To create a link from a column in my table to a details view of the row, I need to reference the id field of the row - but I don't want to show it as part of the table (since the internal id doesn't mean anything in customer terms).

For example, my table has three columns: title, author, series. From the title I'd like to link to another page that contains a form that shows all the info about the object summarized by the row. To create that link I need to reference the id field in the database for that row. But I definitely don't want to make the id one of the columns.

Is this possible? How would I do it?

Thanks in advance, Peter

Hello,

You can use the following approach:

1. Create SQL query which will look like:



2. Use "Columns settings -> Columns settings" parameter and populate it with the following values:

ID=row_id
Alias=Details
Format=<a href="index.php?option=com_mycomponent&row_id={$value}">View</a>

Just place necessary link to component which display rows details in "href" attribute of anchor in "Format" parameter. Use {$value} predefined variable as row ID.

Regards,
ARI Soft

Thanks for the reply. I may use that idea, but it doesn't generalize. In the future I'll probably want to link from the Book to the details about the Book and from the Author to details about the Author. Having multiple extra columns for the links isn't very elegant. Given how easy it is to use ARI Data Tables (because the SQL gets used to determine the columns), I realize that this is a reasonable limitation in general. It just doesn't cover my specific use case.

We'll add possibility to set "hidden" status for column(s) in a future release. This ability helps to use hidden fields in "Format" parameter, but these columns will not be shown in table on frontend.

Regards,
ARI Soft