Abstract
In a variety of settings it is extremely helpful to be able to apply R functions through buttons, sliders and other types of graphical control. This is particularly true in plotting activities where immediate communication between such controls and a graphical display allows the user to interact with a plot in a very effective manner. The tcltk package provides extensive tools for this and the aim of the rpanel package is to provide simple and well documented functions which make these facilities as accessible as possible. In addition, the operations which form the basis of communication within tcltk are managed in a way which allows users to write functions with a more standard form of parameter passing. This paper describes the basic design of the software and illustrates it on a variety of examples of interactive control of graphics. The tkrplot system is used to allow plots to be integrated with controls into a single panel. An example of the use of a graphical image, and the ability to interact with this, is also discussed.
Highlights
The arrival of facilities for interactive and dynamic graphical displays was a significant milestone in statistical computing
The aim of the rpanel package is to make these types of interaction as accessible as possible to R users, by providing a simple ‘front end’ to the more general and flexible tcltk package
Programmers who are familiar with the Tcl/Tk system are likely to continue to use the tcltk package directly, to take full advantage of the facilities which that system provides
Summary
The arrival of facilities for interactive and dynamic graphical displays was a significant milestone in statistical computing. A very general set of tools for interactive control was provided at an early stage by the tcltk package, created by Dalgaard (2001). This represented a significant development by providing a link from R to the extensive GUI control facilities of the Tcl/Tk system (http: //www.tcl.tk/). Fox (2005) describes the substantial R Commander (Rcmdr) system which allows users to control R functions through an extensive menu and dialogue system, based on the tcltk package This offers a style of control which is similar to those provided by other packages which are designed for the application of relatively straightforward statistical methods. A collection of example scripts is available at http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/~adrian/rpanel/
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