Extensibility points added to documentation

Author: VladimirDimov

README.Mvc.md

@@ -7,14 +7,7 @@ Add the `[JQDataTable]` attribute to the controller action which provides the da
 ```cs
     public class CustomersController : Controller
     {
-        private AdventureWorks context;
-
-        public CustomersController()
-        {
-            this.context = new Data.AdventureWorks();
-        }
-
-        // GET: Customer
+        // GET: Customers view
         public ActionResult Index()
         {
             return View();
@@ -23,7 +16,8 @@ Add the `[JQDataTable]` attribute to the controller action which provides the da
         [JQDataTable]
         public ActionResult GetCustomersData()
         {
-            IQueryable<Customer> data = this.context.Customers;
+            var context = new Data.AdventureWorks();
+            IQueryable<Customer> data = context.Customers;
 
             return this.View(data);
         }

README.WebAPI2.md

@@ -1,45 +1,45 @@
 ## How to use
-Add the `[JQDataTable]` attribute to the controller action which provides the data. Return from the action View containing IQueryable collection of a strongly typed view model. On the client side configure the table for server side processing according to the jQuery Datatables documentation https://datatables.net/examples/data_sources/server_side.html.
+Add the `[JQDataTable]` attribute to the controller action which provides the data. Return from the action `OkNegotiatedContentResult` containing IQueryable collection of a strongly typed view model. On the client side configure the table for server side processing according to the jQuery Datatables documentation https://datatables.net/examples/data_sources/server_side.html.
 
 ### Example
 
 #### Server
 ```cs
-    public class CustomersController : Controller
+    public class CustomersController : ApiController
     {
-        private AdventureWorks context;
-
-        public CustomersController()
+        [JQDataTable]
+        public Post GetCustomersData()
         {
-            this.context = new Data.AdventureWorks();
-        }
+            var context = new Data.AdventureWorks();
+            var data = context.Customers;
 
-        // GET: Customer
-        public ActionResult Index()
-        {
-            return View();
+            return this.Ok(data);
         }
+    }
 
-        [JQDataTable]
-        public ActionResult GetCustomersData()
-        {
-            var data = this.context.Customers.Select(x => new CustomerViewModel
-            {
-                CustomerID = x.CustomerID,
-                AccountNumber = x.AccountNumber,
-                Person = new PersonViewModel
-                {
-                    FirstName = x.Person.FirstName,
-                    LastName = x.Person.LastName,
-                },
-                Store = new StoreViewModel
-                {
-                    Name = x.Store.Name,
-                }
-            });
+    public class Customer
+    {
+        public int CustomerId { get; set; }
+        public Person Person { get; set; }
+        public Store Store { get; set; }
+        ...
+        ...
+    }
 
-            return this.View(data);
-        }
+    public class Person
+    {
+        ...
+        public string FirstName { get; set; }
+        public string LastName { get; set; }
+        ...
+        ...
+    }
+
+    public class Store
+    {
+        ...
+        public string Name { get; set; }
+        ...
     }
 ```
 
@@ -72,18 +72,17 @@ Add the `[JQDataTable]` attribute to the controller action which provides the da
             "proccessing": true,
             "serverSide": true,
             "ajax": {
-                url: "@Url.Action("GetCustomersData", "Customers")",
+                url: "api/customers",
                 type: 'POST'
             },
             "language": {
                 "search": "",
-                "searchPlaceholder": "Search..."
             },
            "columns": [
-               { "data": "CustomerID", "searchable": false },
-               { "data": "Person.FirstName", "searchable": true },
-               { "data": "Person.LastName", "searchable": true },
-               { "data": "Store.Name", "searchable": true },
+               { "data": "CustomerID" },
+               { "data": "Person.FirstName" },
+               { "data": "Person.LastName" },
+               { "data": "Store.Name" },
             ]
         });
 

README.md

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Supports:
 - Sorting;
 - Custom filters: Less Than, Less than or equal, Greater than, Greater than or equal and Equal;
 - Nested objects;
+- Option to add custom server side logic using the provided extensibility points;
 
 Currently tested with Entity Framework versions 6.0.0 and 6.2.0 and Datatables version 1.10.16.
 
@@ -161,3 +162,48 @@ The following custom filters are supported on the server side:
     </script>
 }
 ```
+
+#### Extensibility Points
+You can insert custom logic at any point of the data processing pipe line. The following extensibility points are provided (in order of execution):
+- OnDataProcessing - Called before all data processors execute.
+- OnSearchDataProcessing - Called before search data processor executes.
+- OnSearchDataProcessed - Called after search data processor executes.
+- OnCustomFiltersDataProcessing - Called before custom filters data processor executes.
+- OnCustomFiltersDataProcessed - Called after custom filters data processor executes.
+- OnColumnsFilterDataProcessing - Called before columns filters data processor executes.
+- OnColumnsFilterDataProcessed - Called after columns filters data processor executes.
+- OnSortDataProcessing - Called before sort data processor executes.
+- OnSortDataProcessed - Called after sort data processor executes.
+- OnPagingDataProcessing - Called before paging data processor executes.
+- OnPagingDataProcessed - Called after paging data processor executes.
+- OnDataProcessed - Called after all data processors execute.
+
+##### How to use the extensibility points?
+Create a new class which inherrits from `JQDataTableAttribute` class. The extensibility points are implemented as virtual methods which can be overriden.
+###### Example
+```cs
+MyCustomDataTableAttribute : JQDataTableAttribute
+{
+    // This method will modify the collection and only the customers 
+    // with even ID number will be included in the result
+    public override void OnSearchDataProcessing(ref object data, RequestInfoModel requestInfoModel)
+    {
+        var dataAsQueryable = data as IQueryable<CustomerViewModel>;
+        data = dataAsQueryable.Where(x => x.CustomerID % 2 == 0);
+    }
+}
+```
+
+Apply the new attribute on the controller action:
+```cs
+
+CustomersController : Controller
+{
+    [MyCustomDataTableAttribute]
+    public ActionResult GetCustomersData()
+    {
+        ...
+        return this.View(data);
+    }
+}
+```