Package 'R.devices' reference manual

Title:	Unified Handling of Graphics Devices
Description:	Functions for creating plots and image files in a unified way regardless of output format (EPS, PDF, PNG, SVG, TIFF, WMF, etc.). Default device options as well as scales and aspect ratios are controlled in a uniform way across all device types. Switching output format requires minimal changes in code. This package is ideal for large-scale batch processing, because it will never leave open graphics devices or incomplete image files behind, even on errors or user interrupts.
Authors:	Henrik Bengtsson [aut, cre, cph]
Maintainer:	Henrik Bengtsson <[email protected]>
License:	LGPL (>= 2.1)
Version:	2.17.2
Built:	2024-12-24 03:27:37 UTC
Source:	https://github.com/HenrikBengtsson/R.devices

Package R.devices

Description

Functions for creating plots and image files in a unified way regardless of output format (EPS, PDF, PNG, SVG, TIFF, WMF, etc.). Default device options as well as scales and aspect ratios are controlled in a uniform way across all device types. Switching output format requires minimal changes in code. This package is ideal for large-scale batch processing, because it will never leave open graphics devices or incomplete image files behind, even on errors or user interrupts.

To get started

Vignette 'R.devices overview'
toEPS(), toPDF(), toPNG(), ... - evaluate graphics code and atomically save plot to a figure file.

How to cite this package

To cite this package, please use:

@Manual{,
  title = {R.devices: Unified Handling of Graphics Devices},
  author = {Henrik Bengtsson},
  year = {2024},
  note = {R package version 2.17.2,
https://github.com/HenrikBengtsson/R.devices},
  url = {https://henrikbengtsson.github.io/R.devices/},
}

License

LGPL (>= 2.1).

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson [aut, cre, cph].

Get the architecture of an object or coerce it into another

Description

Get the architecture of an object or coerce it into another

Usage

architecture(x, ...)

as.architecture(
  x,
  ostype = .Platform$OS.type,
  arch = R.version$arch,
  ptrsize = .Machine$sizeof.pointer,
  endian = .Platform$endian,
  ...
)
architecture(x, ...)

as.architecture(
  x,
  ostype = .Platform$OS.type,
  arch = R.version$arch,
  ptrsize = .Machine$sizeof.pointer,
  endian = .Platform$endian,
  ...
)

Arguments

`x`	The object to be coerced.
`...`	(optional) Additional arguments passed to the underlying method.
`ostype`	A character string, e.g. `"unix"` and `"windows"`.
`arch`	A character string, e.g. `"i386"`, `"i686"` and `"x86_64"`.
`ptrsize`	The target pointer size - either `4L` or `8L`.
`endian`	The target endianess - either `"little"` or `"big"`.

Value

architecture() returns a named list with character element ostype and arch, integer element ptrsize, and character element endian. These elements take a missing values if they could not be inferred.

as.architecture() returns a coerced version of x. If no coercion was needed, then x itself is returned.

Captures a plot such that it can be redrawn later/elsewhere

Description

Captures a plot such that it can be redrawn later/elsewhere.

This feature is only supported in R (>= 3.3.0).

Usage

capturePlot(expr, envir=parent.frame(), type=nulldev, ...)
capturePlot(expr, envir=parent.frame(), type=nulldev, ...)

Arguments

`expr`	The `expression` of graphing commands to be evaluated.
`envir`	The `environment` where `expr` should be evaluated.
`type`	The type of graphics device used in the background. The choice should not matter since the result should be identical regardless. All graphics is captured but any output is also voided by sending the output to a "null" file.
`...`	Additional arguments passed to the graphics device.

Details

Note that plot dimensions/aspect ratios are not recorded. This means that one does not have to worry about those when recording the plot. Instead, they are specified when setting up the graphics device(s) in which the recorded plot is replayed (see example).

Value

Returns a recordedplot object, which can be replayPlot():ed. If replayed in an interactive session, the plot is displayed in a new window. For conveniency, the object is also replayed when print():ed.

