highdir-package: highdir: Backend-Agnostic Figure Builder for...

In highdir: Unified Data Visualization Framework for Dynamic and Static Graphics

highdir: Backend-Agnostic Figure Builder for Helsedirektoratet

Description

highdir provides a unified API for building interactive figures with highcharter or static figures with ggplot2. A figure is described once as a data-mapping object (hd_spec) and an optional presentation object (hd_opts), then rendered to either backend without changing the calling code.

Core workflow

library(highdir)

# -- 1. Sample data --------------------------------------------------------
df <- data.frame(
  age = rep(c("18-24", "25-34", "35-44", "45-54"), each = 2),
  sex = rep(c("Male", "Female"), 4),
  pct = c(42, 38, 55, 61, 48, 52, 60, 57),
  n   = c(120, 115, 200, 210, 180, 175, 160, 155)
)

# -- 2. Describe the data mapping (once) ----------------------------------
spec <- hd_spec(df, x = "age", y = "pct", group = "sex", n = "n",
                 ylab = "Percentage (%)")

# -- 3. Describe the presentation (reusable across specs) -----------------
opts <- hd_opts(title    = "Health survey results",
                 subtitle = "Source: FHI 2024",
                 caption  = "Tall om helse",
                 ylim     = c(0, 80))

# -- 4. Render — swap backend without touching spec or opts ----------------
hd_make(spec, "column", opts)                        # interactive HC
hd_make(spec, "column", opts, backend = "static")   # static ggplot2
hd_make(spec, "line",   opts, smooth = TRUE)         # HC spline
hd_make(spec, "line",   opts, backend = "static")   # gg line
hd_make(spec, "scatter")                             # HC scatter

# Donut chart
hd_make(pie_spec, "pie", pie_opts, inner_size = "50%")

# -- 5. Arearange (confidence intervals) ----------------------------------
df2   <- cbind(df, lo = df$pct - 5, hi = df$pct + 5)
spec2 <- hd_spec(df2, "age", "pct", group = "sex")
hd_make(spec2, "arearange", opts, ymin = "lo", ymax = "hi")

# -- 6. Save to disk -------------------------------------------------------
hd_save(hd_make(spec, "column", opts),               "chart.html")
hd_save(hd_make(spec, "column", opts, backend="static"), "chart.png")

# -- 7. Session-wide styling -----------------------------------------------
hd_set_theme(hc_theme = "economist",
             colors   = c("#025169","#7C145C","#C68803"))

# -- 8. Launch the Shiny GUI -----------------------------------------------
hd_app()

Key functions

Function	Purpose
hd_spec()	Describe data mapping (x, y, group, n, labels)
hd_opts()	Describe presentation (title, ylim, colours, theme)
hd_make()	Render spec + opts → highchart or ggplot
hd_save()	Export to HTML / JSON / PNG / SVG / PDF
hd_set_theme()	Session-wide colour / font / theme defaults
hd_theme()	Build a highcharter theme object directly
hd_add_js()	Inject custom JS into a highchart
register_geom()	Add a custom geometry
register_backend()	Add a custom rendering backend
register_palette()	Add a named colour palette
list_geoms()	Show available geometries
list_modes()	Show available backends
list_palettes()	Show available palettes
hd_app()	Launch the Shiny GUI

Author(s)

Maintainer: Yusman Kamaleri [e-mail] (ORCID)

Authors:

• Yusman Kamaleri [e-mail] (ORCID)

See Also

Useful links:

• https://folkehelsestats.github.io/highdir/

• https://github.com/folkehelsestats/highdir

• Report bugs at https://github.com/folkehelsestats/highdir/issues

highdir documentation built on July 31, 2026, 5:06 p.m.