Templated Workflows

Introduction

The officer package is used to generate all of the underlying PowerPoint and Word documents. The purpose of onbrand is to provide an abstraction layer (or mapping) for the functions in officer in order to allow the same reporting workflow to be used with different template documents. This involves providing a consistent customizable method to interact with templates as well as a form of markdown to control the formatting of text.

If you want to use your own Office templates, we recommend you see the Custom Office Templates Vignette. This vignette focuses on how to construct workflows using templates. Here we will use the internal templates embedded in onbrand. If you want to copy them locally you can use the following commands:

file.copy(system.file(package="onbrand", "templates", "report.pptx"), "report.pptx")
file.copy(system.file(package="onbrand", "templates", "report.docx"), "report.docx")
file.copy(system.file(package="onbrand", "templates", "report.yaml"), "report.yaml")

PowerPoint

Loading your presentation template

To create a new onbrand object for a PowerPoint document you need to use onbrand::read_template(). This requires that you supply the path to your PowerPoint document and the yaml mapping files as follows:

obnd = read_template(
       template = file.path(system.file(package="onbrand"), "templates", "report.pptx"),
       mapping  = file.path(system.file(package="onbrand"), "templates", "report.yaml"))

Adding content to placeholders

The mapping file (printed at the bottom of this document) uses descriptive names for slide masters and placeholders. Here is a snippet from our report yaml.

rpptx:
  master: Office Theme
  templates:
    title_slide:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2
        content_type: text

To add content, use onbrand::report_add_slide(). The following will add a slide using the templated title_slide layout. Provide the elements argument with a list of placeholder names - each containing a list of values for both content and type. For each placeholder name listed you need to specify the content and the type of content in its own list:

obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "title_slide",
  elements = list(
     title     = list( content = "Onbrand PowerPoint Example",
                       type    = "text"),
     sub_title = list( content = "Workflow Abstraction",
                       type    = "text")))

For a detailed description of the different types of content and the expected format see the help for the onbrand::add_pptx_ph_content() function. Briefly, you can specify the following content types:

  • "text" - a string of text (only possible when the type in the mapping file is text)
  • "list" - list of information (only possible when the type in the mapping file is list)
  • "imagefile" - string containing the path to an image file
  • "ggplot" - a ggplot object
  • "table" - list containing table content and other options
  • "flextable" - list containing flextable content and other options
  • "flextable_object" - user-defined flextable object

Lists

The previous example showed how to add text content. To add a list, define a vector with paired content of the format c("indent level", "content", "indent level", "content). Where indent level indicates a numeric value starting at 1. For example, we could define the following list content:

bl = c("1", "This is first level bullet",
       "2", "sub-bullet",
       "3", "sub-sub-bullet",
       "3", "can't have just one sub-sub-bullet",
       "2", "same goes for sub-bullets",
       "1", "Another first level bullet")

The list bl can then be added to the content value of any placeholder with list as the type in the mapping file:

obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "content_list",
  elements = list(
     title        = list( content = "Adding List Content",
                          type    = "text"),
     content_body = list( content = bl,
                          type    = "list")))

Figures

Figures can be added in two ways:

  1. as an image file (e.g. a png)
  2. as a ggplot object (preferred method)

Generally, the ggplot object is preferred as it will automatically size according to the dimensions of the placeholder. First lets create some images:

library(ggplot2)
p = ggplot() + annotate("text", x=0, y=0, label = "picture example")
imgfile = tempfile(pattern="image", fileext=".png")
ggsave(filename=imgfile, plot=p, height=5.15, width=9, units="in")

Now that the object p contains the ggplot object and imgfile points to a png file containing that image, we can add the content to our two_content_header_text slide template:

obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "two_content_header_text",
  elements = list(
     title                = list(content  = "Adding Images Content",
                                 type     = "text"),
     content_left_header  = list(content  ="ggplot object",
                                 type     = "text"),
     content_left         = list(content  = p,
                                 type     = "ggplot"),
     content_right_header = list(content  ="image file",
                                 type     = "text"),
     content_right        = list(content  = imgfile,
                                 type     = "imagefile")))

Tables

Tables can be supplied in three different ways, each providing increasing level of control over the output:

  • table - Expects a list with the tabular data and other attributes. It uses the underlying tables in PowerPoint to make the tables.
  • flextable - Expects a list similar to the table above, but instead of using the PowerPoint tables, the table is created using the flextable package.
  • flextable_object - This allows you to create a flextable on your own and use it directly. The ultimate level of control.

