R select row of data frame interactively

Question

I have a data frame, say:

df <- data.frame(a=1:10,b=runif(10))

I'd like to be able to display the data frame to the user and have them select (click) a row, and retrieve that row.

Something a bit like edit(df), except that what I want is much simpler in that I don't need editing functions --- I just need to listen for a click event on one of the rows and get the index for that row (I don't even need the particular cell!)

Does anyone know how I can do this? I'd prefer to do it with base R or grid (for the sake of not adding in lots of packages) -- maybe I can somehow draw the data frame on a grid graphics with a y scale defined from 1 to nrow(df) and use the grid.locator() function?

It'd be nice to avoid bringing in gui packages, but if I do, it should be cross-platform (linux/windows). gwidgets is quite nice (although they don't seem to have the click event nicely integrated with their gdf widget).

cheers.

If using gWidgets, try gtable, not gdf, as there mouse clicks also trigger editing. The svalue method for gtable with index=TRUE will return the index of the selected row. Otherwise, you could do this with a graphic device, but without scrollbars you will have to limit the size of the data frame you are displaying. — jverzani, Feb 07 '12 at 13:00

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 07 '12 at 13:08

7

well, here's a quick way, no extra packages, but you may have to fiddle with formatting if you want the table to be nicely aligned, rounded, etc:

    df <- data.frame(a=1:10,b=runif(10))
    df[menu(apply(df,1,paste,collapse="  "),graphics=TRUE),]

The device widens itself if necessary and scrollbars automatically appear when necessary.

answered Feb 07 '12 at 13:08

tim riffe

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What he asked for was just: `menu(apply(df,1,paste,collapse=" "),graphics=TRUE)` – IRTFM Feb 07 '12 at 13:40
oops I thought he wanted the row and not the row index – tim riffe Feb 07 '12 at 13:44
And on reading it again, I think your answer is just as plausible. – IRTFM Feb 07 '12 at 13:46
Wow this is exactly what I want. I only recently learned about `menu` and forgot about the graphical option. Thanks! (I only asked for the row index so I could use it to get the row - so either or is fine). Thanks! – mathematical.coffee Feb 07 '12 at 23:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 07 '12 at 13:44

I was going to suggest a combination of a blank plot filled with addtable2plot and then use locator to pick a point and calculate the row with a combination the y-specification and the cellheight <- max(strheight(c(column.names, row.names, as.vector(unlist(table))),... but effort in that direction seems silly since @timrifle seems to have hit the nail on the head.

R select row of data frame interactively

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