Improve datatables

[kimadactyl]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently, datatables only allow string content types. This is getting a bit janky and it would be nice to have fancier types. We should give this a spring clean and make it all nicer.

Describe the solution you'd like

Change the object passed to datatables to include potentially key, value and type. Make datatables prettier.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Replace the whole thing with Hotwire/Stimulus. This is not necessarily mutually exclusive - I think this will be good prep work for replacing later.

Additional context

Proposed column types and improvements this will allow

• [ ] String (as current)
• [ ] Tick/cross (bools)
• [ ] Arrays output as tags
• [ ] Datetimes can look nice (distance_of_time_in_words)
• [ ] Related objects can be linked properly

Would also like to have:

• Sort by on relevant columns
• Filter by on relevant columns
• Fuzzy title search as it is now
• Full text search (probably a new ticket)

Implementation plan

• [x] Add column titles that are nicer
• [ ] Implement column types as above
• [ ] Figure out why we have some missing visual elements compared to the demo site like the up/down arrows
• [ ] Make a new ticket for the various search and filter options we want
• [ ] Look into full text search

Action taken

• 1275

[kimadactyl]

1053 is related

[kimadactyl]

We could pay for this if it helps https://gorails.com/episodes/datatables-from-scratch-using-hotwire

[kimadactyl]

https://www.reddit.com/r/rails/comments/16vk9u0/whats_your_go_to_for_data_tables/

[katjam]

@geeksforsocialchange/developers Seems like maybe we have done some of this? I'm adding to Barriers to onboarding - but we might want to refactor the issue to take into account whether ticketed elsewhere, done or won'tfix / not a bit deal.

[ivan-kocienski-gfsc]

I think these are still valid.

I know kim wants us to roll our own fancy table display, which is a bit Dream Yard, but the other points would be easier cosmetic enhancements that'd make admin life easier.