Replaying / replotting on a different architecture

In order to replay a recordedplot object, it has to be replayed on an architecture that is compatible with the one who created the object. If this is not the case, then replayPlot() will generate an Incompatible graphics state error. The as.architecture() function of this package tries to coerce between different architectures, such that one can replay across architectures using replayPlot(as.architectures(g)). For convenience, the recorded plot returned by capturePlot() is automatically coerced when print():ed.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

References

[1] Paul Murrell et al., Recording and Replaying the Graphics Engine Display List, December 2015. https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/Reports/DisplayList/dl-record.html

Examples

if (getRversion() >= "3.3.0") {
oopts <- R.devices::devOptions("*", path=file.path(tempdir(), "figures"))

g <- capturePlot({
  plot(1:10)
})

## Display
print(g)

## Display with a 2/3 height-to-width aspect ratio
toDefault(aspectRatio=2/3, { print(g) })

## Redraw to many output formats using whatever PNG, EPS, and PDF
## device outputs available
devEval(c("{png}", "{eps}", "{pdf}"), aspectRatio=2/3, print(g))

R.devices::devOptions("*", path=oopts$path)
} ## if (getRversion() >= "3.3.0")
if (getRversion() >= "3.3.0") {
oopts <- R.devices::devOptions("*", path=file.path(tempdir(), "figures"))

g <- capturePlot({
  plot(1:10)
})

## Display
print(g)

## Display with a 2/3 height-to-width aspect ratio
toDefault(aspectRatio=2/3, { print(g) })

## Redraw to many output formats using whatever PNG, EPS, and PDF
## device outputs available
devEval(c("{png}", "{eps}", "{pdf}"), aspectRatio=2/3, print(g))

R.devices::devOptions("*", path=oopts$path)
} ## if (getRversion() >= "3.3.0")

Closes zero or more open devices except screen (interactive) devices

Description

Closes zero or more open devices except screen (interactive) devices.

Usage

devDone(which=dev.cur(), ...)
devDone(which=dev.cur(), ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) `vector` or a label (`character`) `vector`.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns (invisibly) dev.cur().

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Opens a new graphics device, evaluate (graphing) code, and closes device

Description

Opens a new graphics device, evaluate (graphing) code, and closes device.

Usage

devEval(type=getOption("device"), expr, initially=NULL, finally=NULL,
  envir=parent.frame(), name=NULL, tags=NULL, sep=getDevOption(type, "sep",
  default = ","), ..., ext=NULL, filename=NULL, path=getDevOption(type, "path",
  default = "figures"), field=getDevOption(type, name = "field"),
  onIncomplete=c("remove", "rename", "keep"), force=getDevOption(type, "force",
  default = TRUE), which=dev.cur(), .exprAsIs=FALSE, .allowUnknownArgs=FALSE)
devEval(type=getOption("device"), expr, initially=NULL, finally=NULL,
  envir=parent.frame(), name=NULL, tags=NULL, sep=getDevOption(type, "sep",
  default = ","), ..., ext=NULL, filename=NULL, path=getDevOption(type, "path",
  default = "figures"), field=getDevOption(type, name = "field"),
  onIncomplete=c("remove", "rename", "keep"), force=getDevOption(type, "force",
  default = TRUE), which=dev.cur(), .exprAsIs=FALSE, .allowUnknownArgs=FALSE)

Arguments

`type`	Specifies the type of graphics device to be used. The device is created and opened using `devNew`(). Multiple types may be specified.
`expr`	The `expression` of graphing commands to be evaluated.
`initially`, `finally`	Optional `expression`:s to be evaluated before and after `expr`. If `type` specifies multiple devices, these optional `expression`:s are only evaluated ones.
`envir`	The `environment` where `expr` should be evaluated.
`name`, `tags`, `sep`	The fullname name of the image is specified as the name with optional `sep`-separated tags appended.
`ext`	The filename extension of the image file generated, if any. By default, it is inferred from argument `type`.
`...`	Additional arguments passed to `devNew`().
`filename`	The filename of the image saved, if any. By default, it is composed of arguments `name`, `tags`, `sep`, and `ext`. See also below.
`path`	The directory where then image should be saved, if any.
`field`	An optional `character` string specifying a specific field of the named result `list` to be returned.
`onIncomplete`	A `character` string specifying what to do with an image file that was incompletely generated due to an interrupt or an error.
`force`	If `TRUE`, and the image file already exists, then it is overwritten, otherwise not.
`which`	A `vector` of devices to be copied. Only applied if argument `expr` is missing.
`.exprAsIs`, `.allowUnknownArgs`	(Internal use only).