Lets start by creating a simple data frame:

tdf = data.frame(Parameters = c("Length", "Width", "Height"),
                 Values     = 1:3,
                 Units      = c("m", "m", "m") )

To create a PowerPoint table, use the table content type. Construct a named list with a single element, table, containing the data frame; tab_cont = list(table = tdf). You can add list elements to display header information as well. See the help for onbrand::add_pptx_ph_content() for details.

tab_cont = list(table = tdf)
obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "content_text", 
  elements = list(
     title         = list( content      = "Tables",
                           type         = "text"),
     sub_title     = list( content      = "Creating PowerPoint Table",
                           type         = "text"),
     content_body  = list( content      = tab_cont,
                           type         = "table")))

Sometimes you may want to have a little more control over the tabular output. The flextable type allows you to supply the data and information about the flextable to be created and onbrand will then use them to create the flextable for you.

tab_ft = list(table         = tdf,
              header_format = "md",
              header_top    = list(Parameters = "Name^2^",
                                   Values     = "*Value*",
                                   Units      = "**Units**"),
              cwidth        = 0.8,
              table_autofit = TRUE,
              table_theme   = "theme_zebra")

Here we are specifying that we want the header format of the table to be rendered as markdown "md" and we are specifying that the top header (there can be top, middle and bottom) should be overwritten (for more on formatting with markdown see the markdown section below). Next we specify some other details like the column width. Again reference the help for onbrand::add_pptx_ph_content(). It covers the details of the list elements that can be supplied.

Alternatively, you can create a flextable object directly using the flextable package. There is an enormous amount of flexibility in the flextable package. Some of these can be seen in the Word examples below, but you should see the documentation for that package to get a feel for what is possible.

tab_fto = flextable(tdf)

You can then add these (flextable list: tab_ft, flextable object: tab_fto) to any of the placeholders on a slide:

obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "two_content_header_text",
  elements = list(
     title                 = list( content      = "Tables",
                                   type         = "text"),
     sub_title             = list( content      = "flextables can be created in two ways",
                                   type         = "text"),
     content_left_header   = list( content      = 'using "flextable"',
                                   type         = "text"),
     content_left          = list( content      = tab_ft,
                                   type         = "flextable"),
     content_right_header  = list( content      = 'using "flextable_objecct"',
                                   type         = "text"),
     content_right         = list( content      = tab_fto,
                                   type         = "flextable_object")))

Adding content in user-defined locations

If you want to place content in arbitrary locations on the slide you can use the user_location argument to report_add_slide(). The content and type is the same as above. You also need to supply a start and stop point. These are x-y coordinates as measured from the upper left point on the slide and they define the box where the content will be inserted. They represent fractions of the total slide width (x) and height (y):

obnd = report_add_slide(obnd,
  template = "two_content_header_list",
  elements = list(
     title         = list( content      = "Combining elements, user defined locations, and formatting",
                           type         = "text")),
  user_location = list(
     txt_example   =
       list( content        = fpar(ftext("This is formatted text", fp_text(color="green", font.size=24))),
             type           = "text",
             start          = c(0,  .25),
             stop           = c(.25,.35)),
     large_figure  =
       list( content        = p,
             type           = "ggplot",
             start          = c(.25,.25),
             stop           = c(.99,.99)),
     flextable_obj  =
       list( content        = tab_fto,
             type           = "flextable_object",
             start          = c(0,.75),
             stop           = c(.25,.95)),
     small_figure  =
       list( content        = p,
             type           = "ggplot",
             start          = c(0,  .35),
             stop           = c(.25,.74))
  )
)

Note that you can use both elements and user_location together.

Saving presentations

Once you are done adding content you can save the presentation to a file:

save_report(obnd, "vignette_presentation.pptx")

Which should look something like this: Example PowerPoint output for workflow above.

