Please read the Frequently Asked Questions and the documentation before asking for support. Thank you!
For help or support questions, bug reports, and feature requests, use the WordPress Support Forums. Please open a new topic there (with the tag “wp-table-reloaded”). You should include as many information as possible, like version information, a URL to your site, etc. This makes it much easier for me to help you. You may write in English or German. Before posting though, please search through the existing topics. Maybe your question has been answered before? Thank you!
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Below you can find all comments made thus far. Please keep in mind that most of the issues described here are solved in current releases. Also some pieces of advice I gave might not be valid anymore for the current release. It is no longer possible to add a comment. Use the Support Forums for your questions.


Hi Tobias,
great work with the plugin. Just wondering how I can stop the plugin from changing the look of my tables from a theme called “Motion”: http://85ideas.com/public-releases/wordpress-theme-motion/
It turns the background color brighter…
Please excuse me, I’m new to WP.
Hi Di,
thanks for your question!
That should actually be pretty easy: Just go to the “Plugin Options” of WP-Table Reloaded and uncheck the “Default CSS” and “Custom CSS” checkboxes.
The plugin will then no longer add any CSS to the page and your theme has the sole control on the layout of tables.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Thanks for the speedy reply. I would also ask if there is a way like in the old wp-Table plugin to manually adjust individual cell width and align text? Also accepting whitespace in a cell (for example I type “Hello ”, it will print exactly that and not “Hello”? Thanks for your help again, its just that putting tables using WP can be very hard (compared to MS Word 2007).
Hi,
You can do both of that using CSS. I described it in the FAQ section on my
website, please take a look there.
For the whitespace:
Well, the plugin will print/output that into the page. The problem is the
browser. Browser usually don’t show whitespace or blanks as space, they
just remove it.
There is a little trick though, which is protected blanks, i.e. try
writing
"Hello ", where isthe command for such a protected space.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Thanks again, I can only find info on centering the table to the page… not the contents to the cell… or have I misread? What about adding characters such as:
├
│
└
It breaks the table and gives a [table "" seems to be empty /] message afterwards. I suspect this to be the theme’s font’s fault, but I need verification to be sure.
Also is there a faster way to create tables on WP, with say such as Word 2007?
Hi,
oh, sorry, misread that somehow. No, there’s no entry in the FAQ about aligning text, but it is easy with CSS, like this:
That issue with those other characters sounds weird. Are they correctly displayed on the “Edit” screen of the table? And just the frontend is not working?
That might be caused by something weird with the character encoding (so, not really the font you are using, but how the characters are stored internally).
Can you export such a table and email it to me?
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
I have 5 questions for the table at http://seniors-online.ca/websites/question-and-answer-sites
1) Single space table
I want to single space the content in the tables [or the entire website].
Is this done in the theme’s code or WP-Table Reloaded code? If it is in the Table code, how can I single space the table’s content? It is currently double spaced.
2) Fix column header
I reviewed the DataTables website and they gave the following code to Fix Column Headers.
Where is this code applied in WP-Table Reloaded?
3) Understand Plugins, Hooks and Filters
From the list on your support site of about 75 hooks, does each one give added functionality to WP-Table Reloaded? If they do, how can I learn their functionality and where to apply them?
4) Table sorting doesn’t work
Below is an example of how the numbers sort in one of the columns. How do I get the table to sort the data properly?
1
1,861
119,825
126,631
140
163
2049
2254
etc…
5) Header column titles to be formatted to the Center Bottom of the cell. How?
I hope all is well!
-BrianP
Hi Brian,
thanks for your questions!
1) Are you sure they are double spaced (you are refering to the line height, are you?) The table looks fine to my regarding that.
2) The “FixedHeader” is an additional plugin to DataTables. It is not included with WP-Table Reloaded, but could be added individually. It would only require the correct JavaScript file from their site and an adjusted call (like the code you mention), which can be achieved with a plugin filter.
Which brings me to
3) :-)
The hooks and filters are not additional functionality. They are more like integration or entry points for custom code. Basically they allow for that custom code to be run in special places of WP-Table Reloaded or with certain data as a parameter or when certain conditions are met. They still require programing a feature in code, they just define the interface on where that code can be tied into WP-Table Reloaded.
4) The sorting does not work for you, due to the format of those numbers. You are using commas as thousand separators. This messes up the sorting unfortunately, because it now thinks that those cell values are strings or words – which are sorted differently than numbers. You have two possibilities: Either removes the commas from your numbers, which would be the easier way, or extend the DataTables sorting with a custom sort algorithm that allows for commas in the numbers (there might be something like that already available on their site).
