank you for the feedback - We will add an example how to achieve this on our FAQ or somewhere more suitable/if possible in the Documentation.

You can create a HTML iFrame with a Youtube video, and our String cells can render the video.

It will also work as part of a Master Details Pop-Up, if you perhaps consider using this add-on ( if you don't have it already).

Here is an example, I just made a table like that on our Master Details Sandbox site.

( Of course, this can be used in any table, without the need of Master-Details)

I create a new Manual table, and input this in the cell :

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tgbNymZ7vqY">
</iframe>

And here is how it loads in the Master-Details Pop Up, for example :

Let me know if you have any additional questions. :)

 Thank you

Hi Patrick,
1. Can you check what is the column type you are using for the video?
It must be "String" column type. If you set it as "URL Link" column type, please change it to String, then try again, it should work if you create the right Custom HTML format as advised with an iFrame, for example something like :

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tgbNymZ7vqY">
</iframe>

So you will need to write Custom HTML like that in your source cell in the Google Sheet, and if you use the String column type, it should render your Video in the linked table.

2. In regards to the "Hide table before filtering" - we had a bug for this in a previous Plugin version, but it was fixed.

Can you confirm do you have the latest 6.7.1 wpDataTables installed?

Hi Patrick,
Thank you for the Admin access.
1. You are right, thank you for reporting this issue.
If I try from any Spreadsheet like a Google Sheet or Excel - then make a linket table, in the table's String column, it somehow 'cleans' the entire custom HTML along with the iFrame, etc, the cells are just blank.


But, it works in an editable/Manual table - If we import the data from a Spreadsheet. In the 'preview' it still shows as blank, but when I generate the table, it does correctly render the Video in the iFrame in the cells.

I am sending this for testing to our QA Team - they will determine if we might have a bug for linked tables, which 'cleans' the iFrame from the source Sheet cells somehow;
We will report back on that point;

In the meantime, the only 'temporary workaround' is, if you can try to import the data and use our editable tables, perhaps?

Just to clarify that part ( if you haven't tried it already), on how it works :
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 will be editable in our Plugin.

If you need 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 Update manual tables from source files (CSV, Excel or Google sheet) with three options :

• Replace data within an existing table.
• Or Add data to an existing table.
•  Or  Replace the entire table with new data.

2. In regards to issues with "Hide table before Filtering"  - We had a bug with the previous Powerful Filters version 1.4.4.


Can you please update the add-on to the latest 1.4.5, then purge cache of the Site - and refresh the Page, check if the "hide table before filtering" is working as it should now?

Let me know how it goes, if that issue for the Powerful Filtering still persists.
Thank you.

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for the confirmation on the second issue/ in regards to Powerful Filter "hide before filtering", I am glad to see that works now after updating.

In regards to the main issue, why the linked tables are rendering blank cells as Strings - when we try the iFrame as custom HTML, I am still waiting for a reply, our QA Team is conducting testing and trying to isolate why it happens like that.
As mentioned, as a temporary workaround, you can try using our Manual/editable tables by importing a Spreadsheet, in that case, it will properly render the iFrame.

We will certainly report back as soon as we get an update from our QA Testing.
Thank you again for your patience.

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for all your patience, in the meantime we escalated this with our Developer Team and they found what is causing the issue.

'wp_kses_post' is 'cleaning/removing' the '<iframe>' HTML tag due to some security measures.

There is a custom workaround you can apply in order to 'force' the iframe to render in your table's String cells.

We will share the steps on how you can edit our Plugin's code to achieve this - we can't guarantee if this will have any security impact, since this has been implemented by default as 'sanitization' for security.

Here is how you can achieve it :

Find this PHP file via FTP on your Hosting server, in the WordPress folder :
..\current\wp-content\plugins\wpdatatables\source\class.wpdatatable.php.
Edit it using any code editor and around line 1895 find this piece of code :

 foreach ($wdtColumnTypes as $key => $columnType){
            foreach ($this->_dataRows as &$dataRow) {
                if (isset($dataRow[$key])) {
                    $dataRow[$key] = wp_kses_post($dataRow[$key]);
                }
            }
        }   

Replace that entire part of code with this :

foreach ($wdtColumnTypes as $key => $columnType){
            foreach ($this->_dataRows as &$dataRow) {
                if (isset($dataRow[$key])) {
                    $dataRow[$key] = strip_tags($dataRow[$key], '<br/><br><b><strong><h1><h2><h3><a><i><em><ol><ul><li><img><blockquote><div><hr><p><span><select><option><sup><sub><iframe><pre><button>');
                }
            }
        }

Save the change, and try to create a new linked table again from your file source - this time it should render the iFrame with the Video in the String column cells.

Let us know how it goes.

If you need us to edit this code for you, we can do so, we will just need remote access as following :

Please provide me a temporary WP-admin (administrator) user for your website where this happens, 

as well as FTP credentials, so we could log in and take a look ‘from the inside’ as that’s the most efficient way to see and resolve the issue. 

We do not interfere with any data or anything else except for the plugin (in case that’s a production version of the site), and of course, we do not provide login data to third parties. 

You can write credentials here just check PRIVATE Reply so nobody can see them except us.

Hey Patrick,

Yes, I can confirm the Video loads when we visit your Page - and renders as it should inside the iFrame in the String cell of your table - I am happy to see that code edit works on your use-case.

We also tested it here, and there seem to be no issues, great! :)

Just to note, going forward, whenever you update our Plugin, you would have to perform the same code edit - because when it updates, it overrides/reverts that piece of code in our PHP file.

Sorry for that inconvenience.

Let me know if you have any additional questions. :)

Thank you.