diff --git a/lib/tablelib.php b/lib/tablelib.php
index 5a9d608d51a..51cfe788a38 100644
--- a/lib/tablelib.php
+++ b/lib/tablelib.php
@@ -1290,12 +1290,22 @@ class table_sql extends flexible_table{
         if ($this->rawdata){
             foreach($this->rawdata as $row){
                 $formattedrow = $this->format_row($row);
-                $this->add_data_keyed($formattedrow);
+                $this->add_data_keyed($formattedrow,
+                        $this->get_row_class($row));
             }
         }
     }
 
 
+    /**
+     * Get any extra classes names to add to this row in the HTML.
+     * @param $row array the data for this row.
+     * @return string added to the class="" attribute of the tr.
+     */
+    function get_row_class($row) {
+        return '';
+    }
+
     /**
      * This is only needed if you want to use different sql to count rows.
      * Used for example when perhaps all db JOINS are not needed when counting