minihtml

minihtml is a package for building html documents in R.

minihtml objects are compatible with shiny - see the vignette

Overview

Quick Examples

Installation

You can install minihtml from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("coolbutuseless/minihtml")

htag helper (autocomplete HTML tags and attributes)

The htag helper is similar to shiny::tag but offers autocomplete to assist in writing the code:

Interface

• Individual elements can be created in a number of ways. E.g. creating a div
  • As a stand-alone element
    • new_div <- HTMLElement$new('div', class = 'demo')
    • new_div <- html_elem('div', class = 'demo')
    • new_div <- htag$div(class = 'demo')
  • As a sub-element of an existing document or element - the element is created, added to the parent document (or element) and returned.
    • doc <- HTMLDocument$new(); new_div <- doc$add('div', class = 'demo')
    • doc <- HTMLDocument$new(); new_div <- doc$div(class = 'demo')
    • elem <- HTMLElement$new('xxx'); new_div <- elem$add('div', class = 'demo')
    • elem <- HTMLElement$new('xxx'); new_div <- elem$div(class = 'demo')
• $add() creates an element and adds it to the parent (and returns it)
  • new_div <- doc$add('div')
• $append() appends the given elements as children
  • new_div <- htag$div(); doc$append(new_div, ...)
• $new(name, ...), $update(...) and $add(name, ...) all accept ... where
  • named arguments are added as attributes of this node
  • unnamed argument are added as children of this node

Parsing HTML text into a minihtml document

minihtml uses xml2 to parse HTML text (or file) into a minihtml document.

my_html <- "<p>Par contents</p>"
elem <- minihtml::parse_html_elem(my_html)
elem$update(width = "100px")$
  add(name = 'span', 'inner contents')

cat(as.character(elem))

   <p width="100px">
     Par contents
     <span>
       inner contents
     </span>
   </p>

All-in-one example

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Initialse an HTML document
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my_div <- htag$div()  #  or use `html_elem('div')`

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Add a header and body to the html (and then keep the reference these)
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
top    <- my_div$div()
bottom <- my_div$div()

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Add a title to the header, and an H1 to the body
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
top$h1("Hello RStats")$update(style = "color: #345678")

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Create a 'div' directly within the body, and a 'p' within that 'div'
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bottom$
  update(class="main")$
  p("I needed a more intuitive (to me) method of writing html in R", style = 'font-family: monospace')

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# independently create another div
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
div2 <- htag$div(
  htag$p(
    "This is a small demo of the ",
    htag$span("minihtml", style = 'color: red'),
    "package in action"),
  htag$hr(),
  htag$div(
    htag$button("And it has a cool button!!"),
    htag$span("The button - it does nothing", style = 'font-size: 6px')
  )
)

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Manually append this div to the body
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bottom$append(div2)

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Because github README's don't allow inline styles, the following is a
# screenshot of the rendered HTML
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my_div

   <div>
     <div>
       <h1 style="color: #345678">
         Hello RStats
       </h1>
     </div>
     <div class="main">
       <p style="font-family: monospace">
         I needed a more intuitive (to me) method of writing html in R
       </p>
       <div>
         <p>
           This is a small demo of the 
           <span style="color: red">
             minihtml
           </span>
           package in action
         </p>
         <hr />
         <div>
           <button>
             And it has a cool button!!
           </button>
           <span style="font-size: 6px">
             The button - it does nothing
           </span>
         </div>
       </div>
     </div>
   </div>