Question

I’d like to label points in a ggplot interactively, so that mousing over a point shows a label.

I’m trying to adapt the answer given in this question so that it works in the latest version of ggplot2. Influenced by comments on the ggplot google group, here, I used the latest version of geom-point-.r as a template, adding a “label” field to the gp argument in various places. Then I copied the remaining code from kohske’s answer. But it doesn’t work — there aren’t any labels in the resulting svg, and I can’t figure out why.

I did notice that everything in point_grobs_labels is null, and when I look at grid.get(point_grob_names[1])$gp, there is no label field…

library(ggplot2)
library(gridSVG)
library(proto)
library(rjson)

geom_point2 <- function (mapping = NULL, data = NULL, stat = "identity", 
                         position = "identity",
                         na.rm = FALSE, ...) {
  ggplot2:::GeomPoint$new(mapping = mapping, data = data, stat = stat, 
                          position = position, 
                          na.rm = na.rm, ...)
}

GeomPoint2 <- proto(ggplot2:::Geom, {
  objname <- "point"

  draw_groups <- function(., ...) .$draw(...)
  draw <- function(., data, scales, coordinates, na.rm = FALSE, ...) {    
    data <- remove_missing(data, na.rm, 
                           c("x", "y", "size", "shape"), name = "geom_point")
    if (empty(data)) return(zeroGrob())

    with(coord_transform(coordinates, data, scales), 
         ggname(.$my_name(), pointsGrob(x, y, size=unit(size, "mm"), pch=shape, 
                                        gp=gpar(
                                          col=alpha(colour, alpha),
                                          fill = alpha(fill, alpha),  
                                          label = label, 
                                          fontsize = size * .pt)))
    )
  }

  draw_legend <- function(., data, ...) {
    data <- aesdefaults(data, .$default_aes(), list(...))

    with(data,
         pointsGrob(0.5, 0.5, size=unit(size, "mm"), pch=shape, 
                    gp=gpar(
                      col = alpha(colour, alpha), 
                      fill = alpha(fill, alpha), 
                      label = label,
                      fontsize = size * .pt)
         )
    )
  }

  default_stat <- function(.) StatIdentity
  required_aes <- c("x", "y")
  default_aes <- function(.) aes(shape=16, colour="black", size=2, 
                                 fill = NA, alpha = NA, label = NA)

})

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, label = rownames(mtcars))) + geom_point2() + facet_wrap(~ gear)
print(p)

grob_names <- grid.ls(print = FALSE)$name
point_grob_names <- sort(grob_names[grepl("point", grob_names)])
point_grobs_labels <- lapply(point_grob_names, function(x) grid.get(x)$gp$label)  

jlabel <- toJSON(point_grobs_labels)

grid.text("value", 0.05, 0.05, just = c(0, 0), name = "text_place", gp = gpar(col = "red"))

script <- '
var txt = null;
function f() {
var id = this.id.match(/geom_point2.([0-9]+)\\.points.*\\.([0-9]+)$/);
txt.textContent = label[id[1]-1][id[2]-1];
}

window.addEventListener("load",function(){
var es = document.getElementsByTagName("circle");
for (i=0; i<es.length; ++i) es[i].addEventListener("mouseover", f, false);

txt = (document.getElementById("text_place").getElementsByTagName("tspan"))[0];

},false);
'

grid.script(script = script)
grid.script(script = paste("var label = ", jlabel))

gridToSVG()

Answer 1

Try this:

library(ggplot2)
library(gridSVG)
library(proto)
library(rjson)
mtcars2 <- data.frame(mtcars, names = rownames(mtcars))

geom_point2 <- function (...) {
  GeomPoint2$new(...)
}

GeomPoint2 <- proto(ggplot2:::Geom, {
  objname <- "point"

  draw_groups <- function(., ...) .$draw(...)
  draw <- function(., data, scales, coordinates, na.rm = FALSE, ...) {    
    data <- remove_missing(data, na.rm, 
                           c("x", "y", "size", "shape"), name = "geom_point")
    if (empty(data)) return(zeroGrob())
    name <- paste(.$my_name(), data$PANEL[1], sep = ".")
    with(coord_transform(coordinates, data, scales), 
         ggname(name, pointsGrob(x, y, size=unit(size, "mm"), pch=shape, 
                                        gp=gpar(
                                          col=alpha(colour, alpha),
                                          fill = alpha(fill, alpha),  
                                          label = label, 
                                          fontsize = size * .pt)))
    )
  }

  draw_legend <- function(., data, ...) {
    data <- aesdefaults(data, .$default_aes(), list(...))

