The dataTable component provides sorting options based on AJAX by enabling the sortBy attribute at the column level. The following is the definition of a table that lists the Car data; sorting is enabled on the name and year attributes:

<p:dataTable id="sorting" var="car"
  value="#{dataTableBean.cars}">
  <p:column headerText="Year" sortBy="#{car.year}">
    <h:outputText value="#{car.year}" />
  </p:column>
  <p:column headerText="Name" sortBy="#{car.name}">
    <h:outputText value="#{car.name}" />
  </p:column>
</p:dataTable>

When sorting is enabled, the headers of those columns will have the sort direction represented with small arrow icons as pointed out in this image:

The dataTable component provides filtering based on AJAX by enabling the filterBy attribute for the columns. The following is...