DataTables example - Fuzzy Searching

# DataTables example Fuzzy Searching

Fuzzy searching is used in search engines and databases to perform searches that will match results that are not necessarily exactly the same as the search term. This allows spelling mistakes and typos to be accounted for. It also allows small changes in dialect not to affect search results. A commonly used example is for surname searching. "Smith" and "Smythe" are pronounced the same way, but using conventional searching typing "Smith" would not return "Smythe".

This plug-in adds fuzzy search functionality to DataTables. It does this through a combination of exact matching and the Damerau-Levenshtein algorithm. There are three initialisation options that are associated with this plugin.

- `fuzzySearch.toggleSmart` allows the searching to be changed from exact matching to fuzzy searching.
- `fuzzySearch.rankColumn` allows the % match to be set in a column within the Datatable. Some examples of use cases could be to display the value to the user. or to hide the column and order based on it - as a search engine would.
- `fuzzySearch.threshold` allows the value of similarity that is required from the Damerau-Levenshtein function to display the row to be changed.

This example demonstrates the use of the `fuzzySearch.toggleSmart` initialisation option. The default value for this option is undefined which leads to fuzzy searching being used all the time if the `fuzzySearch` option is declared in the initialisation options. In this example `fuzzySearch.toggleSmart` is set to `true`, meaning that the search mode can be toggled by the end user. This can be done by hovering over the search box. When doing so a tooltip will appear with two buttons - one for exact searching and one for fuzzy searching. Alternatively the fuzzy searching logo can be pressed. This logo is blurred when in fuzzy search mode, and clear when in exact search mode. `fuzzySearch.rankColumn` is also set to `6` to display how the similarity is shown when toggling between exact and fuzzy searching modes. When exact searching no value is shown here.

