Sort table with unknown number of headers using jQuery Table Sort, then only sort on 2 headers

Question

The Scenario

I have a table on a web page that is dynamically generated using JSP. The number of columns/headers is variable (could be 6 or up to 40+). I'm using jQuery Tablesorter to sort the table. The table should only sort on header elements 5 and 6 for the moment.

The Question

Using Tablesorter allows you to set certain header elements to false, disabling them from the sort options. Since the number of headers is variable I need a way of inverting the options so that I can set the sorter option to true and the rest are disabled by default. Either that, or I need a way to get the total number of header elements and run through a loop to set them to false.

The syntax is a little tricky for me as I'm not sure how to loop through the following:

$(document).ready(function() { 
        $("table").tablesorter({ 
            headers: { 
                0: { 
                    sorter: false 
                }, 
                1: { 
                    sorter: false 
                } 
                .
                .
                .
            } 
        }); 
    });

So the only two I want to sort on in this example are "Primary Disease" and "Risk Index".

The Code

Another small problem is that I have a row that needs to appear above the table header. It's basically a higher level of heading for the table information. Here's a fiddle with my code.

CSS

th.headerSortUp { 
    background-image: url(../img/small_asc.gif); 
    background-color: #3399FF; 
}
th.headerSortDown { 
    background-image: url(../img/small_desc.gif); 
    background-color: #3399FF; 
}
th.header { 
    background-image: url(../img/small.gif);     
    cursor: pointer; 
    font-weight: bold; 
    background-repeat: no-repeat; 
    background-position: center left; 
    padding-left: 20px; 
    border-right: 1px solid #dad9c7; 
    margin-left: -1px; 
}

jQuery

$(document).ready(function() { 
    $("#myTable").tablesorter({ 
        headers: { 
            2: { 
                sorter: true
            }, 
            3: { 
                sorter: true
            } 
        } 
    }); 
});

HTML

    
      
        
          
            Patient List - all
          
          
            Clinical Adherence Information
          
        
        
          
            Patient Name
          
          
            DOB
          
          
            Primary Disease
          
          
            Risk Index
          
          
            Asthma
          
          
            Bipolar Disorder
          
          
            Chronic Kidney Disease
          
          
            Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
          
          
            Coronary Artery Disease
          
          
            Depression
          
          
            Diabetes
          
          
            Dyslipidemia
          
          
            Heart Failure
          
          
            Hypertension
          
          
            Peripheral Vascular Disease
          
          
            Schizophrenia
          
          
            Seizure Disorder
          
          
            Transient Ischemic Attack
          
          
            Preventive Care
          
          
            Wellness
          
        
      
      
        
          
            Louis Armstrong
          
          
            02/01/1987
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            66%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            80%
          
          
            42%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            90%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            16%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            N/A
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            40%
          
          
            50%
          
        
        
          
            Bob Barker
          
          
            10/10/1951
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            80%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            75%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            77%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            33%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            50%
          
        
        
          
            David Brinkley
          
          
            10/10/1951
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            80%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            16%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            70%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            42%
          
          
            40%
          
        
        
          
            Tom Brokaw
          
          
            10/10/1954
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            40%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            85%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            70%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            57%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            N/A
          
          
            71%
          
          
            40%
          
        
        
          
            Cad2 Sandy
          
          
            01/01/1955
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            50%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            75%
          
          
            62%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            63%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            60%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            N/A
          
          
            0%
          
          
            60%
          
          
            66%
          
        
        
          
            Cad3 Sandy
          
          
            01/01/1955
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            100%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            60%
          
          
            75%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            63%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            57%
          
          
            50%
          
        
        
          
            Cad4 Sandy
          
          
            01/01/1955
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            50%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            33%
          
          
            37%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            63%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            N/A
          
          
            100%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            80%
          
          
            83%
          
        
        
          
            Cad5 Sandy
          
          
            01/01/1955
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            40%
          
          
            33%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            75%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            63%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            85%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            14%
          
          
            50%
          
        
        
          
            Alex Trebek
          
          
            10/10/1951
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            33%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            16%
          
          
            75%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            63%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            33%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            80%
          
          
            40%
          
        
        
          
            Chucka Woolerya
          
          
            10/15/1951
          
          
            NA
          
          
            NA
          
          
            83%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            66%
          
          
            42%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            54%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            71%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            100%
          
          
            0%
          
          
            50%
          
          
            50%

EDIT: So the header "Patient List - All" and "Clinical Adherence Information" are headers 0 and 1. So the headers "Primary Disease" and "Risk Level" are actually 5 and 6.

EDIT2: Needs to work with IE8+.

Mottie · Accepted Answer

Maybe it would be easier if you tried out my fork of tablesorter on github, which allows you to apply class names to the header to disable the sort. Then all you need to do is something like this:

$('table thead th')
  .addClass('sorter-false')
  .filter(':eq(2), :eq(3)').removeClass('sorter-false');

Ok, try this method (demo):

var headers = {},
    $table = $('#myTable'), i,
    l = $table.find('thead th').length,

    // columns 0 and 1 are the top row "Patient List - all"
    // and "Clinical Adherence Information"
    sortcolumns = [2, 3, 4, 5];

// build headers object; based on sortcolumn selections
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
    if ($.inArray(i, sortcolumns) < 0) {
        headers[i] = {
            sorter: false
        }
    }
}
$table.tablesorter({
    widgets: ['zebra'],
    headers: headers // headers object built above
});