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This document provides instructions for installing the summata package and configuring the dependencies required for complete functionality. The package requires R ≥ 4.2.0 and several additional components for document generation.


Package Installation

From Repository

Install the stable release from CRAN:

install.packages("summata")

Alternatively, the latest development version may be installed from GitHub:

install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("phmcc/summata")

The development version is available from Codeberg:

remotes::install_git("https://codeberg.org/phmcc/summata.git")

Verification

Confirm successful installation by loading the package:


Dependencies

Required Dependencies

The following packages are installed automatically as dependencies:

Package Purpose
data.table High-performance data manipulation and core data operations
survival Survival and time-to-event analysis
ggplot2 Visualization system for forest plots and graphics
stats Statistical functions and model fitting
grDevices Graphics devices and color palettes

Optional Dependencies

Additional packages extend functionality for specific use-cases:

Package Purpose Required For
lme4 Linear mixed-effects models lmer(), glmer() model types
coxme Mixed-effects Cox models coxme() model type
xtable LaTeX table generation table2pdf(), table2tex(), table2html()
flextable Office document tables table2docx(), table2pptx(), table2rtf()
officer Office document creation table2docx(), table2pptx()
knitr Dynamic document generation R Markdown integration, vignettes
rmarkdown R Markdown documents Vignette rendering
ragg High-quality graphics Enhanced PNG rendering with better fonts
systemfonts Font management Font detection for graphics
tinytex R-integrated LaTeX distribution PDF table export via table2pdf()
MASS Statistical methods Model diagnostics and testing
MuMIn Multi-model inference Model selection and averaging
pROC ROC curve analysis Diagnostic performance evaluation
ResourceSelection Goodness-of-fit tests Hosmer-Lemeshow tests for logistic models
stringr String manipulation Text processing utilities
utils Utility functions Data import/export helpers
withr Temporary state changes Testing and safe state modifications

Install optional dependencies as needed:

# For mixed-effects models
install.packages(c("lme4", "coxme"))

# For table export (all formats)
install.packages(c("xtable", "flextable", "officer", "knitr", "tinytex"))

# For enhanced graphics
install.packages(c("ragg", "systemfonts"))

# For model diagnostics and selection
install.packages(c("MASS", "MuMIn", "pROC", "ResourceSelection"))

Or install all suggested packages at once:

install.packages("summata", dependencies = TRUE)

LaTeX Configuration

PDF and LaTeX export through table2pdf() and table2tex() require a LaTeX distribution.

TinyTeX provides a lightweight, R-integrated LaTeX distribution:

install.packages("tinytex")
tinytex::install_tinytex()

Verify the installation:

tinytex::is_tinytex()
tinytex::tlmgr_version()

TinyTeX installs required LaTeX packages automatically on first use.

Alternative LaTeX Distributions

Full LaTeX distributions may be installed system-wide:

Distribution Platform URL
TeX Live Cross-platform https://www.tug.org/texlive/
MiKTeX Windows https://miktex.org/
MacTeX macOS https://www.tug.org/mactex/

For Debian/Ubuntu systems:

sudo apt install texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended

Required LaTeX Packages

The export functions utilize the following LaTeX packages:

Category Packages
Typography fontenc, inputenc, helvet
Tables array, booktabs, longtable, colortbl
Layout geometry, pdflscape, lscape
Graphics graphicx, xcolor
Specialized standalone, varwidth, float, caption

With TinyTeX, these packages install automatically. For standard distributions:

tlmgr install fontenc inputenc array booktabs longtable graphicx geometry \
  pdflscape lscape helvet standalone varwidth float caption xcolor colortbl

Microsoft Office Export

Export to Word, PowerPoint, and RTF formats requires:

install.packages(c("flextable", "officer"))

These packages enable creation of .docx, .pptx, and .rtf files that can be opened and edited in Microsoft Office or compatible applications.


Export Verification Procedure

Execute the following to verify complete functionality:

library(summata)

# Create test data
test_data <- data.frame(
  Variable = c("Sample Size", "Mean", "Standard Deviation"),
  Value = c("150", "45.3", "12.1")
)

# Test Word export (requires flextable, officer)
table2docx(test_data, file = file.path(tempdir(), "verification_test.docx"))

# Test PDF export (requires xtable, LaTeX)
table2pdf(test_data, file = file.path(tempdir(), "verification_test.pdf"))

# Clean up
file.remove(
  file.path(tempdir(), "verification_test.docx"),
  file.path(tempdir(), "verification_test.pdf")
)

Successful execution confirms proper configuration of all export-related dependencies.


Troubleshooting

LaTeX Not Found

If PDF generation fails, verify LaTeX accessibility:

Sys.which("pdflatex")

An empty return value indicates LaTeX is not in the system PATH. Solutions include:

  1. Restart the R session after LaTeX installation
  2. Add the LaTeX binary directory to PATH manually
  3. Reinstall TinyTeX: tinytex::reinstall_tinytex()

Missing LaTeX Packages

For TinyTeX, install missing packages directly:

tinytex::tlmgr_install("package_name")

For compilation errors, examine the log file:

table2pdf(test_data, file = file.path(tempdir(), "debug.pdf"), show_logs = TRUE)

Package Installation Failures

Ensure repository access is configured:

options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"))

For packages requiring system libraries (Linux):

sudo apt install r-base-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev

Write Permission Errors

Verify write access to the target directory:

getwd()
file.access(getwd(), mode = 2)  # Returns 0 if writable

System Requirements

Component Requirement
R ≥ 4.2.0
Operating System Windows, macOS, or Linux
RAM 4 GB minimum; 8 GB recommended
Disk Space Base package (< 5 MB)
TinyTeX (~150 MB)
Full LaTeX distribution (2–6 GB)