Export both Image and Data from R to an Excel spreadsheet

Question

It is simple to print an image and save it on disk just:

fit <- lm(some ~ model)

png(filename=\"your/file/location/name.png\")
plot(fit)
dev.off()


        

Answer 1

Just to add an example about the xlsx package, as far as i can tell it requires you to first save the picture, then import it to the xlsx file, see a reproducible example of exporting to an existing book below:

# Setup
x <- c('tidyverse', 'rJava', 'xlsxjars', 'xlsx')
sapply(X=x, FUN = require, character.only = TRUE)

# Create graph---------
dcs <- ggplot(mtcars) +
  geom_point(aes(cyl, disp))

# Export Pic -----------
pic_path <- "C:/home/dcs.jpeg"
png(filename = pic_path)
plot(dcs)
dev.off()

# Add to existing book -------------
xl_path <- "C:/home/a.xlsx"

wb <- loadWorkbook(xl_path)

ws <- getSheets(wb)["Summary"][[1]]

addPicture(file = pic_path, sheet = ws)

saveWorkbook(wb, xl_path)

# Kill pic
unlink(pic_path)

#Then write some data
write.xlsx(as.data.frame(output), xl_path, sheetName = 'data'))

Answer 2

I would use the xlsx package. Check out the addPicture function and the addDataFrame function. I found this package fairly easy to work with.

Answer 3

You can do the same thing with the insertImage function and using the openxlsx package.

I've copied the example from above, but using the openxlsx package instead:

# Setup
x <- c('tidyverse', 'openxlsx')
sapply(X=x, FUN = require, character.only = TRUE)

# Create graph---------
dcs <- ggplot(mtcars) +
  geom_point(aes(cyl, disp))

# Export Pic -----------
pic_path <- "C:/home/dcs.jpeg"
png(filename = pic_path)
plot(dcs)
dev.off()

# Add to a new work book -------------
wb <- openxlsx::createWorkbook()
addWorksheet(wb, "Plots")
insertImage(wb, "Plots", pic_path)
openxlsx::saveWorkbook(wb,
                       "~/example.xlsx")

# Kill pic
unlink(pic_path)