Desired outcome:

Y.DataTable.Formatter.checkbox = function (o) {

    var guid = Y.guid(),

         name = o.column.checkboxName || o.column._id,

        checked = "checkedKey" in o.column ? !!o.data[o.column.checkedKey] : !!o.value;


return '<input type="checkbox" id="' + guid + '" class="' + this.getClassName('checkbox') + '" name="' + name + '"' +

              (checked ? ' checked="checked"' : '') + '>';

};

var table = new Y.DataTable({

    columns: [ { key: id, formatter: 'checkbox' }, ... ],

    data

});

Or better would be 'type', that would add format output for the header cell as well. That would be harder to implement give the pr time constraints.