Accessing the PowerPoint mapping information

Sometimes it can be difficult to remember the template and placeholder names from the mapping file. You and use the onbrand::template_details function to show this information for the current onbrand object.

details = template_details(obnd) 
Mapping:     /private/var/folders/pq/7srbf_fx3rd3k706hgxkg61r0000gp/T/RtmpmHZaTq/Rinst4e4b605106a1/onbrand/templates/report.yaml
Report Type: PowerPoint
title_slide (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
section_slide (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
title_only (master/template)
  > title (text)
content_text (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_body (text)
content_list (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_body (list)
two_content_header_list (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_left_header (text)
  > content_left (list)
  > content_right_header (text)
  > content_right (list)
two_content_header_text (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_left_header (text)
  > content_left (text)
  > content_right_header (text)
  > content_right (text)
two_content_list (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_left (list)
  > content_right (list)
two_content_text (master/template)
  > title (text)
  > sub_title (text)
  > content_left (text)
  > content_right (text)

If you do not want to use the interfaces above for creating slides but would like to use the named mapping information in a more traditional officer workflow you can use the function fph. After you’ve loaded the onbrand object above (obnd) you can then pull out the placeholder label from PowerPoint for any named placeholder in a template layout specified in the yaml mapping file. For example if we wanted the placeholder label for the content_left_header in the two_content_header_text layout we would use the following:

ph = fph(obnd, "two_content_header_text", "content_left_header")$pl

Word

Loading your Word template

The onbrand::read_template() function is also used to create a new onbrand object for a Word report. Just as before, you need to supply the path to your Word template and the mapping file. This example points to files within the onbrand package:

obnd = read_template(
  template = file.path(system.file(package="onbrand"), "templates", "report.docx"),
  mapping  = file.path(system.file(package="onbrand"), "templates", "report.yaml"))

Adding content

Word report content is added using the onbrand::report_add_doc_content() function. This expects the user to identify the type of content being supplied. At a high level the following types of content can be added:

  • "break" - page break
  • "toc" - table of contents
  • "ph" - text content to substitute for placeholders in the document
  • "text" - text supplied as either character string, markdown or the result of officer::fpar() statements
  • "imagefile" - string containing the path to an image file
  • "ggplot" - a ggplot object
  • "table" - list containing table content and other options
  • "flextable" - list containing flextable content and other options
  • "flextable_object" - user-defined flextable object

Similar to adding PowerPoint content, you must also supply a list containing the content and information about the content. Examples of each of these will be provided in the sections below. However you should see the help for onbrand::report_add_doc_content() to get a detailed explanation of the format of content.

Table of contents

A table of contents, list of figures, or list of tables is added using the content type "toc". You can supply a level and/or an onbrand style. If you supply a level, the TOC will be generated down to that header level. If you supply an onbrand style, the TOC will include each element with that style. So if you wish to generate separate lists of tables and figures it is important that your onbrand styles for those point to different Word styles.

This will add a typical TOC:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "toc",
  content  = list(level=3))

While this should add the list of tables:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "toc",
  content  = list(style="Table_Caption"))

And this should add a list of figures:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "toc",
  content  = list(style="Figure_Caption"))

Note: If you try to update the TOCs and you get the following:

No table of contents entries found.

You may need to change the separator option in the yaml mapping file from: , to ;.

Text

The content type "text" is the most straight forward way to add content to a Word document, and the content is a list that has three possible elements. The only one required is the text element. If you just want to add text in the default format (doc_def in the yaml mapping file), then this is all you need to do:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text="Text with no style specified will use the doc_def text format. This is a 'ph' placehoder for text: ===BODY-TEXT-EXAMPLE=== [see Placeholder text section below]"))

Styles

Alternatively you can specify any style defined in the yaml mapping file by adding a style element to the content list. This shows how to create multi-level headers:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text  ="First level header",
                  style = "Heading_1"))
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text  ="Second level header",
                  style = "Heading_2"))
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text  ="Third level header",
                  style = "Heading_3"))

Note: If you want to use table and figure caption numbers that use section numbers (e.g. 1-1, 1-2, etc.) you may want/need to reset the figure counter for each major section. To do this you will need to use the fig_start_at and tab_start_at arguments to reset the counters for that section.