5) That should be possible with some “Custom CSS”, like
Hope this helps :-)
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hello,
I found Lithunian language file in Languges > DataTables > lang-lt_LT.txt.
But I can not find where to change these terms into Lithuanian language…
Could you please tell me in which file it is?
Hi Vaidas,
thanks for your comment.
That file contains the strings for Lithuatian of the DataTables jQuery library, i.e. when you have activated sorting, pagination, or filtering for your table.
It is not a translation of the admin area of the plugin.
In order to use it for your tables, you must make sure that you have defined the language in your WordPress configuration.
To do that, check in your wp-config.php, if there is a line
If not, adjust the current line to that strings. After that, your tables should be using the Lithuatian language file.
If you can’t get it to work, please provide the URL of the page with your table.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
Thank you for your quick reply! Your support is very helpful!
For question #2) Fixed Headers, I have posted a request at the DataTables Forums. I asked them for a Step-by-Step as I didn’t understand what to do with your response
…require the correct JavaScript file from their site and an adjusted call (like the code you mention), which can be achieved with a plugin filter…
Where do I copy this code? Is it as simple as copying the code somewhere in the WP-Table Reloaded plugin?
For question #4, I prefer to have the commas so am inquiring if DataTables has an extension with a custom sort algorithm.
If they do, how and where do I install it in the WP-Table Reloaded plugin?
Regards,
-BrianP
Hi,
I’m having issues with the search on IE7 and can’t seem to pinpoint the issue after comparing it to the working demo on this site (which works on IE7). On a WordPress support forums post you mentioned updating the CDN, is this the fix and can you explain?
The search fails after four or more characters are entered, however if you delete a few letters it ends up with the correct query.
Works great on all other tested browsers.
Thank you!
http://www.wiseregional.com/test2/find-a-physician
Hi Blake,
thanks for your question.
I believe I can see what you mean when I tried your site on IE8 (with Compatibility Mode on, which is the same as IE7).
That fix about the CDN I mentioned was just a personal thing on my website, it has nothing to do with other people.
It seems that you have found an issue in the DataTables library, the jQuery plugin that is responsible for the Search. There is nothing that I can do about this, unfortunately and I would suggest that you bring up this issue in the DataTables Support Forums (http://www.datatables.net/forums/) where people with more knowledge on the library might be able to find the reason for the problem.
Thanks a lot!
Best wishes,
Tobias
Tobias,
I’ve narrowed down the issue to being the links I’ve built into the first column, if you search <a href="find-a-physician/…. and corresponding name_name, they sort properly. I figured they would search properly because the links are all the same, not so much… in IE7. I’ll take this up in the DataTables forums. Cheers
Hi Tobias,
great tool. I have a question on using search to pull out table entries. Say for example I have 10 items in a table, and the site visitor uses the search function.
Right now the page comes up that has my table, but not the results in the table. I guess that’s because search results page are showing the excerpt in my theme.
So my question is, aside from changing the theme (which I’ll try), could the search function pull out and display the data on a large table? And would the “template tag functions” help do this.
See, I’m using the table to list up to 1000 items on my soon to launch site (testing it on another site of mine right now). And I would like the user to use search to quickly find what he/she wants, and have the table display only the relevant results on the page.
Did I explain my problem/question clearly enough?
Thanks for your help, and so far this seems like a great plugin.
Michael
Hi Michael,
thanks for your question.
I’m afraid what you are looking for is not possible. The WordPress search can only find the posts/pages that contain a table that contains the search word, but it can then not alter the table to only include relevant rows.
For that, there is the second Search box (right above the table) that will do a real time search on the table data and then only show matching rows.
There might be a way to achieve what you are looking for using the WP-Table Reloaded Extension 6, but it would require quite some more work. Another possibility might be to init the DataTables search with the search word automatically. I’ll try to present some code that might be helpful for that as another Extension during the next week.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Dear Tobias,
I am trying to find out if I can use your table plugin for the site I’m working on. I have tried to read the documentation, but I don’t understand weather or not it is possible to do the following.
I don’t want to use the Shortcode at all. I want to use PHP code to display my table, something that is easy to do, but I also want to show and hide different columns using PHP. And I want to present the list “part by part” under different headings. Sort it by date and automatically remove rows when the sorted date has passed. I also want to make a page to write new rows to the table. Is any of this possible?
Here is the table I’m trying to duplicate:
http://www.zhinengqigong.eu/CourseListEn.aspx
Thanks for a impressive plugin!
Tormod
Hi Tormod,
thanks for your email.
