Can't create a custom sorting function

Dubslow

I'm trying to use this example: http://datatables.net/release-datatables/examples/plug-ins/sorting_sType.html
But for whatever reason, my way isn't working; I'm fairly sure it's mostly due to my own lack of knowledge about DataTables/jQuey/JS in general, so this should be an easy fix. Here's the code:
[code]function specialSort(a, b) {
x = a.indexOf('-') > -1; // true for date
y = a.indexOf('-') > -1; // true for date
if( x ) {
if( y ) {
return (a < b) ? -1 : ( (a > b) ? : 1 : 0);
} else {
return -1;
}
} else if( y ) {
return 1;
} else {
a = parseInt(a);
b = parseInt(b);
return (a < b) ? -1 : ( (a > b) ? : 1 : 0);
}
}
jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['special-asc'] = specialSort; // Is this the right syntax for assigning functions? I tried some other variants, but none of those worked...
jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['special-desc'] = function(a, b) { return -specialSort(a, b); };
/*snip...*/
"aoColumnDefs": [
{ "sType": "special", "aTargets": [8] }
]
[/code]
Whenever I add these lines to my code though, my table goes blank except for the headers. (And my invisible column headers appear.) I'm pretty sure it's just a syntax thing, but I don't know what it might be.

Thanks for the great work Allan!

allan

I'm guessing that the JS will be throwing an error. What is that error (look at the console in Firebug or Inspector)?

Allan

Dubslow

See, it's a testament to how ignorant of JS I am that it took me a good 15 minutes to figure what and where the console was. Turns out that there's two stupid syntax errors in the ?: statements (namely I actually have a '?' and a ':' right next to each other, without an expression between them). I then managed to work out the rest of the problems myself, thanks to the newfound console. :) Sorry to bother you with such trivialities, but at least it won't happen again. :P