okay, using ORM, the book_sub_book_link table is actually linked, it is also being used to force the ordering of the quert - although its probably not needed, as the datatables sort can do it by using sub_book_num and parent_id... Those values are still being put in by hand, so need to think about the parent_id bit... we need it to get the sorting to work. I think the sub_book_num would now be there in the normal book.dump() if I try to put it there -- would need to make sure the appropriate Schema is used of course

templates/books.html

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
       {% for book in books %}
         <tr>
 		  {% if book.sub_book_num is defined %}
-		  	<td data-sort="{{book.id}}"><a href="/book/{{book.id}}">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{{book.title}}</a></td>
+		  	<td data-sort="{{book.parent_id}}.{{book.sub_book_num}}"><a href="/book/{{book.id}}">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{{book.title}}</a></td>
 		  {% else %}
 		  	<td data-sort="{{book.id}}"><a href="/book/{{book.id}}">{{book.title}}</a></td>
 		  {% endif %}
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@
 		{% if books.sub_book is defined %}
 			<p>sub_book is defined: {{books.sub_book}}</p>
 		{% endif %}
+		{{ books.subs }}
 	{% endif %}
 
 	<!-- code to get bootstrap & bootstrap datatable to work -->