Shoddy Engineering

  • apathetic

    (@amendment)


    1 year, 2 months ago

    Not built well and a really bad copy of jQuery DataTables. You would be better off using the source libraries for the tables and charts given how much the plugin author limits its functionality and all the extra work required to make it work even close to what modern users would expect.

    Lots of hidden dysfunction. Closed-minded, opaque approach to development that makes extensibility practically impossible. Horrible documentation – eg if the data is a string and you’re using variables, the %VAR% must be enclosed in single quotes is buried in some random paragraph. Also, good luck trying to render multiple tables and/or charts on a single page. And if you opt in for cascading filters, well it simply doesn’t work like any cascading filter as they disable many of the UI elements to make their hack of a filtering system work with their hack of datatables.

    This plugin is way too expensive for basic use and yet that is all it’s good for. Need a quick table or chart and the ability to use a flat file or basic SQL query to your database, great, but it’s not capable of much more and it should be free given they didn’t develop the underlying functionality but rather threw a bunch of foolish limitations on top of it so they could make money tapping into the WP plugin ecosystem.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • alexanderweb

    (@alexanderweb)

    1 year, 2 months ago

    apathetic(@amendment

    I can only presume you are commenting on another plugin as wpDataTables by far one of the best available for all types of tables. Support is second to none and suggestions for updates quickly actioned. Instead of sticking the boot in buy the plugin and see what it can actually do for you and you will soon have a different opinion.

    Plugin Contributor ameliabooking

    (@ameliabooking)

    1 year, 2 months ago

    .

    Plugin Author wpDataTables

    (@wpdatatables)

    1 year, 2 months ago

    Hi there.

    We’re sorry to hear you’re not satisfied with wpDataTables. We’ve never hidden the fact that the plugin is created on the basis of DataTables, but there is a large number of people who don’t know how to use it, so they choose wpDataTables because it’s simplified and ready for the end user with little-to-none coding skills.

    Our documentation has been written exactly for those users, so they can follow it and use the plugin without any issues. If you run through the documentation without looking at notices and reading it thoroughly, there is a chance that you will miss important information.

    There are certain limitations in WordPress that prevent us from implementing everything you may find in DataTables, but we’re working on resolving them and adding new functionalities to the plugin. The Lite version is limited due to obvious reasons but it can still be functional for basic uses.

    The placeholders are usually used for MySQL queries and the single quotes surrounding Strings, that you mentioned, are used in queries. The plugin simply follows SQL rules, and just like in phpMyAdmin – if you run a query and search for a string value without enclosing it in quotes, it will return an error. The same logic applies not only to placeholders but any string value that is to be used in a query.

    @alexanderweb Thank you for your support, as always!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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