Formats

The other element you may want to control is the format of the content. In the previous examples you just needed to provide character data, but there are three possible formats you can use:

  • "text" - character string (previous examples)
  • "md" - character string with markdown to be rendered (see the section on markdown below)
  • "fpar" - officer::fpar() object from officer (used with paragraph text)
  • "ftext" - list of officer::ftext() objects officer (used with captions and notes for figures and tables)

The following provide example "fpar" and "md" formats

library(officer)

fpartext = fpar(
ftext("Formatted text can be created using the ", prop=NULL),
ftext("fpar ", prop=fp_text(color="green")),
ftext("command from the officer package.", prop=NULL))

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text   = fpartext, 
                  format = "fpar",
                  style  = "Normal"))

mdtext = "Formatted text can be created using **<color:green>markdown</color>** formatting"
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text   = mdtext,
                  format = "md",
                  style  = "Normal"))

Figures

Similar to the PowerPoint example above we’re going to create some figures. Both an image file (imgfile) and a ggplot object (p):

p = ggplot() + annotate("text", x=0, y=0, label = "picture example")
imgfile = tempfile(pattern="image", fileext=".png")
ggsave(filename=imgfile, plot=p, height=5.15, width=9, units="in")

We can add these by specifying the appropriate content type. The content list can contain different information. Typically you would either specify the image file or ggplot object as well as a caption:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "imagefile",
  content  = list(image   = imgfile,
                  caption = "This is an example of an image from a file."))
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ggplot",
  content  = list(image   = p,
                  caption = "This is an example of an image from a ggplot object."))

Tables

Tables in Word are similar to the tables in PowerPoint. The table type can be either table, flextable, or flextable_object. Lets look at this data frame to see how to use each of these:

tdf =    data.frame(Parameters = c("Length", "Width", "Height"),
                    Values     = 1:3,
                    Units      = c("m", "m", "m") )

To insert a native Word table, you would use the table type and the content is just a list with an element named table that has the value of a dataframe. As with figures, the content list can have an optional caption as well.

tab_cont = list(table   = tdf,
                caption = "Word Table.")
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "table",
  content  = tab_cont)

Flextables can be used with the flextable type and information like headers, header formatting, etc can be passed along. onbrand will then construct the flextable for you.

tab_ft = list(table         = tdf,
              header_format = "md",
              header_top    = list(Parameters = "Name^2^",
                                   Values     = "*Value*",
                                   Units      = "**Units**"),
              cwidth        = 0.8,
              table_autofit = TRUE,
              caption       = "Flextable from onbrand abstraction",
              table_theme   = "theme_zebra")
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "flextable",
  content  = tab_ft)

Lastly, to have the most control over the table you can construct a flextable yourself and pass that along in the content.

tab_fto = flextable(tdf)                      
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "flextable_object",
  content  = list(ft=tab_fto,
                  caption  = "Flextable object created by the user."))

Formatting sections

Section formatting, changing the page orientation and/or the number of columns, is controlled using the "section" content type. It may seem a bit counter intuitive but sections apply to the content added since the last section type specification. So now lets try the following:

  • Add a landscape figure
  • Add two column text
  • Add more content in portrait orientation

To change formatting we need to close out the current section by inserting a portrait section type:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
     type     = "section",
     content  = list(section_type  ="portrait"))

Then we add the content we want in landscape mode:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ggplot",
  content  = list(image   = p,
                  height  = 2.5,
                  width   = 9,
                  caption = "This is a landscape figure."))

Now we tell the underlying report to apply landscape formatting to everything that has been added since the portrait section type:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "section",
  content  = list(section_type  ="landscape",
                  height        = 8,
                  width         = 10))

Now we want to add the text for the two column format:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "text",
  content  = list(text    = paste(rep("Some two column text.", 200), collapse=" ")))

Now we insert a section indicating that we want to change the section to multiple columns. The number of columns is inferred from the number of elements in the widths argument:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "section",
  content  = list(section_type  ="columns",
                  widths        = c(3,3)))

We can now add content but don’t forget to set the insert a portrait section at the end just before you save the document.

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type          = "text",
  content       = list(text    = "Back to regular portrait"))

Placeholder text

When generating reporting workflows it can be helpful to have placeholder text in the report that is populated based on the specifics of that report. To add placeholders you can use the "ph" content type. This content type will not appear in the yaml file, it is unique to onbrand. A placeholder is a unique string of text surrounded on both sides by === (three equal signs). If the placeholder is in your template document, it may not work correctly if you type the text into Word. This is because while a string may appear to be a contiguous in Word, it may not be so in the underlying XML code. To ensure the string is contiguous you should type the placeholder text into a text editor, then copy and paste it into the Word template.

The placeholder can be in the document template itself (in the footer or header sections) or in the text you generate and add as part of your workflow. In this example, the text ===BODY-TEXT-EXAMPLE=== was added into the text content we added in the first step above. That placeholder will be replaced with the text Swaps the placeholder with this Text.

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ph",
  content  = list(name     = "BODY-TEXT-EXAMPLE",
                  value    = "Swaps the placeholder with this Text",
                  location = "body"))

You can have the placeholders in the body as in the previous example and also in the headers and footers of the document. Again, these will not appear in the yaml mapping (or abstraction layer). In these examples the ===FOOTERLEFT=== and ===HEADERLEFT=== placeholders are found in the template itself. There is another placeholder ===HEADERRIGHT=== which we have not used so that you can see it in the final output.

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ph",
  content  = list(name     = "FOOTERLEFT",
                  value    = "Text Swapped with Footer Placeholder",
                  location = "footer"))
obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ph",
  content  = list(name     = "HEADERLEFT",
                  value    = "Text Swapped with Header Placeholder",
                  location = "header"))

Headers are applied when the document is saved and can be added at any time to the onbrand report object.

Formatting sections (again)

Recall up above that we were in a multi-column page format, but we wanted to return to the default portrait single column format. We added text but before we save the file we need to tell the document to apply the new section type:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "section",
  content  = list(section_type  ="portrait"))

Note: that if you don’t alter the page format/layout from the document default, then you do not need to add any section content.

Multi-page figures and tables

Some figures and tables need to span multiple pages. If you have a large flextable it will do that automatically. However it may be more desirable to have a caption on each page with the figure or table. To accomplish this, using a figure as an example you need to create a separate figure for each page. For each figure you will need to provide the same key value. The first figure with that key will be assigned a figure number and the other figures with that key will have the same number that references the first.

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ggplot",
  content  = list(image           = p,
                  notes_format    = "text",
                  key             = "ex_fig_text",
                  notes           = "This figure shows how to use text captions _and_ notes",
                  caption_format  = "text",
                  caption         = "Multi-page figure (page 1)"))

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "break",
  content  = NULL)

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "ggplot",
  content  = list(image           = p,
                  notes_format    = "text",
                  key             = "ex_fig_text",
                  notes           = "This figure shows how to use text captions _and_ notes",
                  caption_format  = "text",
                  caption         = "Multi-page figure (page 2)"))

Cross referencing figures and tables

When figures and tables are created above each content list has an optional key. In the example from the last section we created the key "ex_fig_text". To reference in the word document you have two options. You can construct your content using onbrand markdown. Then you simply need to use the ref tag: <ref:ex_fig_text> and the figure number will be replaced when the document is built. You can also use the officer::fpar() function to construct content. Then you would use the officer command officer::run_reference() and the figure key to insert the figure number.

Saving the Word report

Once you are done adding content you can save the report to a file with the `save_report()`` function as well:

save_report(obnd, "vignette_report.docx")

The output from the example above should look like this:

Example Word output for workflow above.
Example Word output for workflow above.

Accessing the Word mapping information

It can also be useful to quickly access the onbrand style names. You can use the same onbrand::template_details function to display the current styles available to you:

details = template_details(obnd) 
Mapping:     /private/var/folders/pq/7srbf_fx3rd3k706hgxkg61r0000gp/T/RtmpmHZaTq/Rinst4e4b605106a1/onbrand/templates/report.yaml
Report Type: Word
  onbrand style (word style, style type)
  --------------------------------------
  Code (Code, paragraph)
  Figure_Caption (graphic title, paragraph)
  Heading_1 (heading 1, paragraph)
  Heading_2 (heading 2, paragraph)
  Heading_3 (heading 3, paragraph)
  Normal (Normal, paragraph)
  Notes (Notes, paragraph)
  TOC (toc 1, paragraph)
  Table_Caption (table title, paragraph)
  Table (Table Grid, table)

As with the PowerPoint interface, you can also access the named Word mapping directly. This is done through the fst function. With the onbrand objected loaded (obnd) you can supply an onbrand style name and pull out the Word style name (wsn) and the default font format (dff):

st = fst(obnd, "Heading_3")
#Word style name
wsn = st$wsn
# Default font format
dff = st$dff

Formatting with markdown

In officer you can change formatting in text using fpar and as_pargraph. There are situations where this is less than ideal. For example if you want to take formatted user input from a Shiny app, it may not be practical to have them supply code this way.

