I'm trying to use the sorttable.js package to make an HTML table sortable when the column header is clicked. I can get this to work just fine when the table is declared statically in the HTML:

fiddle

<table class="sortable" style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <th>Firstname</th>
    <th>Lastname</th> 
    <th>Points</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>Joe</td>
    <td>Smith</td> 
    <td>50</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>Abraham</td>
    <td>Jones</td> 
    <td>4</td>
  </tr>
</table>

However, when I create the table with javascript, the sorting functionality isn't there anymore, and I get error messages on the console:

fiddle

  tbl_array = new Array()
  tbl_array = [["Firstname","Lastname","Points"], ["Eve","Jackson","94"], ["Joe","Smith","50"], ["Abraham","Jones","4"]]
  var body = document.body,
        tbl = document.getElementById('summaryTable');

    // clear all rows on the table
    while(tbl.rows.length > 0){
        tbl.deleteRow(0)
    }
    tbl.style.width  = '100px';
    tbl.style.border = '1px solid black';

    numRows = tbl_array.length
    numCols = tbl_array[0].length

    // insert each 2D array entry into a table cell
    for(var i = 0; i < numRows; i++){

    // insert header
    if (i == 0){
        var header = tbl.createTBody();
        var row = header.insertRow();
            for (var j=0; j < numCols; ++j){
            var cell = document.createElement('th')
            cell.appendChild(document.createTextNode(tbl_array[i][j]));
            cell.style.border='1px solid black';
            cell.style.fontWeight = "bold";
            row.appendChild(cell)
          }
    }

    else{
      var tr = tbl.insertRow();
      for(var j = 0; j < numCols; j++){
          var td = tr.insertCell();
          td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(tbl_array[i][j]));
          td.style.border = '1px solid black';
      }
    }
    }
  console.log("tbl", tbl) 

The only thing I can think of is that I'm not formatting the table correctly with the javascript, but when I printed both tables to the console and examined their structures, they were basically the same:

<table ...>
    <tbody>
        <tr ...>
            <th>..</th>
            <th>..</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>..</td>
            <td>..</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Is my error in the way I'm creating the table with javascript? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm trying to use the sorttable.js package to make an HTML table sortable when the column header is clicked. I can get this to work just fine when the table is declared statically in the HTML:

fiddle

<table class="sortable" style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <th>Firstname</th>
    <th>Lastname</th> 
    <th>Points</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>Joe</td>
    <td>Smith</td> 
    <td>50</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>Abraham</td>
    <td>Jones</td> 
    <td>4</td>
  </tr>
</table>

However, when I create the table with javascript, the sorting functionality isn't there anymore, and I get error messages on the console:

fiddle

  tbl_array = new Array()
  tbl_array = [["Firstname","Lastname","Points"], ["Eve","Jackson","94"], ["Joe","Smith","50"], ["Abraham","Jones","4"]]
  var body = document.body,
        tbl = document.getElementById('summaryTable');

    // clear all rows on the table
    while(tbl.rows.length > 0){
        tbl.deleteRow(0)
    }
    tbl.style.width  = '100px';
    tbl.style.border = '1px solid black';

    numRows = tbl_array.length
    numCols = tbl_array[0].length

    // insert each 2D array entry into a table cell
    for(var i = 0; i < numRows; i++){

    // insert header
    if (i == 0){
        var header = tbl.createTBody();
        var row = header.insertRow();
            for (var j=0; j < numCols; ++j){
            var cell = document.createElement('th')
            cell.appendChild(document.createTextNode(tbl_array[i][j]));
            cell.style.border='1px solid black';
            cell.style.fontWeight = "bold";
            row.appendChild(cell)
          }
    }

    else{
      var tr = tbl.insertRow();
      for(var j = 0; j < numCols; j++){
          var td = tr.insertCell();
          td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(tbl_array[i][j]));
          td.style.border = '1px solid black';
      }
    }
    }
  console.log("tbl", tbl) 

The only thing I can think of is that I'm not formatting the table correctly with the javascript, but when I printed both tables to the console and examined their structures, they were basically the same:

<table ...>
    <tbody>
        <tr ...>
            <th>..</th>
            <th>..</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>..</td>
            <td>..</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Is my error in the way I'm creating the table with javascript? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

• javascript
• html
• html-table
• sorttable.js

Share Improve this question Follow edited Jul 3, 2016 at 10:34 sth 230k5656 gold badges288288 silver badges370370 bronze badges asked Jun 28, 2016 at 19:47 CdSdwCdSdw 35911 gold badge66 silver badges1919 bronze badges 2

• The first has a thead and tbody while the second only has a tbody Also, consider how the table gets sorted - there's some js only that runs and looks for class=sortable and makes it a sortable table. As your code runs after that, you need to run the same initialise. – fdomn-m Commented Jun 28, 2016 at 19:59
• In addition to the answer by @SteamDev, a newer script would be required (as I found out) available here. – wsrt Commented Oct 23, 2022 at 5:01

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

sorttable.js assumes all tables are already in the HTML when it initializes; your table is dynamically generated, so you have to bootstrap the makeSortable method manually.

Right before your console.log, try inserting this:

sorttable.makeSortable(document.getElementById('summaryTable'));