accessibletablesR is designed to produce Excel workbooks that align as closely as possible to the UK Government Analysis Function recommendations for publishing statistics in spreadsheets.
Releasing statistics in spreadsheets
accessibletablesR was developed using R 4.1.3, dplyr version 1.1.2, openxlsx version 4.2.5.2, conflicted version 1.2.0, devtools version 2.4.5, stringr version 1.5.0, purrr version 1.0.1, rlang version 1.1.0 and odsconvertr version 0.2.2. It is unknown if the package will work with earlier versions of R, dplyr, openxlsx, conflicted, devtools, stringr, purrr and odsconvertr. accessibletablesR will install the latest versions of dplyr, openxlsx, conflicted, devtools, stringr, purrr and odsconvertr if these packages are not currently installed or if earlier versions of dplyr (<1.1.2), openxlsx (<4.2.5.2), conflicted (<1.2.0), devtools (<2.4.5), stringr (<1.5.0), purrr (<1.0.1), rlang (<1.1.0) and odsconvertr (<0.2.2) are currently installed.
Installation
To install accessibletablesR:
if (!("devtools" %in% utils::installed.packages()))
{utils::install.packages("devtools", dependencies = TRUE, type = "binary")}
devtools::install_github("minifiemj/accessibletablesR", build_vignettes = TRUE)If a firewall prevents install_github from working (a time out message may appear) then install the package manually. On the GitHub repo, go to the green “Code” icon and choose “Download ZIP”. Copy the ZIP folder to a network drive. Use devtools::install_local() to install the package.
odsconvertr is also installed from GitHub. If a similar issue prevents the automatic installation of odsconvertr, then install manually from “department-for-transport/odsconvertr”.
Final output
accessibletablesR allows for a workbook to have a cover page, a table of contents, a notes page, a definitions page and as many other tabs that the user requires (subject to the maximum number allowed by Excel). Only one table of data can be present on each tab. accessibletablesR cannot work with multiple tables on a tab.
The final output can be xls, xlsx or ods. It is not recommended to produce xls files. An ods file can be produced only after an xlsx file has been produced first. Please consider producing ods files for accessibility reasons.
Functions
accessibletablesR contains nine main functions - workbook, creatingtables, contentstable, coverpage, addnote, notestab, adddefinition, definitionstab and savingtables.
workbook
workbook <- function(covertab = NULL, contentstab = NULL, notestab = NULL, autonotes = NULL,
definitionstab = NULL, fontnm = "Arial", fontcol = "black",
fontsz = 12, fontszst = 14, fontszt = 16, title = NULL, creator = NULL,
subject = NULL, category = NULL)This function needs to be run first. It creates the workbook within the R environment. All parameters are optional. The user can specify whether they want a cover page, table of contents, a notes page and a definitions page. The font name, colour and sizes can be modified if desired. Information regarding the final spreadsheet (File > Info > Properies: title, creator, subject and category) can also be specified. There is an option for the automatic display of notes on the applicable tabs.
The default font (fontnm) is Arial, the default colour (fontcol) is black, the default normal size (fontsz) is 12, the default subtitle size (fontszst) is 14 and the default title size (fontszt) is 16.
If a coverpage is wanted set covertab = “Yes”. If a table of contents is wanted set contentstab = “Yes”. If a notes page is wanted set notestab = “Yes”. If a definitions page is wanted set definitionstab = “Yes”. If the automatic display of notes on the applicable tabs is wanted set autonotes = “Yes”.
To set some of the spreadsheet information, amend title, creator, subject or category.
creatingtables
creatingtables <- function(title, subtitle = NULL, extraline1 = NULL, extraline2 = NULL,
extraline3 = NULL, extraline4 = NULL, extraline5 = NULL,
extraline6 = NULL, sheetname, table_data, headrowsize = NULL,
numdatacols = NULL, numdatacolsdp = NULL, othdatacols = NULL,
tablename = NULL, gridlines = "Yes", columnwidths = "R_auto",
width_adj = NULL, colwid_spec = NULL)This function takes the raw data and transfers them into an accessible data table for the final Excel workbook. The raw data must be in a dataframe within the global environment. The raw data need to be ordered as desired and contain the columns desired in the right position and named accordingly.
The creatingtables function needs to be run after the workbook function and run as many times as there are tables which are to be put in tabs in the final workbook.
Three of the parameters (title, sheetname, table_data) are compulsory, the others are optional. title is the title of the table that will be displayed in the Excel workbook tab. sheetname is the name of the tab wanted for the Excel workbook. table_data is the dataframe in the R global environment to be outputted.
As well as a title, it is possible to include a subtitle and six additional lines above the table in the final Excel workbook tab. Populate the parameters subtitle, extraline1, extraline2, extraline3, extraline4, extraline5 and extraline6 if a subtitle and/or extra lines are wanted. If a link to the contents page or notes page or definitions page is desired, then set one of the extraline parameters to “Link to contents” or “Link to notes” or “Link to definitions”. The extraline parameters can be supplied as vectors and so there is no maximum limit to the number of rows that can come before the main data other than the limit of rows in an Excel spreadsheet.
headrowsize adjusts the height of the row containing the table column names.
If the automatic formatting of columns containing data in the form of numbers is required then the user should populate numdatacols and numdatacolsdp. numdatacols should contain the numerical positions of the columns in the dataframe. numdatacolsdp is the required number of decimal places for each column containing data in the form of numbers. Populating numdatacols and numdatacolsdp ensures that decimal places and thousand commas will be sorted for the final Excel workbook regardless of if the numbers are numerical or stored as text.
If there are columns containing data not in the form of numbers (e.g., text) then the user can populate othdatcols with the appropriate numerical positions of columns to ensure the automatic formatting of the columns in the final workbook. At present it is not possible to fully format dates.
