Highchart: Can I use a different variable as the data labels? - r

Question

I'm trying to build a column chart through highchart in r studio. I've converted the values to % as I want the graph to show %, but I want the data labels to show the value, is there a way of doing this?
My data set has a column with the values for London and the percentages for London, I want the Y axis of the graph to show the % while the data labels show the value.
This is my current code:
hc <- highchart() %>%
hc_title(text= "Gender - London")%>%
hc_colors('#71599b') %>%
hc_yAxis(max = 0.7) %>%
hc_xAxis(categories = Sex$Gender) %>%
hc_add_series(name = "London", type = "column",
data = Sex$LON_PERC, dataLabels = list(enabled=TRUE, format={Sex$London}) )
So, I've put Sex$LON_PERC (% in London) as the data to plot while Sex$London is the data labels.
But this code puts all the values of London in each data label.
Edit:
This is the data I'm trying to plot, LON_PERC on the Y Axis, Gender on the X axis and London as the Data Labels
Gender London LON_PERC
Declined 5 0.000351247
Female 8230 0.578152441
Male 4640 0.325957148
No Data 1360 0.095539164

Answer 1

I am rather uncomfortable working with the ´highcharter´ package, as it requires a commercial license, which I do not have.
The result you want to achieve can be reached with the following - rather straightforward - code using base r or ggplot functionality, both of which are freeware. I will show this with two code fragments below.
### your data
Sex <- read.table(header = TRUE, text =
"Gender London LON_PERC
Declined 5 0.000351247
Female 8230 0.578152441
Male 4640 0.325957148
'No Data' 1360 0.095539164
")
A Solution using base r
The barplot function returns a vector (when besides is false) with the coordinates of all the midpoints of the bars drawn (if besides is true, it is a matrix). This gives us the X-coordinates for setting text above the bars, the bar-heights we already have in the data we plot, right.
# Draw the barplot and store result in `mp`
mp <- barplot(Sex$LON_PERC, # height of the bar
names.arg = Sex$Gender, # x-axis labels
ylim = c(0, 0.7), # limits of y-axis
col = '#71599b', # your color
main = "Gender - London") # main title
# add text to the barplot using the stored values
text(x = mp, # middle of the bars
y = Sex$LON_PERC, # height of the bars
labels = Sex$London, # text to display
adj = c(.5, -1.5)) # adjust horizontally and vertically
This yields the following plot:
A solution based on ggplot
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(aes(x = Gender, y = LON_PERC), data = Sex) +
geom_bar(stat = "identity", width = .60, fill = "#71599b" ) +
geom_text(aes(label = London),
position = position_dodge(width = .9),
vjust = -.3, size = 3, hjust = "center") +
theme_minimal() +
scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0, 0.7),
breaks = seq(0.0, 0.7, by = 0.1),
minor_breaks = NULL) +
labs(title = "Gender - London") +
theme(axis.title.y = element_blank(), axis.title.x = element_blank())
yielding the following plot:
In both cases, a lot of characteristics may be adapted to your needs/wishes.
I hope you benefit from these examples, even though it is not made with highcharter.

Answer 2

I've found a work around.
So, I can add in a "tooltip" that appears when I hover over the column/bar.
Firstly, a function is needed:
myhc_add_series_labels_values <- function (hc, labels, values, text, colors= NULL, ...)
{
assertthat::assert_that(is.highchart(hc), is.numeric(values),
length(labels) == length(values))
df <- dplyr::data_frame(name = labels, y = values, text=text)
if (!is.null(colors)) {
assert_that(length(labels) == length(colors))
df <- mutate(df, color = colors)
}
ds <- list_parse(df)
hc <- hc %>% hc_add_series(data = ds, ...)
hc
}
and then when creating the highchart this function needs to be called.
The data looks as follows:
Sex <- read.table(header = TRUE, text =
"Gender London LON_PERC
Declined 5 0.000351247
Female 8230 0.578152441
Male 4640 0.325957148
'No Data' 1360 0.095539164
")
Then the code to generate the highchart is:
Gender<- highchart() %>%
hc_xAxis(categories = Sex$Gender, labels=list(rotation=0))%>%
myhc_add_series_labels_values(labels = Sex$Gender,values=Sex$LON_PERC, text=Sex$London, type="column")%>%
hc_tooltip(crosshairs=TRUE, borderWidth=5, sort=TRUE, shared=TRUE, table=TRUE,pointFormat=paste('<br>%: {point.y}%<br>#: {point.text}'))%>%
hc_legend()
This gives the below output:
Then when I hover over each column/bar it gives be the % information and the number information as can be seen here: