Another solution to the R to Word table problem

Last time I used an HTML solution. This time, I create an RTF file:


# function: my.rtf.table
# purpose: convert a matrix, data.frame, or array into a rtf table
# output: text for RTF, possibly written to a file
# inputs:
# tab - a table, dataframe, or array (needs rownames and colnames)
# outfile - name of file (or console if NULL, which is default)
# rtffile - if T (default) then add {\rtf1 to beginning and } to end, making
# a full RTF file, if F then leave these off
# header - if T (default) then bold the table header
# ... - passed to format for the table body only
# tips: output to tempfile and use WordInsertFile(...) from the svViews
# package to easily convert a table to Microsoft Word
my.rtf.table <- function(tab,outfile=NULL,rtffile=T,header=T,...) {
if (!is.null(outfile)) sink(outfile)
tab.nrow<-nrow(tab)
tab.ncol<-ncol(tab)
if (rtffile) {
#begin RTF document
cat("{\\rtf1\n")
}
#populate header row
cat("\\trowd\\trautofit1\\intbl\n")
j <- 1
for (i in 1:(tab.ncol+1)) {
cat("\\cellx",j,'\n',sep='')
j<-j+1
}
cat("{\n")
# loop through and write column headers
cat(" \\cell\n")
for (i in 1:tab.ncol) {
if (header) {
cat('\\b ',colnames(tab)[i],"\\b0\\cell \n",sep='')
} else {
cat(colnames(tab)[i],"\\cell \n",sep='')
}
}
cat("}\n")
cat("{\n")
cat("\\trowd\\trautofit1\\intbl\n")

j<-1
for (i in 1:(tab.ncol+1)) {
cat("\\cellx",j,'\n',sep='')
j<-j+1
}
cat("\\row }\n")

#write table contents
for (k in 1:tab.nrow) {
cat("\\trowd\\trautofit1\\intbl\n")

j<-1
for (i in 1:(tab.ncol+1)) {
cat("\\cellx",j,'\n',sep='')
j<-j+1
}
cat("{\n")
cat(rownames(tab)[k],'\\cell\n',sep='')
for (i in 1:tab.ncol) {
cat(format(tab[k,i],...),"\\cell \n",sep='')
}
cat("}\n")
cat("{\n")
cat("\\trowd\\trautofit1\\intbl\n")
j<-1
for (i in 1:(tab.ncol+1)) {
cat("\\cellx",j,'\n',sep='')
j<-j+1
}
cat("\\row }\n")
}
if (rtffile) {
# end the rtffile
cat("}\n")
}
if (!is.null(outfile)) sink()
}


You'll need the package svViews (part of the SciViews series of packages) for this one.


library(svViews)
myfile <- paste(tempfile(),".rtf")
my.rtf.table(table,outfile=myfile)
# use svViews commands to set up Word, if needed
WordInsertFile(myfile)
unlink(myfile)


Basically, what the above does is create a temporary file to hold the RTF document, then write the RTF code to recreate the table, then add the RTF file to Word. The table can then be manipulated as desired. Unfortunately, as the SciViews is Windows only, the automation part of this process is Windows only, but the file creation is not. Since myfile is a string variable, an R function can be written to execute a series of Applescript commands on the Macintosh.