If the user wants to give a name to a table in the final Excel workbook which is different to the tab name (sheetname) then populate tablename.
If the gridlines are not desired in the final workbook, set gridlines = “No”.
Automatic column widths can be a bit hit or miss. The default position of the creatingtables function is to allow openxlsx to automatically determine the column widths. The user can instead use the maximum number of characters in a column by setting columnwidths = “characters”. width_adj can be adjusted as an extra bit of width to add on to the width determined by the number of characters. If the user knows the desired widths of all columns then they should set columnwidths = “specified” and populate colwid_spec with the width of each column in a numerical vector. If default column widths are wanted then set columnwidths = NULL.
extralines1-6 can be set to hyperlinks if desired. An example of how to do this is:
extraline5 = "[BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk)"It is recommended not to set the link to the contents, notes or definitions page in this way.
contentstable
If a contents page is wanted then run contentstable(). Run the function after all the data tables have been processed using the creatingtables function.
The parameters are optional. If no gridlines are wanted in the contents page in the final workbook set gridlines = “No”. Column widths are determined automatically but the user can specify the widths by populating colwid_spec. Extra columns can be provided. To do so, set extracols = “Yes” and create a dataframe called extracols_contents in the global environment before running the contentstable function. The extracols_contents dataframe must contain the desired extra columns and have the same number of rows as the contents table.
coverpage
coverpage <- function(title, intro = NULL, about = NULL, source = NULL, relatedlink = NULL,
relatedtext = NULL, dop = NULL, blank = NULL, names = NULL, email = NULL,
phone = NULL, reuse = NULL, govdept = NULL, gridlines = "Yes",
extrafields = NULL, extrafieldsb = NULL, additlinks = NULL, addittext = NULL,
colwid_spec = NULL, order = NULL)title is the only compulsory parameter. It is the title to be displayed on the cover sheet. Other optional sections of a cover page that can be populated are “Introductory information” (info), “About these data” (about), “Source” (source), “Related publications” (relatedlink, relatedtext), “Date of publication” (dop), “Blank cells” (blank), “Contact” (names, email, phone), “Additional links” (additlinks) and “Reusing this publication” (reuse, govdept). Extra fields can be added using extrafields. One row is allowed for each extra field. The text to populate the extra fields can be provided in extrafieldsb. If no gridlines are wanted on the cover page in the final workbook set gridlines = “No”. The column width is automatically set but can be altered by using colwid_spec.
The ordering of the fields can be amended by populating order. order can be set to a vector where the field names are provided in speech marks.
The “Reusing this publication” section has been designed for UK government departments and will not apply for other organisations. If a user is from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and wants a “Reusing this publication” section then set reuse = “Yes”. If a user is from a UK government department but not the Office for National Statistics (ONS) set reuse = “Yes” and govdept = “name of organisation”.
intro, about, source, dop, blank, names and phone can be set to hyperlinks if desired. An example of how to do so is:
source = "[ONS](https://www.ons.gov.uk)"addnote
Run this function for as many notes as are needed.
notenumber is the number of the note and should be written as “note” followed by a number (e.g., note1).
notetext is the description associated with the note.
notenumber and notetext are the only compulsory parameters. If an additional column is wanted to specify which table (sheet name) a note applies to then populate applictabtext (e.g., applictabtext = c(“Table_1”, “Table_2”)).
An optional column can be included that provides a link to a piece of information. To do so, populate linktext1 and linktext2. For example, set linktext1 = “General health information” and set linktext2 to the relevant URL address.
notestab
Run this function if a notes page is wanted.
Run the function after all the data tables have been processed using the creatingtables function and after all the notes have been added using the addnote function.
The parameters are optional. If a link to the contents page is not wanted on the notes page set contentslink = “No”. If no gridlines are wanted on the notes page then set gridlines = “No”. Column widths are determined automatically but can be altered to specific widths by the user in colwid_spec. Extra columns can be provided. To do so, set extracols = “Yes” and create a dataframe called extracols_notes in the global environment before running the notestab function. The extracols_notes dataframe must contain the desired extra columns and have the same number of rows as the notes table.
adddefinition
Run this function for as many definitions as are needed.
term is the item that needs defining and definition is the definition of the item.
An optional column can be included that provides a link to a piece of information. To do so, populate linktext1 and linktext2. For example, set linktext1 = “General health information” and set linktext2 to the relevant URL address.
definitionstab
definitionstab <- function(contentslink = NULL, gridlines = "Yes", colwid_spec = NULL, extracols = NULL)Run this function if a definitions page is wanted.
Run the function after all the definitions have been added using the adddefinition function.
The parameters are optional. If a link to the contents page is not wanted on the definitions page set contentslink = “No”. If no gridlines are wanted on the definitions page then set gridlines = “No”. Column widths are set automatically but can be altered using colwid_spec. Extra columns can be provided. To do so, set extracols = “Yes” and create a dataframe called extracols_definitions in the global environment before running the definitionstab function. The extracols_definitions dataframe must contain the desired extra columns and have the same number of rows as the definitions table.
savingtables
This function should be run last and will output the final xlsx workbook and/or ods workbook. Note that it is possible to save as a xls workbook, but this is not advised. Initially saving as a xls file will also not allow for an ods workbook to be created.
filename is the location and name of the final workbook.
The default setting is to keep the xlsx workbook. If an ods file is wanted, set odsfile = “Yes”. If both the ods and xlsx files are wanted, set odsfile = “Yes” and deletexlsx = “No”.
Contact
Please submit any suggestions or report bugs: https://github.com/minifiemj/accessibletablesR/issues
Or email me: minifiemj@gmail.com