I guess that I have good news and bad news :-)
Yes, you can show a table without the Shortcode and just with PHP, using the template tag function
wp_table_reloaded_print_table(). It takes a query string with parameters similar the Shortcodes, as described in the documentation.Those parameters can also be those to only show certain rows, but you would need to know the exact row or column numbers (see the parameters
show_rowsand equivalent). If you don’t know these numbers, you could try a solution based on the Filtering Extension. Using that, you could probably achieve the part by part list.Sorting by date and removing rows automatically when a date has passed is not so easy, I at the moment I don’t really have an idea how to approach that.
Also, creating a page to add new rows is out of scope of the plugin. The only way to add data in such way is by editing the table on the “Edit” screen on the backend.
So, in summary, as your requirements seem to be a little larger than what the scope of the plugin currently is, you might be better off with a custom mySQL table and some custom code for managing and displaying your table.
Best wishes,
Tobias
I am having a problem. I have imported a table using a CSV file and it stores the table, but once I navigate away from the page, the table empties or disappears. Please advise.
Thanks,
Moira
Hi Moira,
thanks for your question.
This is a known issue that I also have experienced. I don’t really know what causes it or how to fix it unfortunately.
Very likely it is related to uncommon characters used in your table, and those cause trouble with different character encodings. This for example includes characters of foreign languages, like Japanese or Czech. Are you using any of those?
If you want, you can email your CSV file to me and I will take a look, if I can find any uncommon characters. I can’t promise though, that I can find a solution, and it might be possible that you can’t use certain characters on your server.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
that’s me again.. :)
Your last suggestions have worked perfectly!
Maybe you can suggest something on this problem:
I have created very big table with MS Excel, saved it as CSV and was trying to upload it to my website, but the table which apeared on the website has some crazy letters, where lithuanian letters should apear. I know that there is still no such language available for your plugin, but maybe somehow I can fix this part? The table is very big… :)
Hi Vaidas,
thanks for your follow-up.
Firstly: The language file has nothing to do with this! You don’t need a language file to use Lithuanian characters in your tables. Such a file simply contains translations for the strings on the admin interface, so that it would be in Lithuanian instead of English.
Now, to the problem: This is very likely a problem with the character encoding. This is actually a common problem (e.g. it also happens sometimes with Japanese or Czech characters), but I don’t know a solution that always works. So, what you could try, is to save that CSV file with a UTF-8 character encoding (possible with the Windows Editor for example) and try again with that. If that doesn’t work, unfortunately, I don’t know any solution – besides manually typing those messed-up characters again by hand.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
Thanks for all your help so far in using your excellent plugin. I have one more question, if I may. On the page http://www.wewillblogyou.org/?page_id=302, I have amended the table to allow column and row spans. I would like to have the numbers in the left hand column aligned in the middle both vertically and horizontally. I am struggling to get the CSS to work and not sure if this is restricted in the table or more than likely my CSS is wrong.
The CSS I am using is
Which I assumed would align the content into the middle of the table.
Could you advise if this is possible to achieve?
Thanks
Perry
Hi Perry,
thanks for your question.
There are a few things here with your CSS: The main problem is, that your “anniversary” spans are not of the same size as the table cell. So, actually they are centered, but only in the box that is their size – and that’s only as big as the letter in it currently. There should be a way to make it larger, but that’s not really the best way here, I believe (also, you should check the spelling in the HTML of the spans, it seems that you have spaces between the
class = anniversary, and those should be removed).A better solution in my opinion would be to use the selector for the first column, i.e. if you change your CSS to
it should work.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
Thanks for the help we did work but I have tried to amend it and now it does not!
I want the first column with the number in it to have a red background and the first row with the date also to have a red background and have tried to combine two CSS entries but I am not sure what I have done wrong…
http://www.wewillblogyou.org/?page_id=302
I have now split the tables into separate tables for each anniversary (3001 – 3008) and need to reference them in the CSS to avoid causing issues with other tables in other parts of the site.
Any help would be appreciated.
Perry
Hi,
if I understood correctly, you’ll just need to add a
tdto the CSS selector you mentioned, i.e. change thein your above code to
That should take care of the background and borders. With the CSS for the alignment from my previous comment, you should be set. :-)
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias
I am still having issues with the CSS. I need the background to go red and the text in the top row in uppercase. I have tried this, but it does not work…
What have I done wrong?:(
Thanks
Perry
Hi Perry,
ok, just one more change hopefully :-) The background-color needs to be given a higher priority, by adding the “!important” keyword, i.e. change
to
That should do it :-)
Best wishes,
Tobias
Sorry to trouble you again…
I have added more tables and whilst the background-color changes to red and the text to uppercase, I can’t get the column on the left to fit the text like in table 1. I have copied tableid 3001 and renamed it to 3002 and 3003 so it has the same properties.