Value

Returns a DevEvalFileProduct if the device generated an image file, otherwise an DevEvalProduct. If argument field is given, then the field of the DevEvalProduct is returned instead. Note that the default return value may be changed in future releases.

Generated image file

If created, the generated image file is saved in the directory specified by argument path with a filename consisting of the name followed by optional comma-separated tags and a filename extension given by argument ext.

By default, the image file is only created if the expr is evaluated completely. If it is, for instance, interrupted by the user or due to an error, then any incomplete/blank image file that was created will be removed. This behavior can be turned of using argument onIncomplete.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Examples

# Plot to PNG using one whatever PNG device driver is available
res <- devEval("{png}", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.png"

str(res$dataURI)
# chr "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAeAA..."

## Plot to PDF using grDevices::pdf()
res <- devEval("pdf", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.pdf"


## Plot to EPS using R.devices::eps()
res <- devEval("eps", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.eps"
# Plot to PNG using one whatever PNG device driver is available
res <- devEval("{png}", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.png"

str(res$dataURI)
# chr "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAeAA..."

## Plot to PDF using grDevices::pdf()
res <- devEval("pdf", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.pdf"


## Plot to EPS using R.devices::eps()
res <- devEval("eps", name="MyPlot", tags=c("10", "rnd"), aspectRatio=0.7, {
  plot(1:10)
})
print(res$pathname)
# [1] "figures/MyPlot,10,rnd.eps"

Gets the labels of zero or more devices

Description

Gets the labels of zero or more devices.

Usage

devGetLabel(which=dev.cur(), ...)
devGetLabel(which=dev.cur(), ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) `vector` or a label (`character`) `vector`.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns a character vector. If a device does not exist, an error is thrown.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Checks whether a device type is interactive or not

Description

Checks whether a device type is interactive or not.

Usage

devIsInteractive(types, ...)
devIsInteractive(types, ...)

Arguments

`types`	A `character` `vector`.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns a logical vector with TRUE if the device type is interactive, otherwise FALSE.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Checks if zero or more devices are open or not

Description

Checks if zero or more devices are open or not.

Usage

devIsOpen(which=dev.cur(), ...)
devIsOpen(which=dev.cur(), ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) `vector` or a label (`character`) `vector`.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns a named logical vector with TRUE if a device is open, otherwise FALSE.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Examples

# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
# Use devices for conditional processing of code. 
# Close devices to rerun code.
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

# Alt A: Use device index counter (starting with the 16:th)
fig <- 15
if (!devIsOpen(fig <- fig + 1)) {
  devSet(fig)
  cat("Figure", fig, "\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

if (!devIsOpen(fig <- fig + 1)) {
  devSet(fig)
  cat("Figure", fig, "\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

# Alt B: Use device labels
if (!devIsOpen(label <- "part 1")) {
  devSet(label)
  cat("Part 1\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())


if (!devIsOpen(label <- "part 2")) {
  devSet(label)
  cat("Part 2\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
# Use devices for conditional processing of code. 
# Close devices to rerun code.
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

# Alt A: Use device index counter (starting with the 16:th)
fig <- 15
if (!devIsOpen(fig <- fig + 1)) {
  devSet(fig)
  cat("Figure", fig, "\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

if (!devIsOpen(fig <- fig + 1)) {
  devSet(fig)
  cat("Figure", fig, "\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

# Alt B: Use device labels
if (!devIsOpen(label <- "part 1")) {
  devSet(label)
  cat("Part 1\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())


if (!devIsOpen(label <- "part 2")) {
  devSet(label)
  cat("Part 2\n")
  plot(1:10)
}
cat("Currently opened device:\n")
print(devList())

Lists the indices of the open devices named by their labels

Description

Lists the indices of the open devices named by their labels.

