---
title: "Interactive timeline plots with hc_vistime()"
date: "`r format(Sys.Date(), '%B %Y')`"
output: 
   prettydoc::html_pretty:
     theme: architect
     highlight: github
     toc: true
vignette: >
  %\VignetteIndexEntry{Interactive timeline plots with hc_vistime()}
  %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown}
  %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8}
---

```{r setup, include = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>"
)
library(vistime)
library(highcharter)
hc_vistime <- function(...) hc_size(vistime::hc_vistime(...), width=700, height=150)
```

[![Buy Me A Coffee](https://i.imgur.com/xI5UtRm.png)](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shosaco)


**Feedback welcome:** <a href = "mailto:sa.ra.online@posteo.de">sa.ra.online@posteo.de</a>

## 1. Basic example


```{r hc_vistime_basic_ex, warning=FALSE, fig.height=1, out.width="100%"}
library(vistime)
timeline_data <- data.frame(event = c("Event 1", "Event 2"), 
                            start = c("2020-06-06", "2020-10-01"), 
                            end = c("2020-10-01", "2020-12-31"), 
                            group = "My Events")

hc_vistime(timeline_data)
```


## 2. Installation

To install `vistime` package from CRAN, type the following in your R console:

```{r eval=FALSE}
install.packages("vistime")
```

For interactive `hc_vistime()` plots, you need to install the `highcharter` package. This package is free for non-commercial and non-governmental use:

```{r eval=FALSE}
install.packages("highcharter")
```

## 3. Usage and default arguments

The simplest way to create a timeline is by providing a data frame with `event` and `start` columns. If your columns are named otherwise, you need to tell the function. You can also tweak the y positions, title and label visibility.

```{r eval = FALSE}
hc_vistime(data,
           col.event = "event",
           col.start = "start",
           col.end = "end", 
           col.group = "group", 
           col.color = "color", 
           optimize_y = TRUE,
           title = NULL, 
           show_labels = TRUE)
```



## 4. Arguments

parameter | optional? | data type | explanation 
--------- |----------- | -------- | ----------- 
data | mandatory | data.frame | data.frame that contains the data to be visualized
col.event | optional | character | the column name in data that contains event names. Default: *event*
col.start | optional | character | the column name in data that contains start dates. Default: *start*
col.end | optional | character | the column name in data that contains end dates. Default: *end*
col.group | optional | character | the column name in data to be used for grouping. Default: *group*
col.color | optional | character | the column name in data that contains colors for events. Default: *color*, if not present, colors are chosen via RColorBrewer.
col.tooltip | optional | character | the column name in data that contains the mouseover tooltips for the events. Default: *tooltip*, if not present, then tooltips are build from event name and date. [Basic HTML](https://plotly.com/chart-studio-help/adding-HTML-and-links-to-charts/#step-2-the-essentials) is allowed.
optimize_y | optional | logical | distribute events on y-axis by smart heuristic (default) or use order of input data.
title | optional | character | the title to be shown on top of the timeline. Default: empty.
show_labels | optional | logical | choose whether or not event labels shall be visible. Default: `TRUE`.


## 5. Value

* `hc_vistime` returns an object of class `highchart` and `htmlwidget`


## 6. Examples  

### Ex. 1: Presidents
```{r presidents example, eval = FALSE}
pres <- data.frame(Position = rep(c("President", "Vice"), each = 3),
                   Name = c("Washington", rep(c("Adams", "Jefferson"), 2), "Burr"),
                   start = c("1789-03-29", "1797-02-03", "1801-02-03"),
                   end = c("1797-02-03", "1801-02-03", "1809-02-03"),
                   color = c('#cbb69d', '#603913', '#c69c6e'),
                   fontcolor = c("black", "white", "black"))
                  
hc_vistime(pres, 
           col.event = "Position", 
           col.group = "Name", 
           title = "Presidents of the USA") %>% 
  hc_size(width = 700, height = 300)
```

```{r presidents example code, echo = FALSE}
pres <- data.frame(Position = rep(c("President", "Vice"), each = 3),
                   Name = c("Washington", rep(c("Adams", "Jefferson"), 2), "Burr"),
                   start = c("1789-03-29", "1797-02-03", "1801-02-03"),
                   end = c("1797-02-03", "1801-02-03", "1809-02-03"),
                   color = c('#cbb69d', '#603913', '#c69c6e'),
                   fontcolor = c("black", "white", "black"))
                  
hc_vistime(pres, 
           col.event = "Position", 
           col.group = "Name", 
           title = "Presidents of the USA") %>% 
  hc_size(width = 700, height = 300)
```


