Highchart stacked columns - r

Question

I have the following graph:
highchart() %>%
hc_title(text = "Composition") %>%
hc_subtitle(text = "Subtitle") %>%
hc_chart(type = "column", polar = F) %>%
hc_xAxis(categories = c("A", "B", "C", "D", "E")) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type A", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type B", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type C", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type D", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type E", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type A", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type B", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type C", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type D", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B") %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type E", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B") %>%
hc_plotOptions(column = list(
dataLabels = list(enabled = FALSE),
stacking = "normal"))
The graph is creating different variables and also duplicating the legend for each stack = "A" and stack = "B". Then, we have Type A in the legend two times, Type B in the legend two times, etc. How can I stack different groups and have only one variable for each group?
I add a picture:
EDIT: I add some data
df <- structure(list(TYPE = c("TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A",
"TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A",
"TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_A", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B",
"TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B",
"TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B", "TYPE_B"), SUB_TYPE = c("Sub_A",
"Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_B", "Sub_B", "Sub_B",
"Sub_B", "Sub_B", "Sub_C", "Sub_C", "Sub_C", "Sub_C", "Sub_C",
"Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_A", "Sub_B", "Sub_B",
"Sub_B", "Sub_B", "Sub_B", "Sub_C", "Sub_C", "Sub_C", "Sub_C",
"Sub_C"), PERIOD = c("curr", "t0", "t1", "t2", "t3", "curr",
"t0", "t1", "t2", "t3", "curr", "t0", "t1", "t2", "t3", "curr",
"t0", "t1", "t2", "t3", "curr", "t0", "t1", "t2", "t3", "curr",
"t0", "t1", "t2", "t3"), VALUE = c(296.6954, 352.8885, 360.5875,
375.2185, 389.8869, 1409.0355, 1470.8772, 1537.3365, 1590.0784,
1650.0942, 115.7838, 117.8871, 122.5989, 133.0147, 140.5065,
296.6954, 352.8885, 360.5875, 437.319, 382.3504, 1409.0355, 1470.8772,
1440.1987, 1289.093, 1244.0955, 115.7838, 117.8871, 169.3969,
113.2784, 98.1415)), .Names = c("TYPE", "SUB_TYPE", "PERIOD",
"VALUE"), row.names = c(NA, -30L), class = "data.frame")
TYPE are the categories in the X, SUB_TYPE are the stacked vales ina column, and the PERIOD are the columns in each category (TYPE).

Answer 1

When you add series "Type A" the second time, it is considered as a different series even though it has the same name. What we can do here is link the second to the first to attach it to the same legend entry (see API reference) and manually set the same color.
library(highcharter)
default_colors <- c("#7cb5ec", "#434348", "#90ed7d", "#f7a35c", "#8085e9",
"#f15c80", "#e4d354", "#2b908f", "#f45b5b", "#91e8e1")
highchart() %>%
hc_title(text = "Composition") %>%
hc_subtitle(text = "Subtitle") %>%
hc_chart(type = "column", polar = F) %>%
hc_xAxis(categories = c("A", "B", "C", "D", "E")) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type A", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A",
id = "AA", color = default_colors[[1]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type B", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A",
id = "BA", color = default_colors[[2]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type C", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A",
id = "CA", color = default_colors[[3]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type D", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A",
id = "DA", color = default_colors[[4]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type E", data = c(5, 3, 4, 7, 2), stack = "A",
id = "EA", color = default_colors[[5]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type A", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B",
linkedTo = "AA", color = default_colors[[1]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type B", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B",
linkedTo = "BA", color = default_colors[[2]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type C", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B",
linkedTo = "CA", color = default_colors[[3]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type D", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B",
linkedTo = "DA", color = default_colors[[4]]) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "Type E", data = c(2, 2, 3, 2, 1), stack = "B",
linkedTo = "EA", color = default_colors[[5]]) %>%
hc_plotOptions(column = list(
dataLabels = list(enabled = FALSE),
stacking = "normal"))
UPD
If the number of series/categories is not known beforehand, we can still create the plot by defining the list of series with all the options and passing this list to hc_add_series_list. The purrr package comes in handy when we want to tranform a data.frame into a complex list.
library(dplyr)
library(purrr)
x_cats <- unique(df$TYPE)
default_colors <- c("#7cb5ec", "#434348", "#90ed7d", "#f7a35c", "#8085e9",
"#f15c80", "#e4d354", "#2b908f", "#f45b5b", "#91e8e1")
colors_df <- tibble(SUB_TYPE = unique(df$SUB_TYPE)) %>%
mutate(color = default_colors[1:n()])
series <- df %>%
left_join(colors_df, by = "SUB_TYPE") %>%
group_by(SUB_TYPE, color, PERIOD) %>%
group_split() %>%
map(~list(
name = .$SUB_TYPE[[1]],
stack = .$PERIOD[[1]],
color = .$color[[1]],
data = .$VALUE,
id = paste(.$SUB_TYPE[[1]], .$PERIOD[[1]], sep = "-"),
linkedTo = paste(.$SUB_TYPE[[1]], "curr", sep = "-")
)) %>%
# remove links of curr to itself
modify_if(~ .$stack == "curr", ~.[-6])
highchart() %>%
hc_chart(type = "column") %>%
hc_plotOptions(column = list(
dataLabels = list(enabled = FALSE),
stacking = "normal")
) %>%
hc_xAxis(categories = unique(df$TYPE)) %>%
hc_add_series_list(series)