Export an agent, informant, multiagent, or table scan to HTML

The agent, informant, multiagent, and the table scan object can be easily written as HTML with export_report(). Furthermore, any report objects from the agent, informant, and multiagent (generated using get_agent_report(), get_informant_report(), and get_multiagent_report()) can be provided here for HTML export. Each HTML document written to disk is self-contained and easily viewable in a web browser.

Usage

export_report(x, filename, path = NULL, quiet = FALSE)

Arguments

x

One of several types of objects

<object> // required

An agent object of class ptblank_agent, an informant of class ptblank_informant, a multiagent of class ptblank_multiagent, a table scan of class ptblank_tbl_scan, or, customized reporting objects (ptblank_agent_report, ptblank_informant_report, ptblank_multiagent_report.wide, ptblank_multiagent_report.long).

filename

File name

scalar<character> // required

The filename to create on disk for the HTML export of the object provided. It's recommended that the extension ".html" is included.

path

File path

scalar<character> // default: NULL (optional)

An optional path to which the file should be saved (this is automatically combined with filename).

quiet

Inform (or not) upon file writing

scalar<logical> // default: FALSE

Should the function not inform when the file is written?

Value

Invisibly returns TRUE if the file has been written.

Examples

A: Writing an agent report as HTML

Let's go through the process of (1) developing an agent with a validation plan (to be used for the data quality analysis of the small_table dataset), (2) interrogating the agent with the interrogate() function, and (3) writing the agent and all its intel to a file.

Creating an action_levels object is a common workflow step when creating a pointblank agent. We designate failure thresholds to the warn, stop, and notify states using action_levels().

al <- 
  action_levels(
    warn_at = 0.10,
    stop_at = 0.25,
    notify_at = 0.35
  )

Now create a pointblank agent object and give it the al object (which serves as a default for all validation steps which can be overridden). The data will be referenced in the tbl argument with a leading ~.

agent <- 
  create_agent(
    tbl = ~ small_table,
    tbl_name = "small_table",
    label = "`export_report()`",
    actions = al
  )

As with any agent object, we can add steps to the validation plan by using as many validation functions as we want. Then, we interrogate().

agent <-
  agent %>% 
  col_exists(columns = c(date, date_time)) %>%
  col_vals_regex(
    columns = b,
    regex = "[0-9]-[a-z]{3}-[0-9]{3}"
  ) %>%
  rows_distinct() %>%
  col_vals_gt(columns = d, value = 100) %>%
  col_vals_lte(columns = c, value = 5) %>%
  interrogate()

The agent report can be written to an HTML file with export_report().

export_report(
  agent,
  filename = "agent-small_table.html"
)

If you're consistently writing agent reports when periodically checking data, we could make use of affix_date() or affix_datetime() depending on the granularity you need. Here's an example that writes the file with the format: "<filename>-YYYY-mm-dd_HH-MM-SS.html".

export_report(
  agent,
  filename = affix_datetime(
    "agent-small_table.html"
  )
)

B: Writing an informant report as HTML

Let's go through the process of (1) creating an informant object that minimally describes the small_table dataset, (2) ensuring that data is captured from the target table using the incorporate() function, and (3) writing the informant report to HTML.

Create a pointblank informant object with create_informant() and the small_table dataset. Use incorporate() so that info snippets are integrated into the text.

informant <- 
  create_informant(
    tbl = ~ small_table,
    tbl_name = "small_table",
    label = "`export_report()`"
  ) %>%
  info_snippet(
    snippet_name = "high_a",
    fn = snip_highest(column = "a")
  ) %>%
  info_snippet(
    snippet_name = "low_a",
    fn = snip_lowest(column = "a")
  ) %>%
  info_columns(
    columns = a,
    info = "From {low_a} to {high_a}."
  ) %>%
  info_columns(
    columns = starts_with("date"),
    info = "Time-based values."
  ) %>%
  info_columns(
    columns = date,
    info = "The date part of `date_time`."
  ) %>%
  incorporate()

The informant report can be written to an HTML file with export_report(). Let's do this with affix_date() so the filename has a datestamp.

export_report(
  informant,
  filename = affix_date(
    "informant-small_table.html"
  )
)

C: Writing a table scan as HTML

We can get a report that describes all of the data in the storms dataset.

tbl_scan <- scan_data(tbl = dplyr::storms)

The table scan object can be written to an HTML file with export_report().

export_report(
  tbl_scan,
  filename = "tbl_scan-storms.html"
)

Function ID

9-3