[R] Gridbase basic question

[Paul Murrell]

Hi


Sean Davis wrote:
> All,
> 
> I have a simple plot(x,y) and I would like to then insert rectangles of  
> some length (in native coordinates) and height fixed to 0.5 in native  
> coordinates.  I can't quite get the code right to do this.  Can anyone  
> give me a quick example of how to do this?  I looked the gridBase index  
> and the tutorial (from R-news?) but just haven't gotten it down yet.
> 
>  > plot(1:10,1:10)
>  > par(new=T);vps <- baseViewports()
>  > pushViewport(vps$inner,vps$figure,vps$plot)
> viewport[GRID.VP.28]


At this point you are within a viewport which has x- and y-scales 
corresponding to the plot(1:10, 1:10).


>  > pushViewport(viewport(x=unit(1,"native"),y=unit(2,"native")))
> viewport[GRID.VP.29]


You have just created a new viewport at location (1, 2) in the plot, but 
  the scales on this new viewport are the default (0, 1).  i.e., you are 
now in a completely different coordinate system.  Also, this new 
viewport is as wide and as high as the plot region -- for example, it 
extends well beyong the left edge of the window/page.


> grid.rect(height=unit(0.5,"native"),width=unit(1.5,"native"),just='botto 
> m')


This draws a rectangle half as high as the current viewport and 1.5 
times as wide (the native scale in the current viewport is (0, 1) in 
both dimensions).  Importantly, the "native" coordinate systems you are 
referring to no longer correspond to the scales on the plot.


> This draws a very large rectangle going from 2 to 7 (y) and to 8 (x).


Three things:

(i) If drawing rectangles relative to the current "native" (or user) 
coordinates is all you want to do then you could just use rect() and 
ignore gridBase altogether.  For example, ...

x <- sample(1:10, 10)
y <- 1:10
w <- runif(10)
h <- 0.5

plot(1:10,1:10)
rect(x - w/2, y - h/2, x + w/2, y + h/2)


(ii) Using grid and gridBase, the above example becomes ...

plot(1:10,1:10)
par(new=T);vps <- baseViewports()
pushViewport(vps$inner,vps$figure,vps$plot)
grid.rect(x=x, y=y, width=w, height=h, default.units="native")
popViewport(3)

... but as mentioned, this is like using a sledge hammer to kill a cat 
or whatever the expression is.

(iii) There would be justification in using grid and gridBase if you 
want to draw more than just a rectangle, especially if you want to use 
coordinates other than native.  Here's a trivial example (adds fixed 
size "whiskers" to the corners of the rectangles) ...

plot(1:10,1:10)
par(new=T);vps <- baseViewports()
pushViewport(vps$inner,vps$figure,vps$plot)
for (i in 1:10) {
   pushViewport(viewport(x=x[i], y=y[i], width=w[i], height=h,
                         default.units="native"))
   grid.rect()
   grid.segments(0, 0, unit(-1, "mm"), unit(-1, "mm"))
   grid.segments(0, 1, unit(-1, "mm"),
                 unit(1, "npc") + unit(1, "mm"))
   grid.segments(1, 1,
                 unit(1, "npc") + unit(1, "mm"),
                 unit(1, "npc") + unit(1, "mm"))
   grid.segments(1, 0,
                 unit(1, "npc") + unit(1, "mm"),
                 unit(-1, "mm"))
   popViewport()
}

... (but pushing a viewport per data point like this is a LOT slower).

Hope that helps

Paul
-- 
Dr Paul Murrell
Department of Statistics
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
64 9 3737599 x85392
paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/