Usage

devList(interactiveOnly=FALSE, dropNull=TRUE, ...)
devList(interactiveOnly=FALSE, dropNull=TRUE, ...)

Arguments

`interactiveOnly`	If `TRUE`, only open interactive/screen devices are returned.
`dropNull`	If `TRUE`, the "null" device (device index 1) is not returned.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns a named integer vector.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Opens a new device

Description

Opens a new device.

Usage

devNew(type=getOption("device"), ..., scale=1, aspectRatio=1, par=NULL, label=NULL)
devNew(type=getOption("device"), ..., scale=1, aspectRatio=1, par=NULL, label=NULL)

Arguments

`type`	A `character` string specifying the type of device to be opened. This string should match the name of an existing device `function`.
`...`	Additional arguments passed to the device `function`, e.g. `width` and `height`. If not given, the are inferred from `devOptions`().
`scale`	A `numeric` scalar factor specifying how much the width and the height should be rescaled.
`aspectRatio`	A `numeric` ratio specifying the aspect ratio of the image. See below.
`par`	An optional named `list` of graphical settings applied, that is, passed to `par`, immediately after opening the device.
`label`	An optional `character` string specifying the label of the opened device.

Value

Returns the device index of the opened device.

Width and heights

The default width and height of the generated image is specific to the type of device used. There is not straightforward programmatic way to infer these defaults; here we use devOptions(), which in most cases returns the correct defaults.

Aspect ratio

The aspect ratio of an image is the height relative to the width. If argument height is not given (or NULL), it is calculated as aspectRatio*width as long as they are given. Likewise, if argument width is not given (or NULL), it is calculated as width/aspectRatio as long as they are given. If neither width nor height is given, then width defaults to devOptions(type)$width. If both width and height are given, then aspectRatio is ignored.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Closes zero or more devices

Description

Closes zero or more devices.

Usage

devOff(which=dev.cur(), ...)
devOff(which=dev.cur(), ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) `vector` or a label (`character`) `vector`.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns dev.cur().

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Gets the default device options

Description

Gets the default device options as given by predefined devices options adjusted for the default arguments of the device function.

Usage

devOptions(type=NULL, custom=TRUE, special=TRUE, inherits=FALSE, drop=TRUE,
  options=list(), ..., reset=FALSE)
devOptions(type=NULL, custom=TRUE, special=TRUE, inherits=FALSE, drop=TRUE,
  options=list(), ..., reset=FALSE)

Arguments

`type`	A `character` string or a device `function` specifying the device to be queried. May also be a `vector`, for querying device options for multiple devices.
`custom`	If `TRUE`, also the default settings specific to this function is returned. For more details, see below.
`special`	A `logical`. For more details, see below.
`inherits`	If `TRUE`, the global option is used if the type-specific is not set (or `NULL`).
`drop`	If `TRUE` and only one device type is queried, then a `list` is returned, otherwise a `matrix`.
`options`	Optional named `list` of settings.
`...`	Optional named arguments for setting new defaults. For more details, see below.
`reset`	If `TRUE`, the device options are reset to R defaults.

Details

If argument special is TRUE, then the 'width' and 'height' options are adjusted according to the rules explained for argument 'paper' in pdf, postscript, and xfig.

Value

If drop=TRUE and a single device is queries, a named list is returned, otherwise a matrix is returned. If a requested device is not implemented/supported on the current system, then "empty" results are returned. If options were set, that is, if named options were specified via ..., then the list is returned invisibly, otherwise not.

Setting new defaults

When setting device options, the getOption("devOptions")[[type]] option is modified. This means that for such options to be effective, any device function needs to query also such options, which for instance is done by devNew().

