fcat() function
As of fmtr version 1.2, you can now create a format
catalog. A format catalog is a collection of formats that can be saved,
shared, and reused. The format catalog is created with the
fcat() function. A format catalog can also be converted to
and from a data frame using the as.data.frame() and
as.fcat() functions. These functions make it easy to store
formatting information as tabular metadata, such as in database tables
or Excel spreadsheets. Here is an example:
# Create format catalog
c1 <- fcat(num_fmt = "%.1f",
label_fmt = value(condition(x == "A", "Label A"),
condition(x == "B", "Label B"),
condition(TRUE, "Other")),
date_fmt = "%d%b%Y")
# Use formats in the catalog
fapply(2, c1$num_fmt)
# [1] "2.0"
fapply(c("A", "B", "C", "B"), c1$label_fmt)
# [1] "Label A" "Label B" "Other" "Label B"
fapply(Sys.Date(), c1$date_fmt)
# [1] "22Jul2021"
# Convert to a data frame
dat <- as.data.frame(c1)
dat
# Name Type Expression Label Order
# 1 num_fmt S %.1f NA
# 2 label_fmt U x == "A" Label A NA
# 3 label_fmt U x == "B" Label B NA
# 4 label_fmt U TRUE Other NA
# 5 date_fmt S %d%b%Y NA
# Save format catalog for later use
write.fcat(c1, tempdir())Next: Format and Combine