### Ex. 2: Project Planning
```{r project planning example, eval = FALSE}
data <- read.csv(text="event,group,start,end,color
                       Phase 1,Project,2016-12-22,2016-12-23,#c8e6c9
                       Phase 2,Project,2016-12-23,2016-12-29,#a5d6a7
                       Phase 3,Project,2016-12-29,2017-01-06,#fb8c00
                       Phase 4,Project,2017-01-06,2017-02-02,#DD4B39
                       Room 334,Team 1,2016-12-22,2016-12-28,#DEEBF7
                       Room 335,Team 1,2016-12-28,2017-01-05,#C6DBEF
                       Room 335,Team 1,2017-01-05,2017-01-23,#9ECAE1
                       Group 1,Team 2,2016-12-22,2016-12-28,#E5F5E0
                       Group 2,Team 2,2016-12-28,2017-01-23,#C7E9C0
                       3-200,category 1,2016-12-25,2016-12-25,#1565c0
                       3-330,category 1,2016-12-25,2016-12-25,#1565c0
                       3-223,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-225,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-226,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-226,category 1,2017-01-19,2017-01-19,#1565c0
                       3-330,category 1,2017-01-19,2017-01-19,#1565c0
                       1-217.0,category 2,2016-12-27,2016-12-27,#90caf9
                       4-399.7,moon rising,2017-01-13,2017-01-13,#f44336
                       8-831.0,sundowner drink,2017-01-17,2017-01-17,#8d6e63
                       9-984.1,birthday party,2016-12-22,2016-12-22,#90a4ae
                       F01.9,Meetings,2016-12-26,2016-12-26,#e8a735
                       Z71,Meetings,2017-01-12,2017-01-12,#e8a735
                       B95.7,Meetings,2017-01-15,2017-01-15,#e8a735
                       T82.7,Meetings,2017-01-15,2017-01-15,#e8a735")
                           
hc_vistime(data)
```

```{r project planning example code, echo = F}
data <- read.csv(text="event,group,start,end,color
                       Phase 1,Project,2016-12-22,2016-12-23,#c8e6c9
                       Phase 2,Project,2016-12-23,2016-12-29,#a5d6a7
                       Phase 3,Project,2016-12-29,2017-01-06,#fb8c00
                       Phase 4,Project,2017-01-06,2017-02-02,#DD4B39
                       Room 334,Team 1,2016-12-22,2016-12-28,#DEEBF7
                       Room 335,Team 1,2016-12-28,2017-01-05,#C6DBEF
                       Room 335,Team 1,2017-01-05,2017-01-23,#9ECAE1
                       Group 1,Team 2,2016-12-22,2016-12-28,#E5F5E0
                       Group 2,Team 2,2016-12-28,2017-01-23,#C7E9C0
                       3-200,category 1,2016-12-25,2016-12-25,#1565c0
                       3-330,category 1,2016-12-25,2016-12-25,#1565c0
                       3-223,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-225,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-226,category 1,2016-12-28,2016-12-28,#1565c0
                       3-226,category 1,2017-01-19,2017-01-19,#1565c0
                       3-330,category 1,2017-01-19,2017-01-19,#1565c0
                       1-217.0,category 2,2016-12-27,2016-12-27,#90caf9
                       4-399.7,moon rising,2017-01-13,2017-01-13,#f44336
                       8-831.0,sundowner drink,2017-01-17,2017-01-17,#8d6e63
                       9-984.1,birthday party,2016-12-22,2016-12-22,#90a4ae
                       F01.9,Meetings,2016-12-26,2016-12-26,#e8a735
                       Z71,Meetings,2017-01-12,2017-01-12,#e8a735
                       B95.7,Meetings,2017-01-15,2017-01-15,#e8a735
                       T82.7,Meetings,2017-01-15,2017-01-15,#e8a735")
                           
hc_vistime(data) %>% 
  hc_size(width = 700, height = 500)
```


### Ex. 3: Gantt Charts

The argument `optimize_y` can be used to change the look of the timeline. `TRUE` (the default) will find a nice heuristic to save `y`-space, distributing the events:

```{r gantt_true, fig.height=1.8, out.width="100%"}
data <- read.csv(text="event,start,end
                       Phase 1,2020-12-15,2020-12-24
                       Phase 2,2020-12-23,2020-12-29
                       Phase 3,2020-12-28,2021-01-06
                       Phase 4,2021-01-06,2021-02-02")
        
hc_vistime(data, optimize_y = TRUE)
```




`FALSE` will plot events as-is, not saving any space:

```{r gantt_false, fig.height=2.5, out.width="100%"}
hc_vistime(data, optimize_y = FALSE)
```


## 8. Usage in Shiny apps

- `hc_vistime()` objects can be integrated into [Shiny](https://shiny.posit.co/)  via `highchartOutput()` and `renderHighchart()`


```{r eval=FALSE}
library(vistime)

pres <- data.frame(Position = rep(c("President", "Vice"), each = 3),
                   Name = c("Washington", rep(c("Adams", "Jefferson"), 2), "Burr"),
                   start = c("1789-03-29", "1797-02-03", "1801-02-03"),
                   end = c("1797-02-03", "1801-02-03", "1809-02-03"),
                   color = c('#cbb69d', '#603913', '#c69c6e'),
                   fontcolor = c("black", "white", "black"))

shinyApp(
  ui = highcharter::highchartOutput("myVistime"),
  server = function(input, output) {
    output$myVistime <- highcharter::renderHighchart({
      vistime(pres, col.event = "Position", col.group = "Name")
    })
  }
)
```

## 9. Customization

Since every `hc_vistime()` output is a `highchart` object, you can customize and override literally everything using its functions. See `?hc_xAxis`, `?hc_chart` etc. and the official [Highcharts API reference](https://api.highcharts.com/highcharts/title) for details. 


```{r hc_customization, message=FALSE}
library(highcharter)

p3 <- hc_vistime(data,
                 optimize_y = T, 
                 col.group = "event",
                 title = "Highcharts customization example")

p3 %>% hc_title(style = list(fontSize = 30)) %>% 
       hc_yAxis(labels = list(style = list(fontSize=30, color="violet"))) %>% 
       hc_xAxis(labels = list(style = list(fontSize=30, color="red"), rotation=30)) %>% 
       hc_chart(backgroundColor = "lightgreen") %>% 
  hc_size(width = 700, height = 300)
```

