For simply doing tables xtable has done some nice work for me. --- On Fri, 5/7/10, Joris Meys <jorism...@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Joris Meys <jorism...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [R] What is the best way to have "R" output tables in an MS Word > format? (shaping R core) > To: "Duncan Murdoch" <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com> > Cc: r-h...@stat.math.ethz.ch > Received: Friday, May 7, 2010, 6:48 AM > Well, there's always RExcel to get > all your R stuff into something M$ > Ruffice can understand. And they're even working on a Word > link if I got it > right. > > Cheers > Joris > > On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Duncan Murdoch > <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > chrish...@psyctc.org > wrote: > > > >> I've changed the subject line a bit here as Max is > asking such a > >> fundamental question. > >> > >> Max Kuhn sent the following at 01/05/2010 > 19:22: > >> > >> > >>> Chris, > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> ... > >> > >> > >> > >>> Why is it R Core's job to fulfill your wants > and desires? I have a > >>> hard time thinking that very busy people would > spend extra time doing > >>> something that they may or may not have a > direct need for. Write it > >>> yourself or get a group of people together to > do it. That what we did > >>> with odfWeave (for better or worse). If the > task is beyond what you > >>> feel you can do, fund it. > >>> > >>> > >> > >> Ouch. OK. I'm hugely grateful for your work > on odfWeave Max and sorry > >> that Open Office isn't a solution for me at the > moment. However, I > >> don't think I'm being unreasonable or selfish. > >> > >> 1) Certainbly it's not R core's job to fulfil my > wants and desires and > >> they will have ways to discuss what would > strengthen R for lots of us. > >> Clearly I can submit a wishlist item to the R > bugzilla and I should but > >> that's very particulate: how can the team find out > of wishes are common > >> or would help increase use of R? > >> > >> There are files of key R core team members' wish > lists on the R site but > >> almost none relate in any way to output and some > appear to be years old. > >> I've worked with R (about 14 years I think) and as > I look particularly > >> at the recent release notes, I see a lot of work > went into changing the > >> help system which is one sort of output from R and > a huge amount of work > >> went into transitions in the object orientation > (S3 to S4). I think > >> that what I am suggesting is about a core issue of > seeing > >> a set of object properties for numeric output as > including insertion of > >> tabs, ideally as providing flexible presenting and > viewing of all > >> matrices, data frames and lists, and, some day, > cross linkage of > >> graphics into output. Ideally, as with the > capacity of R to export its > >> graphics in a number of formats, I'd love to see > this capitalising on > >> the work you have done for ODF and others have > done for TeX etc. > >> > >> These strike me as central object handling issues, > not things that > >> should for ever be offloaded to the > libraries/packages. > >> > >> > > > > I don't think that because something is important it > needs to be in the > > part of R that R Core handles. The things that > need to be there are things > > that can't be anywhere else. Things that can be > elsewhere should be > > elsewhere, because the more that is in base R, the > more time R Core spends > > on maintenance, and the less time on development of > base R or on the other > > things we do (e.g. the things our employers pay us to > do). > > > > We don't always follow this rule: in some cases, > things that could be > > elsewhere are in base R because an R Core member > doesn't mind taking on the > > maintenance, and it is easier to put them in base R > than to create a new > > package for them. (Sweave is an example of this; > there has been talk of > > moving it out of the base, but that hasn't happened > yet.) > > > > But I don't think any members of R Core use any of > those word processors > > called MS Word, and I don't see any need for core > support for producing > > output for them. R already produces structured > objects with all the > > semantics of XML objects (though it doesn't use that > format to store them); > > it is simply a matter of deciding what format you'd > like things to be > > displayed in, and then figuring out how to produce > something in that format > > in a way that MS Word will understand. The first > task is definitely > > something within the range of an R user. Getting > it into some version of > > .doc or .docx or whatever is not at all easy, > but it really has very little > > to do with R. It would make more sense to ask > Microsoft to handle that part > > than it makes to ask R Core to do it. > > > > Duncan Murdoch > > > > > > 2) Do it myself: I wish! I'm a terrible programmer and > work 50-70 hoursa > > week in my main jobs (I'm so outspoken here at the > moment partly > > > > because I'm off work post-op.) I'm quite a > good psychotherapist and > >> capable of working in several different modes of > psychotherapy and with > >> individuals, couples, groups and families and I'm > a fairly competent > >> researcher and clinical director. I wish I'd > been born or learned to be > >> a better programmer as I wish I'd been more > musical and able to dance > >> but I'm not. I can contribute ideas, help > debug things and hope to > >> contribute much more of this when I retire from > the main jobs. I have > >> no links with programmers at work nor in my > university location so I > >> have no colleagues with whom I can form a team to > do this. > >> > >> 3) Pay for it myself: I was pretty ignorant about > ways of paying for > >> R things. I can't see me persuading my NHS > employer to pay as we're > >> contracting rapidly and don't officially use > R. If we had the > >> outputting I'm describing in the R core I think I > might be able to get > >> us to stop paying some thousands of pounds a year > for SPSS and might be > >> able to shift say 1k in gratitude to R though NHS > purchasing rules don't > >> make that easy. (That, I think, is one of > the huge challenges to open > >> source s'ware, if someone can tell me about ways > to get organisations > >> who have to justify their purchasing as we do > manage to pay for open > >> source development, I'd like to hear and I'll try > to make it happen.) > >> > >> Prompted by your Email I have found the R project > membership form and > >> 'faxed it off with payment and will probably > donate some more on top of > >> that 25 euros. However, I would love a way > to make a donation > >> that would encourage someone to do this bit of > work but I'm currently > >> unlikely, personally, to have the money to pay for > all that's needed. > >> > >> Hope this helps explain my position. I'm > genuinely keen to hear others' > >> views. Very best to all, > >> > >> Chris > >> > >> > >> > >> > > ______________________________________________ > > R-help@r-project.org > mailing list > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > PLEASE do read the posting guide > > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, > reproducible code. > > > > > > -- > Joris Meys > Statistical Consultant > > Ghent University > Faculty of Bioscience Engineering > Department of Applied mathematics, biometrics and process > control > > Coupure Links 653 > B-9000 Gent > > tel : +32 9 264 59 87 > joris.m...@ugent.be > ------------------------------- > Disclaimer : http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org > mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, > reproducible code. > ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