The CSS is
If you look at the tables on page http://www.wewillblogyou.org/?page_id=302, you will see what I mean.
Hi Perry,
this is not an issue with your CSS. The problem here is that the browser will automatically determine the widths of the cells, depending on the content.
In the first table, you have a long text in the second column, so the first column will be narrow. In the other tables, you have less text, so the the column will be wider.
You can fix this, by manually adjusting the column widths, e.g. with something like this:
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi,
I love this plugin already and I have used it for more than 3 days!
However, I’ve 33 tables, each table has about 3 columns and 40 rows. I inserted all tables into a page using the Shortcode [table id=1 /] to [table id=33 /] :)
You can imagine how long the list of all those tables on a page.
So, can you add a feature to select a table name from a drop down menu option (on a page)? Yes, it’s really like the “Show [dropdown] Entries”.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi,
thanks for the question.
this is what the DataTables pagination is for on the admin screen.
Do you see those buttons at the bottom of your list that allow you to go to the next 10 pages?
Then you should also see the “Filter” text field at the top right of that list. If you start typing your table’s name there, it will be shown in the list, very far at the top. Then you can use the regular links to work on it.
In my opinion, this is a better way than a simple drop down, because it is way more flexible and allows all actions to be performed.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Just came on here to look for the same answer. Tobias – yes, that works when trying to find your table within admin, but I think what Andy was asking for was a way for the site visitor to filter tables on the actual website page. Thanks.
Hi Tania,
yes, you are right, Andy was looking for a way to select a table in the frontend.
However, such functionality should rather not be part of the plugin, instead I suggested two possibilities in this support forums thread.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi there,
Really sorry, as I’m sure you have had this questions loads of times but I am really stuck. I am making tables, say of size 50, then adding rows. Then, when I get to 65 it stops (apart from one that let me go to 66) and then if I make the original table say 100 rows it will still only show 65 on the site.
Please help, I’m lost and desperate :-S
Hi Jamie,
I can only give the same answer as in the WP Support Forums here: This is a server configuration issue, there is nothing I can do about it. Sorry.
The issue is caused by the security extension “Suhosin” that is installed on your server.
It limits the size/number of the input fields that can be transmitted during the save process.
Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it in the plugin code, because this is a server configuration problem.
There are some things that you could try though: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/289836
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias, you have a great tool!
I have a question, I don’t see the second Search box (right above the table). Why?
the Option: Yes, enable paging (sample only a small number of rows) of the table for visitors. Show table rows per page. When I put 5, I don’t see the change. Why?
Look at my website to see the problem, thank you!
http://unioncristianos.com/?page_id=33
Hi Alex,
the file “footer.php” of your theme does not contain a call to
wp_footer();.Please check that, and if it is not there, add the line
right before the closing
</body>tag.Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
Great plugin that I’m just starting to find my way round. but it’s doing something odd.
I’ve got two tables on the same page and the top one always puts loads of space between the heading and the table. You can see it here: http://www.bigtreeclimbing.co.uk/league-tables
I can switch the tables and it’s always the top one.
If I take out of the footer then it stops doing it, but then the JavaScript libraries don’t load.
I’ve checked the CSS with Firebug and can’t find anything inserting space, so your help would be very much appreciated.
Best wishes
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
I checked your site and I also can not find a reason for this. It seems to be a positioning or size issue.
First of all however, you should fix the HTML validation errors which the W3 Validator (http://validator.w3.org) reports, to remedy this possible cause for the issue.
Then, you could also try a different theme, to see if it works with that.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
how can I solve the problem:
Thanks,
Nat
Hi Nat,
thanks for your question.
I’m not really sure, but it looks like you have copied&pasted the Shortcode from somewhere, and that might have messed up the character encoding. Can you try again with just typing it?
After googling that message, it might also be a permission problem on your webhost. Or maybe you are not using PHP 5? Can you check that?
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi Tobias,
thanks for your response.
I’m using PHP 4.3.2, can I use the plugin?
Nat
Hi,
you should be able to use the plugin, but as you can see, this might lead to problems, depending on the server configuration. Therefore, I strongly recommend to update to PHP 5, as this will also solve a lot of other problems. (Ask your webhost on how to do this update.)
Best wishes,
Tobias
Hi everyone,
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Support will no longer be provided through the comments here, as announced in this post.
Please refer to the WordPress Support Forums for your support questions.
Thanks!
Tobias