README.md

In duncantl/RD3Device: R Graphics device to create D3 content

RD3Device

A graphics device for R that outputs D3 code to display the R plot.

The idea here is to continue to use R's graphical functionality and graphics engine to create plots, but render them via JavaScript code that uses D3.js. We could also use the Raphael graphics device the Gabe Becker developed.

The graphics device in R creates the JavaScript code for the D3 display. Before we write this code to a file, we can post-process it and make the elements interactive, animated, etc. Mapping the D3 code elements to the elements in the R display is not entirely trivial. However, the device collects information about the types of the D3 code elements, aspects of their content (e.g. the string for a text node, the x, y, radius for a circle, ...) and also the call stack that was in effect when each element was drawn. This allows us to reasonably easily and accurately identify the elements and the corresponding D3 code element, assuming we know the basic contents of the plot and how the are created.

There are better ways to create some types of interactive plots. rCharts based on Polycharts.JS shows a lot of promise. googleVis gives us access to certain types of displays that we don't have in other JS libraries or R.

The point of this is that it is quite simple to develop and gives us some facilities for continuing to use R graphics functionality to create interactive, animated plots.

We can also create the SVG ourselves, either directly with our own graphics device or via, e.g., gridSVG, or with the svg() device in R.

The package illustrates how we might write simple wrappers to JavaScript template code. We might extend this or even provide a more extensive interface to allow creation of D3 code in R. However, this is not the focus of this package.

duncantl/RD3Device documentation built on May 15, 2019, 5:28 p.m.