Export Table with Automatic Format Detection

Automatically detects the output format based on file extension and exports the table using the appropriate specialized function. Provides a unified interface for table export across all supported formats.

Usage

autotable(table, file, ...)

Arguments

table

Data frame, data.table, or matrix to export. Can be output from desctable(), survtable(), fit(), uniscreen(), fullfit(), compfit(), multifit(), or any tabular data structure.

file

Character string specifying the output filename. The file extension determines the export format:

.pdf - PDF via LaTeX (uses table2pdf())
.docx - Microsoft Word (uses table2docx())
.html or .htm - HTML (uses table2html())
.pptx - Microsoft PowerPoint (uses table2pptx())
.tex - LaTeX source (uses table2tex())
.rtf - Rich Text Format (uses table2rtf())

...

Additional arguments passed to the format-specific function. See the documentation for individual functions for available parameters:

PDF: table2pdf() - orientation, paper, margins, fit_to_page, etc.
DOCX: table2docx() - font_size, font_family, caption, etc.
HTML: table2html() - format_headers, zebra_stripes, etc.
PPTX: table2pptx() - font_size, font_family, caption, etc.
TEX: table2tex() - caption, format_headers, align, etc.
RTF: table2rtf() - font_size, font_family, caption, etc.

Common parameters across formats include:

caption: Table caption (supported by most formats)
font_size: Base font size in points (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, RTF)
format_headers: Format column headers (all formats)
bold_significant: Bold significant p-values (all formats)
p_threshold: Threshold for p-value bolding (all formats)
indent_groups: Indent factor levels (all formats)
condense_table: Condense to essential rows (all formats)
zebra_stripes: Alternating background colors (most formats)

Value

Invisibly returns the file path. Called primarily for its side effect of creating the output file.

Details

This function provides a convenient wrapper around format-specific export functions, automatically routing to the appropriate function based on the file extension. All parameters are passed through to the underlying function, so the full range of format-specific options remains available.

For format-specific advanced features, you may prefer to use the individual export functions directly:

PDF exports support orientation, paper size, margins, and auto-sizing
DOCX/PPTX/RTF support font customization and flextable formatting
HTML supports CSS styling, responsive design, and custom themes
TeX generates standalone LaTeX source with booktabs styling

Examples

# Create example data
data(clintrial)
data(clintrial_labels)
tbl <- desctable(clintrial, by = "treatment",
    variables = c("age", "sex"), labels = clintrial_labels)

# Auto-detect format from extension
if (requireNamespace("xtable", quietly = TRUE)) {
  autotable(tbl, file.path(tempdir(), "example.html"))
}
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/example.html

# \donttest{
# Load example data
data(clintrial)
data(clintrial_labels)

# Create a regression table
results <- fit(
    data = clintrial,
    outcome = "os_status",
    predictors = c("age", "sex", "treatment"),
    labels = clintrial_labels
)

# Test that LaTeX can actually compile (needed for PDF export)
has_latex <- local({
  if (!nzchar(Sys.which("pdflatex"))) return(FALSE)
  test_tex <- file.path(tempdir(), "summata_latex_test.tex")
  writeLines(c("\\documentclass{article}",
               "\\usepackage{booktabs}",
               "\\begin{document}", "test",
               "\\end{document}"), test_tex)
  result <- tryCatch(
    system2("pdflatex", c("-interaction=nonstopmode",
            paste0("-output-directory=", tempdir()), test_tex),
            stdout = FALSE, stderr = FALSE),
    error = function(e) 1L)
  result == 0L
})

# Export automatically detects format from extension
autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.html"))  # Creates HTML file
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.html
autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.docx"))  # Creates Word document
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.docx
autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.pptx"))  # Creates PowerPoint slide
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.pptx
autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.tex"))   # Creates LaTeX source
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.tex
autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.rtf"))   # Creates RTF document
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.rtf
if (has_latex) {
  autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.pdf")) # Creates PDF
}

# Pass format-specific parameters
if (has_latex) {
  autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.pdf"), 
             orientation = "landscape",
             paper = "a4",
             font_size = 10)
}

autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.docx"),
           caption = "Table 1: Logistic Regression Results",
           font_family = "Times New Roman",
           condense_table = TRUE)
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.docx

autotable(results, file.path(tempdir(), "results.html"),
           zebra_stripes = TRUE,
           dark_header = TRUE,
           bold_significant = TRUE)
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/results.html

# Works with any summata table output
desc <- desctable(clintrial,
                  by = "treatment",
                  variables = c("age", "sex", "bmi"))
if (has_latex) {
  autotable(desc, file.path(tempdir(), "demographics.pdf"))
}

comparison <- compfit(
    data = clintrial,
    outcome = "os_status",
    model_list = list(
        base = c("age", "sex"),
        full = c("age", "sex", "treatment", "stage")
    )
)
#> Auto-detected binary outcome, using logistic regression
#> Fitting base with 2 predictors...
#> Fitting full with 4 predictors...
autotable(comparison, file.path(tempdir(), "model_comparison.docx"))
#> Table exported to /tmp/Rtmp9Tmfn9/model_comparison.docx

# }