echarts4r
comes with a highly customisable grid and
axis, but admittedly they take some getting used to.
Axis helper
You can customise the axis with e_axis
,
e_x_axis
or e_y_axis
, you can see the official
documentation for more details. There is also a helper function,
e_format_axis
and its sisters e_format_x_axis
and e_format_y_axis
. The latter lets you easily add suffix
or prefix to your axis labels.
Say you want to plot against ceslius.
df <- data.frame(
x = 1:20, # celsius
y = runif(20, 1, 100) # percentages
)
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_line(y) |>
e_format_x_axis(suffix = "°C") |>
e_legend(FALSE)
Since version 0.2.1
you can also easily format the axis
to decimal, percentages or currencies thanks to contribution from Artem Klevtsov.
df |>
dplyr::mutate(y = y / 100) |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_line(y, legend = FALSE) |>
e_x_axis(
formatter = e_axis_formatter("currency", currency = "GBP")
) |>
e_y_axis(
formatter = e_axis_formatter("decimal", digits = 3)
)
Grid
You can also customise the grid to have, for instance, multiple plots on one canvas.
Let’s initialise a basic plot.
df <- data.frame(
x = 1:20,
w = runif(20, 1, 100),
z = runif(20, 25, 75)
)
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_line(w) |>
e_line(z)
Now say we don’t want w
and z
on the same
plot. We could of course make two entirely different plots (2 plots
initialised with e_charts()
), but it would be cleaner to
have them on the same canvas, a bit like ggplot2
facets.
First two plots on the same canvas means multiple axis, so we’ll plot each serie on its own axis.
echarts4r
is an R API to a JavaScript library, so arrays
start at one; x
and y
indices default to 0 so
we only need to change one of the series’ indices to 1. Therefore one
serie is plotted on index 0 and the other on index 1 for two
x
and y
axis.
Notice how echarts4r
puts the additional axis on the top
and right of the plot. This is a useful feature but not what we want;
we’re missing a split grid.
We use e_grid
twice for two grids, we define the height
of each; 35%
is ideal for stacked grids, you need some
margin for the legend, the axis, etc. hence not using
50%
.
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_line(w) |>
e_line(z, x_index = 1, y_index = 1) |>
e_grid(height = "35%") |> # two grids of 35% height
e_grid(height = "35%", top = "50%") # this grid is 50% from the top
However, we still have both line plots on the same grid. Here is how
to think about grids and axis in echarts4r
.
- Your series (i.e.:
e_line
) are plotted against axis (e_axis
) - These axis are plotted in grids
e_grid
So we have two grids and two axis but the axis are both plotted on the same grid(point #2 above). So we need to move our two additional axis to another grid. Note that grid indices also start at 0 here.
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_line(w) |>
e_line(z, x_index = 1, y_index = 1) |>
e_grid(height = "35%") |>
e_grid(height = "35%", top = "50%") |>
e_y_axis(gridIndex = 1) |> # put x and y on grid index 1
e_x_axis(gridIndex = 1)
There you go!
You can also have a different grid to put the plots side by side.
Axis
You can also mess with the axis to completely change your chart. For instance, from a regular bar chart:
df <- data.frame(
x = LETTERS[1:10],
y = seq(1, 20, by = 2),
z = runif(10, 5, 20)
)
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_bar(y)
to a polar chart.
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_polar() |>
e_angle_axis(x) |> # angle = x
e_radius_axis() |>
e_bar(y, coord_system = "polar")
or a radial chart one.
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_polar() |>
e_angle_axis() |>
e_radius_axis(x) |> # radius = x
e_bar(y, coord_system = "polar")
This will also work with other chart types.
df |>
e_charts(x) |>
e_polar() |>
e_angle_axis() |>
e_radius_axis(x) |>
e_line(y, coord_system = "polar") |>
e_scatter(z, coord_system = "polar")