A way to short circuit the pagination action to add a custom hook to a YUI DataTable that uses a YUI Paginator.

ShortCircuitPaginator.js

// cache the old hook so you can call it later
var _oldDoBeforePaginatorChange = yuiTableInstance.doBeforePaginatorChange;

// reassign the doBeforePaginatorChange
// proposed state is a default arg passed by the calling function in the YUI stack.
yuiTableInstance.doBeforePaginatorChange = function(proposedState) { 
  if(!someCustomValidation) { 
      // returning false is important as the default doBeforePaginatorChange simply returns true.
      // this will shortcircuit the paginator so it doesn't change pages.
      return false; 
  }
  // if your validation passes, just pass through the call to the original function
  return _oldDoBeforePaginatorChange.call(yuiTableInstance, proposedState); 
};