    with(data,
         pointsGrob(0.5, 0.5, size=unit(size, "mm"), pch=shape, 
                    gp=gpar(
                      col = alpha(colour, alpha), 
                      fill = alpha(fill, alpha), 
                      label = label,
                      fontsize = size * .pt)
         )
    )
  }

  default_stat <- function(.) StatIdentity
  required_aes <- c("x", "y")
  default_aes <- function(.) aes(shape=16, colour="black", size=2, 
                                 fill = NA, alpha = NA, label = NA)

})

p <- ggplot(mtcars2, aes(mpg, wt, label = names)) + geom_point2() +facet_wrap(~ gear)
print(p)

grob_names <- grid.ls(print = FALSE)$name
point_grob_names <- sort(grob_names[grepl("point", grob_names)])
point_grobs_labels <- lapply(point_grob_names, function(x) grid.get(x)$gp$label)

jlabel <- toJSON(point_grobs_labels)

grid.text("value", 0.05, 0.05, just = c(0, 0), name = "text_place", gp = gpar(col = "red"))

script <- '
var txt = null;
function f() {
    var id = this.id.match(/geom_point.([0-9]+)\\.points.*\\.([0-9]+)$/);
    txt.textContent = label[id[1]-1][id[2]-1];
}

window.addEventListener("load",function(){
    var es = document.getElementsByTagName("circle");
    for (i=0; i<es.length; ++i) es[i].addEventListener("mouseover", f, false);

    txt = (document.getElementById("text_place").getElementsByTagName("tspan"))[0];

},false);
'
grid.script(script = paste("var label = ", jlabel))
grid.script(script = script)

gridToSVG()

there were no big changes, but I had to add

mtcars2 <- data.frame(mtcars, names = rownames(mtcars))

and then

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, label = rownames(mtcars)))
     + geom_point2() + facet_wrap(~ gear)

also changes to

p <- ggplot(mtcars2, aes(mpg, wt, label = names)) 
     + geom_point2() +facet_wrap(~ gear)

because we have rownames(mtcars)

rownames(mtcars)
 [1] "Mazda RX4"           "Mazda RX4 Wag"       "Datsun 710"          "Hornet 4 Drive"     
 [5] "Hornet Sportabout"   "Valiant"             "Duster 360"          "Merc 240D"          
 [9] "Merc 230"            "Merc 280"            "Merc 280C"           "Merc 450SE"
.....

and then labels (which we manage to get with other modifications) remain the same, i.e. not rearranged by gears, only split by it:

point_grobs_labels
[[1]]
 [1] "Mazda RX4"          "Mazda RX4 Wag"      "Datsun 710"         "Hornet 4 Drive"    
 [5] "Hornet Sportabout"  "Valiant"            "Duster 360"         "Merc 240D"         
 [9] "Merc 230"           "Merc 280"           "Merc 280C"          "Merc 450SE"        
[13] "Merc 450SL"         "Merc 450SLC"        "Cadillac Fleetwood"
[[2]]
....

but having these label names as a column fixes the problem.

point_grobs_labels 
[[1]]
 [1] "Hornet 4 Drive"      "Hornet Sportabout"   "Valiant"             "Duster 360"         
 [5] "Merc 450SE"          "Merc 450SL"          "Merc 450SLC"         "Cadillac Fleetwood" 
 [9] "Lincoln Continental" "Chrysler Imperial"   "Toyota Corona"       "Dodge Challenger"   
[13] "AMC Javelin"         "Camaro Z28"          "Pontiac Firebird"   

[[2]]
....