WiscWeb WordPress Service

Important Update Relating to wpDataTables Table Display

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It was brought to our attention recently that several wpDataTables that were using Google Sheets as its source were no longer displaying data even though the source tables were still working correctly. Tables using other sources (CSV, for example) appear to be displaying as expected.

Error Message

Users experiencing this issue will notice that their tables are displaying a note on the page that says “No data available in table” and/or an error message within wpDataTables that says “Table in data source has no rows.”

wpDataTables table showing a note that says "No data available in table"

Red error/alert in wpDataTables that says "Table in data source has no rows."

What We Know

We do not believe this is an issue directly with the plugin itself, as we have not updated it in the past few days and these tables were working as of Monday, Nov. 16. No other recent changes to the service appear to have had an affect on tables, but we will continue to investigate.

It is possible that the issue is related to an update that Google made to Google Sheets. In that case, the plugin vendor, TMS-Plugins, will likely follow up with a bug fix and we will roll out the update as soon as it is available.

Update: We believe the vendor is already aware of this issue and is working on a fix, per their note at the top of this forum. They have also confirmed that the issue is related to a Google Sheets update.

Workaround/Quick Fix

The best workaround at this time would be to offer a direct link to the Google Sheet from the webpage. We also suggest adding a note that users should reference that link to view the table. We hope this will only be a short-term workaround while the vendor works on a fix for this issue.

Update: The recommended workaround at this time is to share your published sheet with everyone:

  1. Visit your published Google Sheet
  2. Click on the “Share” button at the top right corner of the sheet:Spreadsheet with a green "Share" button in the top right corner and a red arrow pointing to this button.
  3. In the modal window that pops up, click “Change to anyone with link text”Modal window with sharing options for Google Sheets. There is a blue link that states "Change to anyone with link text" which is surrounded by a red box.
  4. After you make this change, your wpDataTables table should show up as expected.

We apologize for this inconvenience and continue to work towards a solution. If you need further assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.