Introduction
Plugins extend the functionality of G6 graphs by adding interactive
features, UI components, and visual enhancements. They can be added to
the graph using the g6_plugins() function. Similar to
behaviors, there are 2 ways to add plugins to the graph - either by
calling plugin names as strings or by passing plugin functions with
specific configurations:
# Defaults
g6() |>
g6_plugins("minimap", "tooltip")
# Fine tune parameters
g6() |>
g6_plugins(
minimap(...),
tooltip_plugin(...)
)Contextmenu Plugin
Displays a menu of selectable operations on right-click for context-sensitive actions.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" contextmenu ")Edge Filter Lens Plugin
Filters and displays edges within a specified area for focused analysis.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" edge-filter-lens ")Fisheye Plugin
Provides a focus + context exploration experience with distortion effects.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" fisheye ")Grid Line Plugin
Displays grid reference lines on the canvas to help with element alignment and positioning.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" grid-line ")Minimap Plugin
Displays a thumbnail preview of the graph, supporting navigation in large graphs.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" minimap ")Snapline Plugin
Displays alignment reference lines when dragging elements to ensure precise positioning.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" snapline ")Toolbar Plugin
Provides a collection of common operation buttons for graph
manipulation. If you wish to use custom icons, you can browse at https://at.alicdn.com/t/project/2678727/caef142c-804a-4a2f-a914-ae82666a31ee.html?spm=a313x.7781069.1998910419.35
and then pass the icon name as icon-<NAME> in the
toolbar getItems parameter. See more here.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" toolbar ")Tooltip Plugin
Displays detailed information about elements on hover for enhanced interactivity. Doesn’t work with Shiny yet due to a compatibility issue with Bootstrap tooltips class.
nodes <- data.frame(
id = letters[1:8]
)
edges <- data.frame(
source = c("a", "b", "c", "e", "f", "g", "a", "d"),
target = c("b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "e", "h")
)
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_options(
nodes = list(
style = list(
labelText = JS(
"(d) => {
return d.id
}"
),
labelPlacement = "center",
labelFontSize = 12
)
),
edges = list(
style = list(
stroke = "#666",
lineWidth = 2
)
)
) |>
g6_plugins(" tooltip ")Background Plugin
Adds background images or colors to the canvas for visual enhancement and branding.
# Create and render the G6 plot
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
background(backgroundColor = "#f0f2f5")
)Bubble Sets Plugin
Creates smooth bubble-like element outlines for enhanced visual grouping.
# Create and render the G6 plot
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
bubble_sets(
key = "bubble-set-1",
members = c("a", "b", "c", "d"),
label = TRUE,
labelText = "cluster 1",
fill = "#F08F56",
stroke = "#F08F56",
labelBackground = TRUE,
labelPlacement = "top",
labelFill = "#fff",
labelPadding = 2,
labelBackgroundFill = "#F08F56",
labelBackgroundRadius = 5
),
bubble_sets(
key = "bubble-set-2",
members = c("e", "f", "g", "h"),
label = TRUE,
labelText = "cluster 2",
fill = "#D580FF",
stroke = "#D580FF",
labelBackground = TRUE,
labelPlacement = "top",
labelFill = "#fff",
labelPadding = 2,
labelBackgroundFill = "#D580FF",
labelBackgroundRadius = 5
)
)Fullscreen Plugin
Supports full-screen display and exit for charts to maximize viewing area.
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
nodes = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
toolbar(),
fullscreen()
)Hull Plugin
Creates an outline for a specified set of nodes to visually group related elements.
# Create and render the G6 plot
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
hull(
key = "bubble-set-1",
members = c("a", "b", "c", "d"),
labelText = "cluster 1",
fill = "#F08F56",
stroke = "#F08F56",
labelFill = "#fff",
labelPadding = 2,
labelBackgroundFill = "#F08F56",
labelBackgroundRadius = 5
),
hull(
key = "bubble-set-2",
members = c("e", "f", "g", "h"),
labelText = "cluster 2",
fill = "#D580FF",
stroke = "#D580FF",
labelFill = "#fff",
labelPadding = 2,
labelBackgroundFill = "#D580FF",
labelBackgroundRadius = 5
)
)Legend Plugin
Displays categories and corresponding style descriptions of chart data.
custom_nodes <- lapply(1:8, \(i) {
list(
id = letters[i],
style = list(
fill = ifelse(i <= 4, "#F08F56", "#D580FF")
),
data = list(cluster = ifelse(i <= 4, "1", "2"))
)
})
# Create and render the G6 plot
g6(custom_nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
legend(
position = "top-left",
nodeField = "cluster"
)
)Timebar Plugin (does not work yet …)
Provides filtering and playback control for temporal data visualization.
start_date <- as.POSIXct("2023-08-01", tz = "UTC")
dates <- as.character(seq(start_date, by = "1 days", length.out = 3))
times <- lapply(seq_along(dates), \(i) {
list(
value = i,
time = JS(sprintf("new Date('%s').getTime()", dates[i]))
)
})
custom_nodes <- lapply(seq_along(times), \(i) {
list(
id = letters[i],
data = list(timestamp = JS(sprintf("new Date('%s').getTime()", dates[i])))
)
})
# Create and render the G6 plot
g6(custom_nodes) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
timebar(
data = times,
height = 100
)
)Watermark Plugin
Adds a watermark to the canvas to protect copyright and brand the visualization.
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
watermark(
text = "G6 Graph",
opacity = 0.2,
rotate = pi / 12
)
)History plugin
The history plugin provides undo and redo functionality for graph
modifications, allowing users to revert changes or reapply them. It
works well with the toolbar plugin to provide a user
interface for these actions:
g6(nodes, edges) |>
g6_layout() |>
g6_behaviors("drag-element") |>
g6_options(
animation = FALSE,
node = nodes_options
) |>
g6_plugins(
toolbar(
getItems = JS(
"() => [
{ id: 'undo', value: 'undo' },
{ id: 'redo', value: 'redo' },
]"
),
onClick = JS(
"(value, target, current) => {
// redo, undo need to be used with the history plugin
const graph = HTMLWidgets
.find(`#${target.closest('.g6').id}`)
.getWidget();
const history = graph.getPluginInstance('history');
switch (value) {
case 'undo':
history?.undo();
break;
case 'redo':
history?.redo();
break;
default:
break;
}
}"
)
),
# Keep 100 events in memory
history(stackSize = 100)
)Dynamically interact with plugins
Add
To add a plugin dynamically from the server side of a Shiny app, you
can use the g6_add_plugin() function. This function allows
you to append new plugins to an existing G6 graph based on user
interactions or other reactive data.
Update
To update a plugin from the server side of a Shiny app, you can use
the g6_update_plugin() function. This function allows you
to modify the plugin’s parameters dynamically based on user input or
other reactive data.