To make formatting a little easier, onbrand provides the ability to use markdown. This can be seen above in flextable objects for PowerPoint content and with text, captions in Word. For a list of allowed markdown formatting see the help for `onbrand::md_to_officer()``.

If you want to use the markdown functionality outside of onbrand you can use the two functions:

Using onbrand::md_to_oo to format

First lets start with data. Here we have dimensional data listed as a mean and variance:

data = data.frame(property = c("mean",   "variance"),
                  length     = c(200,      0.13),
                  width      = c(12,       0.05),
                  area       = c(240,      0.11),
                  volume     = c(1200,     0.32))

Now lets create a flextable object with a header that shows the property being reported on one line and the units on the line below:

header = list(property = c("",             ""),
              length   = c("Length",       "cm"),
              width    = c("Wdith",        "cm"),
              area     = c("Area",         "cm2"),
              volume   = c("Volume",       "cm3"))

ft = flextable::flextable(data)                     %>% 
     flextable::delete_part(part = "header")        %>%
     flextable::add_header(values =as.list(header)) %>%
     flextable::theme_zebra()

That flextable currently looks like this:

Length

Wdith

Area

Volume

cm

cm

cm2

cm3

mean

200.00

12.00

240.00

1,200.00

variance

0.13

0.05

0.11

0.32

Now, lets customize some things. For example, suppose we want to use exponents on the units and represent the mean and variance with \(\mu\) and \(\sigma^2\).

First, we need to create lists with the default value for the table labels (i.e. the header) and the table body. The markdown will create deviations from these defaults. You can look at the help for onbrand::md_to_oo to get the appropriate list format. Here we’re just pulling them out of the onbrand object using onbrand::fetch_md_def().

dft      = fetch_md_def(obnd, style="Table_Labels")$md_def
dft_body = fetch_md_def(obnd, style="Table")$md_def

Now we can use the flextable::compose function to walk through the table and overwrite the defaults that were set when the flextable was created:

ft = ft %>%
  flextable::compose(j     = "area",
          part  = "header", 
          value = c(md_to_oo("Area", dft)$oo, md_to_oo("cm^2^", dft)$oo))   %>%
  flextable::compose(j     = "volume", 
          part  = "header",
          value = c(md_to_oo("Volume", dft)$oo, md_to_oo("cm^3^", dft)$oo)) %>%
  flextable::compose(j     = "property", 
          i     = match("mean", data$property),                        
          part  = "body",  
          value = c(md_to_oo("**<ff:symbol>m</ff>**", dft_body)$oo))    %>%
  flextable::compose(j     = "property",
          i     = match("variance", data$property), 
          part  = "body",                                                     
          value = c(md_to_oo("**<ff:symbol>s</ff>**^**2**^", dft_body)$oo))

Now the flextable object looks like this:

Length

Wdith

Area

Volume

cm

cm

cm2

cm3

m

200.00

12.00

240.00

1,200.00

s2

0.13

0.05

0.11

0.32

Note that the Greek symbols are not rendered correctly here but will be rendered correctly in the document.

To include the newly formatted table in the onbrand object, you use the same method as before:

obnd = report_add_doc_content(obnd,
  type     = "flextable_object",
  content  = list(ft=tab_fto,
                  caption  = "Flextable object with custom Markdown - created by the user."))

