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Aesthetic Options

aesthetic_options.Rmd

Introduction

Visual adjustments in controlcharts are handled through dedicated settings arguments. Each group of settings (e.g., canvas, axes, lines) has its own argument (e.g., canvas_settings, x_axis_settings).

To see the full list of available options for a group, you can use the helper functions spc_default_settings('{group_name}') or funnel_default_settings('{group_name}') (e.g., spc_default_settings('x_axis')).

Setup Data

We will use the following synthetic datasets for the examples below:

set.seed(42)

# SPC Data (Time Series)
spc_data <- data.frame(
  date = seq(as.Date("2023-01-01"), by = "month", length.out = 12),
  value = c(10, 12, 11, 15, 12, 11, 25, 12, 11, 10, 11, 12),
  group = "A"
)
spc_data$label_text <- paste0("Val: ", spc_data$value)

# Funnel Data (Categorical)
funnel_data <- data.frame(
  id = LETTERS[1:10],
  num = sample(10:50, 10),
  denom = sample(50:100, 10)
)

Title Settings

The title argument allows you to add a plot title and customize its font and position. Note that title takes a named list of parameters.

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  title = list(
    text = "Monthly Performance",
    font_size = "20px",
    font_family = "Courier New",
    font_weight = "bold"
  )
)$static_plot

Canvas Settings

The canvas_settings argument controls the overall plot area, such as padding. This is useful if labels or titles are being clipped.

SPC Example 

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  canvas_settings = list(
    upper_padding = 50,
    lower_padding = 50
  )
)$static_plot

Funnel Example 

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  canvas_settings = list(
    left_padding = 50,
    right_padding = 50
  )
)$static_plot

Axis Settings

You can customize the X and Y axes using x_axis_settings and y_axis_settings. Common options include toggling visibility, rotating ticks, and forcing limits.

X Axis

SPC: Rotating Ticks 

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  x_axis_settings = list(
    xlimit_tick_rotation = -45,
    xlimit_label = "Month of Observation"
  )
)$static_plot

Funnel: Axis Label 

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  x_axis_settings = list(
    xlimit_label = "Population Size (Denominator)"
  )
)$static_plot

Y Axis 

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  y_axis_settings = list(
    ylimit_show = TRUE, # Ensure axis is shown
    limit_multiplier = 2 # Expand the auto-calculated limits
  )
)$static_plot

Date Settings (SPC Only)

For SPC charts with date keys, date_settings controls how dates are formatted on the axis and tooltips.

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  date_settings = list(
    date_format_day = "DD",
    date_format_month = "Mon", # Abbreviated month
    date_format_year = "YY",
    date_format_delim = "-"
  )
)$static_plot

Line Settings

The line_settings argument allows customization of the main data lines, including targets and limits lines.

SPC: Main Line 

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  line_settings = list(
    colour_main = "purple",
    width_main = 3,
    type_main = "2 5" # Dashed line pattern
  )
)$static_plot

Funnel: Limit Lines

Funnel plots rely heavily on control limits. You can customize the 95% and 99% limits independently.

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  line_settings = list(
    colour_95 = "orange",
    width_95 = 2,
    type_95 = "10 0", # Solid
    colour_99 = "red",
    width_99 = 3
  )
)$static_plot

Scatter Settings

Control the appearance of data points using scatter_settings.

Basic Point Styling 

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  scatter_settings = list(
    shape = "Diamond",
    size = 8,
    colour = "orange",
    opacity = 0.8
  )
)$static_plot

Point Label Styling (Funnel Only)

Funnel charts allow displaying the group key directly on the scatter points (instead of floating tooltips). You can customize this text using scatter_text_* options.

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  scatter_settings = list(
    use_group_text = TRUE,     # Enable text labels on points
    scatter_text_colour = "darkblue",
    scatter_text_size = 14,
    scatter_text_font = "Georgia"
  )
)$static_plot

Label Settings

Data labels can be customized via label_settings. You can pass a column to the labels argument to display custom text.

SPC Example 

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  labels = label_text, # Using the custom column created earlier
  label_settings = list(
    show_labels = TRUE,
    label_position = "bottom",
    label_colour = "red",
    label_font = "Verdana",
    label_size = 10
  )
)$static_plot

Funnel Example 

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  labels = id, # Show ID as label
  label_settings = list(
    show_labels = TRUE,
    label_colour = "blue",
    label_font = "Arial",
    label_size = 12
  )
)$static_plot

Conditional Formatting

A powerful feature of controlcharts is vectorised settings. While most settings take a single value (e.g., colour = "blue"), specific settings accept a vector matching the length of your data.

This allows you to apply conditional formatting logic directly from R.

Currently, this is supported for: * scatter_settings (Both SPC and Funnel) * line_settings (SPC Only)

Conditional Point Colours

In this SPC example, we color data points red if they exceed a value of 15.

# Create a color vector matching the data logic
point_colors <- ifelse(spc_data$value > 15, "red", "#E69F00")

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  scatter_settings = list(
    colour = point_colors,
    size = 5
  )
)$static_plot

In this Funnel example, we highlight points with a high denominator (large population).

# Logic: Highlight large denominators
funnel_cols <- ifelse(funnel_data$denom > 80, "green", "gray")

funnel(
  funnel_data,
  keys = id,
  numerators = num,
  denominators = denom,
  scatter_settings = list(
    colour = funnel_cols,
    size = 6,
    opacity = 1
  )
)$static_plot

Conditional Line Segments (SPC Only)

You can also color different segments of the main line. This is useful for highlighting specific time periods or phases.

# Define colors for line segments
# Note: The vector length corresponds to the points; segments connect points.
line_colors <- rep("gray", nrow(spc_data))
line_colors[5:8] <- "orange" # Highlight a middle section

spc(
  spc_data,
  keys = date,
  numerators = value,
  line_settings = list(
    colour_main = line_colors,
    width_main = 3
  )
)$static_plot