Also, for certain devices (eps, pdf, postscript, quartz, windows and x11), builtin R device options are set.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Examples

# Tabulate some of the default settings for known devices
print(devOptions()[,c("width", "height", "bg", "fg", "pointsize")])
# Tabulate some of the default settings for known devices
print(devOptions()[,c("width", "height", "bg", "fg", "pointsize")])

Activates a device

Description

Activates a device.

Usage

devSet(which=dev.next(), ...)
devSet(which=dev.next(), ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) or a label (`character`). If neither, then a label corresponding to the checksum of `which` as generated by `digest` is used.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns what dev.set() returns.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Sets the label of a device

Description

Sets the label of a device.

Usage

devSetLabel(which=dev.cur(), label, ...)
devSetLabel(which=dev.cur(), label, ...)

Arguments

`which`	An index (`numeric`) or a label (`character`).
`label`	A `character` string.
`...`	Not used.

Value

Returns nothing.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Methods for creating image files of a specific format

Description

Methods for creating image files of a specific format.

Usage

   toBMP(name, ...)
   toPDF(name, ...)
   toPNG(name, ...)
   toSVG(name, ...)
   toTIFF(name, ...)
   toEMF(name, ..., ext="emf")
   toWMF(name, ..., ext="wmf")

   toFavicon(..., name="favicon", ext="png",
             field=getDevOption("favicon", "field", default="htmlscript"))

   
   toDefault(name, ...)
   toQuartz(name, ...)
   toX11(name, ...)
   toWindows(name, ...)

   
   toCairoWin(name, ...)
   toCairoX11(name, ...)
   

   
   toRStudioGD(name, ..., .allowUnknownArgs = TRUE)
 toBMP(name, ...)
   toPDF(name, ...)
   toPNG(name, ...)
   toSVG(name, ...)
   toTIFF(name, ...)
   toEMF(name, ..., ext="emf")
   toWMF(name, ..., ext="wmf")

   toFavicon(..., name="favicon", ext="png",
             field=getDevOption("favicon", "field", default="htmlscript"))

   
   toDefault(name, ...)
   toQuartz(name, ...)
   toX11(name, ...)
   toWindows(name, ...)

   
   toCairoWin(name, ...)
   toCairoX11(name, ...)
   

   
   toRStudioGD(name, ..., .allowUnknownArgs = TRUE)

Arguments

`name`	A `character` string specifying the name of the image file.
`...`, `.allowUnknownArgs`	Additional arguments passed to `devEval`(), e.g. `tags` and `aspectRatio`.
`ext`, `field`	Passed to `devEval`().

Value

Returns by default the DevEvalProduct. For toFavicon() the default return value is a character string.

Windows Metafile Format

Both toEMF() and toWMF() use the exact same graphics device (win.metafile()) and settings. They only differ by filename extension. The win.metafile() device function exists on Windows only; see the grDevices package for more details.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Evaluate an R expression with graphical parameters set temporarily

Description

Evaluate an R expression with graphical parameters set temporarily.

Usage

withPar(expr, ..., args=list(), envir=parent.frame())
withPar(expr, ..., args=list(), envir=parent.frame())

Arguments

`expr`	The R expression to be evaluated.
`...`	Named options to be used.
`args`	(optional) Additional named options specified as a named `list`.
`envir`	The `environment` in which the expression should be evaluated.

Details

Upon exit (also on errors), this function will reset all (modifiable) graphical parameters to the state of options available upon entry. This means any parameters modified from evaluating expr will also be undone upon exit.

Value

Returns the results of the expression evaluated.

Author(s)

Henrik Bengtsson

Examples

withPar({
  layout(1:4)

  withPar({
    plot(1:10)
    plot(10:1)
  }, pch=4)

  withPar({
    plot(1:10)
    plot(10:1)
  }, pch=0, bg="yellow")
}, mar=c(2,2,1,1))
withPar({
  layout(1:4)

  withPar({
    plot(1:10)
    plot(10:1)
  }, pch=4)

  withPar({
    plot(1:10)
    plot(10:1)
  }, pch=0, bg="yellow")
}, mar=c(2,2,1,1))

Package 'R.devices'

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