fplot (version 1.1.0)

pdf_fit: PDF export with guaranteed text size

Description

(This function is deprecated: Please use the functions export_graph_start() and export_graph_end() instead.) This function is an alternative to pdf, it makes it easy to export figures of appropriate size that should end up in a document. Instead of providing the height and width of the figure, you provide the fraction of the text-width the figure should take, and the target font-size at which the plotting text should be rendered. The size of the plotting text, once the figure is in the final document, is guaranteed.

Usage

pdf_fit(
  file,
  pt = 10,
  width = 1,
  height,
  w2h = 1.75,
  h2w,
  sideways = FALSE,
  ...
)

Value

This function does not return anything. It connects the output of the R graphics engine to a file.

Arguments

file

The name of the file to which export the figure.

pt

The size of the text, in pt, once the figure is inserted in your final document. The default is 10. This means that all text appearing in the plot with cex = 1 will appear with 10pt-sized fonts in your document.

width

The width of the graph, expressed in percentage of the width of the body-text of the document in which it will be inserted. Default is 1, which means that the graph will take 100% of the text width. It can also be equal to a character of the type "100%" or "80%". Alternatively, the following units are valid. Relative sizes: "pw" (page width), "tw" (text width), "ph" (page height), "th" (text height). Absolute sizes: "in", "cm", and "px".

height

Numeric between 0 and 1 or character scalar. The height of the graph, expressed in percentage of the height of the body-text of the document in which it will be inserted. Default is missing, and the height is determined by the other argument w2h. This argument should range between 0 and 1. It can also be equal to a character of the type "100%" or "80%". Alternatively, the following units are valid. Relative sizes: "pw" (page width), "tw" (text width), "ph" (page height), "th" (text height). Absolute sizes: "in", "cm", and "px".

w2h

Numeric scalar. Used to determine the height of the figure based on the width. By default it is equal to 1.75 which means that the graph will be 1.75 larger than tall. Note that when argument sideways = TRUE, the default for the height becomes 90%.

h2w

Numeric scalar, default is missing. Used to determine the aspectr ratio of the figure.

sideways

Logical, defaults to FALSE. If the figure will be placed in landscape in the final document, then sideways should be equal to TRUE. If TRUE, then the argument width now refers to the height of the text, and the argument height to its width.

...

Other arguments to be passed to pdf.

Setting the page size

You can set the page size with the function setFplot_page, which defines the size of the page and its margins to deduce the size of the body of the text in which the figures will be inserted. By default the page is considered to be US-letter with normal margins (not too big nor thin).

It is important to set the page size appropriately to have a final plotting-text size guaranteed once the figure is inserted in the document.

Author

Laurent Berge

Details

If you use fit.off instead of dev.off to close the graph, the resulting graph will be displayed in the viewer pane. So you don't have to open the document to see how it looks.

To export a ggplot2 graph, remember that you need to print it!

library(ggplot2)
data = data.frame(x = c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5), y = c(2, 4, 6, 8, 10))
# NOT GOOD
pdf_fit("test.pdf")
ggplot(data, aes(x, y)) +
  geom_point(color = "#54BF98") +
  geom_line(color = "#d34661")
fit.off()
# GOOD
my_graph = ggplot(data, aes(x, y)) +
             geom_point(color = "#54BF98") +
             geom_line(color = "#d34661")
pdf_fit("test.pdf")
print(my_graph)
fit.off()

See Also

To set the geometry and the defaults: setFplot_page. To close the graph and display it on the viewer pane: fit.off.

Examples

# This function creates figures made to be inserted
# in a Latex document (US-letter with "normal" margins)
# By default, the figures should take 100% of the
# text width. If so, the size of the text in the figures
# will be exact.

# You need pdftools and knitr to display PDFs in the viewer pane with fit.off
if(require(pdftools) && require(knitr)){

  tmpFile = file.path(tempdir(), "pdf_examples.pdf")

  pdf_fit(tmpFile, pt = 8)
  plot(1, 1, type = "n", ann = FALSE)
  text(1, 1, "This text will be displayed in 8pt.")
  fit.off()

  pdf_fit(tmpFile, pt = 12)
  plot(1, 1, type = "n", ann = FALSE)
  text(1, 1, "This text will be displayed in 12pt.")
  fit.off()

  pdf_fit(tmpFile, pt = 12, sideways = TRUE)
  plot(1, 1, type = "n", ann = FALSE)
  text(1, 1, "This text will be displayed in 12pt if in sideways.")
  fit.off()

  # If we reduce the end plot width but keep font size constant
  # this will lead to a very big font as compared to the plot
  pdf_fit(tmpFile, pt = 8, width = "50%")
  plot(1, 1, type = "n", ann = FALSE)
  text(1, 1, "This text will be displayed in 8pt\nif in 50% of the text width.")
  fit.off()
}