Accessing the officer object directly

Sometimes you need more control over creating a report, and you may want to use the officer commands directly. To do this you can use the function fetch_officer_object() to pull out the officer object from the onbrand object:

Now you can use any officer command you wish on the rpt object. And when you’re done you can put the object back into the onbrand object using set_officer_object():

Mapping file

rpptx:
  master: Office Theme
  templates:
    title_slide:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2
        content_type: text
    section_slide:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2
        content_type: text
    title_only:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
    content_text:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2
        content_type: text
      content_body:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 2
        content_type: text
    content_list:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2 
        content_type: text
      content_body:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 2
        content_type: list
    two_content_header_list:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2
        content_type: text
      content_left_header:
        ph_label:     Text Placeholder 2
        content_type: text
      content_left:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 3
        content_type: list
      content_right_header:
        ph_label:     Text Placeholder 4
        content_type: text
      content_right:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 5
        content_type: list
    two_content_header_text:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2 
        content_type: text
      content_left_header:
        ph_label:     Text Placeholder 2
        content_type: text
      content_left:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 3
        content_type: text
      content_right_header:
        ph_label:     Text Placeholder 4
        content_type: text
      content_right:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 5
        content_type: text
    two_content_list:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2 
        content_type: text
      content_left:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 2
        content_type: list
      content_right:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 3
        content_type: list
    two_content_text:
      title:
        ph_label:     Title 1
        content_type: text
      sub_title:
        ph_label:     Subtitle 2 
        content_type: text
      content_left:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 2
        content_type: text
      content_right:
        ph_label:     Content Placeholder 3
        content_type: text
  md_def:
    default:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  TRUE
      italic:                FALSE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Helvetica
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
    Table_Labels:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  TRUE
      italic:                FALSE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Helvetica
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
  post_processing:           NULL
rdocx:
  styles:
    Normal:                    Normal
    Notes:                     Notes
    Code:                      Code
    TOC:                       toc 1
    Heading_1:                 heading 1
    Heading_2:                 heading 2
    Heading_3:                 heading 3
    Table:                     Table Grid
    Table_Caption:             table title
    Figure_Caption:            graphic title
  doc_def:
    Text:                      Normal
    Table:                     Table
    Table_Caption:             Table_Caption
    Figure_Caption:            Figure_Caption
    Notes:                     Notes
  formatting:
    separator:                 ","
    Table_Order:
      - table
      - notes
      - caption
    Table_Caption_Label_Pre:   "Table "
    Table_Caption_Label_Post:  ". "
    Figure_Order:
      - figure
      - notes
      - caption
    Figure_Caption_Label_Pre:  "Figure "
    Figure_Caption_Label_Post: ". "
    Figure_Width:              6.0
    Figure_Height:             5.0
    Figure_Seq_Id:             "Figure"
    Figure_Number: |-
      list(officer::run_autonum(pre_label  = "", 
                                seq_id     = Caption_Seq_Id, 
                                post_label = "", 
                                start_at   = Caption_Start_At))
    Table_Seq_Id:              "Table"
    Table_Number: |-
      list(officer::run_autonum(pre_label  = "", 
                                seq_id     = Caption_Seq_Id, 
                                post_label = "", 
                                start_at   = Caption_Start_At))
  md_def:
    # For each style above you need a default specification here. You will
    # also need the 'default' specification, generally just a copy of Normal
    default:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              12
      bold:                   FALSE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Cambria (Body)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Table_Labels:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  TRUE
      italic:                FALSE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Helvetica
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
    Notes:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              10
      bold:                   FALSE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Cambria (Body)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Normal:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              12
      bold:                   FALSE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Cambria (Body)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Code:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              12
      bold:                   FALSE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Courier
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    TOC:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              12
      bold:                   FALSE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Courier
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Heading_1:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              16
      bold:                   TRUE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Calibri (Headings)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Heading_2:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              13
      bold:                   TRUE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Calibri (Headings)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Heading_3:
      color:                  black
      font.size:              12
      bold:                   TRUE
      italic:                 FALSE
      underlined:             FALSE
      font.family:            Calibri (Headings)
      vertical.align:         baseline
      shading.color:          transparent
    Table:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  FALSE
      italic:                FALSE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Helvetica
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
    Table_Caption:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  TRUE
      italic:                TRUE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Cambria (Body)
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
    Figure_Caption:
      color:                 black
      font.size:             12
      bold:                  TRUE
      italic:                TRUE
      underlined:            FALSE
      font.family:           Cambria (Body)
      vertical.align:        baseline
      shading.color:         transparent
  post_processing:           NULL