Name | Position | Office | Age | Start date | Salary | Similarity
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Tiger Nixon | System Architect | Edinburgh | 61 | 2011/04/25 | $320,800 |
Garrett Winters | Accountant | Tokyo | 63 | 2011/07/25 | $170,750 |
Ashton Cox | Junior Technical Author | San Francisco | 66 | 2009/01/12 | $86,000 |
Cedric Kelly | Senior Javascript Developer | Edinburgh | 22 | 2012/03/29 | $433,060 |
Airi Satou | Accountant | Tokyo | 33 | 2008/11/28 | $162,700 |
Brielle Williamson | Integration Specialist | New York | 61 | 2012/12/02 | $372,000 |
Herrod Chandler | Sales Assistant | San Francisco | 59 | 2012/08/06 | $137,500 |
Rhona Davidson | Integration Specialist | Tokyo | 55 | 2010/10/14 | $327,900 |
Colleen Hurst | Javascript Developer | San Francisco | 39 | 2009/09/15 | $205,500 |
Sonya Frost | Software Engineer | Edinburgh | 23 | 2008/12/13 | $103,600 |
Jena Gaines | Office Manager | London | 30 | 2008/12/19 | $90,560 |
Quinn Flynn | Support Lead | Edinburgh | 22 | 2013/03/03 | $342,000 |
Charde Marshall | Regional Director | San Francisco | 36 | 2008/10/16 | $470,600 |
Haley Kennedy | Senior Marketing Designer | London | 43 | 2012/12/18 | $313,500 |
Tatyana Fitzpatrick | Regional Director | London | 19 | 2010/03/17 | $385,750 |
Michael Silva | Marketing Designer | London | 66 | 2012/11/27 | $198,500 |
Paul Byrd | Chief Financial Officer (CFO) | New York | 64 | 2010/06/09 | $725,000 |
Gloria Little | Systems Administrator | New York | 59 | 2009/04/10 | $237,500 |
Bradley Greer | Software Engineer | London | 41 | 2012/10/13 | $132,000 |
Dai Rios | Personnel Lead | Edinburgh | 35 | 2012/09/26 | $217,500 |
Jenette Caldwell | Development Lead | New York | 30 | 2011/09/03 | $345,000 |
Yuri Berry | Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) | New York | 40 | 2009/06/25 | $675,000 |
Caesar Vance | Pre-Sales Support | New York | 21 | 2011/12/12 | $106,450 |
Doris Wilder | Sales Assistant | Sydney | 23 | 2010/09/20 | $85,600 |
Angelica Ramos | Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | London | 47 | 2009/10/09 | $1,200,000 |
Gavin Joyce | Developer | Edinburgh | 42 | 2010/12/22 | $92,575 |
Jennifer Chang | Regional Director | Singapore | 28 | 2010/11/14 | $357,650 |
Brenden Wagner | Software Engineer | San Francisco | 28 | 2011/06/07 | $206,850 |
Fiona Green | Chief Operating Officer (COO) | San Francisco | 48 | 2010/03/11 | $850,000 |
Shou Itou | Regional Marketing | Tokyo | 20 | 2011/08/14 | $163,000 |
Michelle House | Integration Specialist | Sydney | 37 | 2011/06/02 | $95,400 |
Suki Burks | Developer | London | 53 | 2009/10/22 | $114,500 |
Prescott Bartlett | Technical Author | London | 27 | 2011/05/07 | $145,000 |
Gavin Cortez | Team Leader | San Francisco | 22 | 2008/10/26 | $235,500 |
Martena Mccray | Post-Sales support | Edinburgh | 46 | 2011/03/09 | $324,050 |
Unity Butler | Marketing Designer | San Francisco | 47 | 2009/12/09 | $85,675 |
Howard Hatfield | Office Manager | San Francisco | 51 | 2008/12/16 | $164,500 |
Hope Fuentes | Secretary | San Francisco | 41 | 2010/02/12 | $109,850 |
Vivian Harrell | Financial Controller | San Francisco | 62 | 2009/02/14 | $452,500 |
Timothy Mooney | Office Manager | London | 37 | 2008/12/11 | $136,200 |
Jackson Bradshaw | Director | New York | 65 | 2008/09/26 | $645,750 |
Olivia Liang | Support Engineer | Singapore | 64 | 2011/02/03 | $234,500 |
Bruno Nash | Software Engineer | London | 38 | 2011/05/03 | $163,500 |
Sakura Yamamoto | Support Engineer | Tokyo | 37 | 2009/08/19 | $139,575 |
Thor Walton | Developer | New York | 61 | 2013/08/11 | $98,540 |
Finn Camacho | Support Engineer | San Francisco | 47 | 2009/07/07 | $87,500 |
Serge Baldwin | Data Coordinator | Singapore | 64 | 2012/04/09 | $138,575 |
Zenaida Frank | Software Engineer | New York | 63 | 2010/01/04 | $125,250 |
Zorita Serrano | Software Engineer | San Francisco | 56 | 2012/06/01 | $115,000 |
Jennifer Acosta | Junior Javascript Developer | Edinburgh | 43 | 2013/02/01 | $75,650 |
Cara Stevens | Sales Assistant | New York | 46 | 2011/12/06 | $145,600 |
Hermione Butler | Regional Director | London | 47 | 2011/03/21 | $356,250 |
Lael Greer | Systems Administrator | London | 21 | 2009/02/27 | $103,500 |
Jonas Alexander | Developer | San Francisco | 30 | 2010/07/14 | $86,500 |
Shad Decker | Regional Director | Edinburgh | 51 | 2008/11/13 | $183,000 |
Michael Bruce | Javascript Developer | Singapore | 29 | 2011/06/27 | $183,000 |
Donna Snider | Customer Support | New York | 27 | 2011/01/25 | $112,000 |
Name | Position | Office | Age | Start date | Salary | Similarity

The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

`$(document).ready(function() { var table = $('#example').DataTable({ fuzzySearch: { rankColumn: 6, toggleSmart: true } }); } );`