plotly: Updating data with dropdown selection

Question

I am not sure if this is possible, but here is what I would like to do. I would like to update the data in a plotly plot by selecting from a dropdown menu.

As a simple example, let's assume I have a data frame

df <- data.frame(x = runif(200), y = runif(200), z = runif(200))

from which I use df$x and df$y in a scatter plot. Two scenarios of data manipulation I would like to achieve using a dropdown:

1. Replace df$y with df$z
2. Plot only the first n values of df$x and df$y

I looked at the following two examples, which I can easily reproduce: https://plot.ly/r/dropdowns/

However, I have no idea how to pass the information regarding the data to be plotted based on the dropdown selection. For scenario 2 e.g. I have tried it with args = list("data", df[1:n,]) which did not work.

For scenario 1 the (only?) way to go (according to the examples) seems to be hiding/showing the traces respectively. Is that the only way for scenario 2 as well?

Any alternative ideas?

Update 1: Add reproducible example

So here is an example which achieve what I would like in scenario 1.

require(plotly)
df <- data.frame(x = runif(200), y = runif(200), z = runif(200))
Sys.setenv("plotly_username"="xxx") #actual credentials replaced
Sys.setenv("plotly_api_key"="xxx") #actual credentials replaced

p <- plot_ly(df, x = df$x, y = df$y, mode = "markers", name = "A", visible = T) %>%
  add_trace(mode = "markers", y = df$z, name = "B", visible = T) %>%
  layout(
    title = "Drop down menus - Styling",
    xaxis = list(domain = c(0.1, 1)),
    yaxis = list(title = "y"),
    updatemenus = list(
      list(
        y = 0.7,
        buttons = list(
          list(method = "restyle",
               args = list("visible", list(TRUE, TRUE)),
               label = "Show All"),

          list(method = "restyle",
               args = list("visible", list(TRUE, FALSE)),
               label = "Show A"),

          list(method = "restyle",
               args = list("visible", list(FALSE, TRUE)),
               label = "Show B")))
    ))

plotly_POST(p)

Result here: https://plot.ly/~spietrzyk/96/drop-down-menus-styling/ This is based on the example from https://plot.ly/r/dropdowns/

However, I am wondering if one could pass the data to be plotted instead of triggering changes to the visible property of individual traces.

The one thing I tried was the following:

p <- plot_ly(df, x = df$x, y = df$y, mode = "markers", name = "A", visible = T) %>%
  layout(
    title = "Drop down menus - Styling",
    xaxis = list(domain = c(0.1, 1)),
    yaxis = list(title = "y"),
    updatemenus = list(
      list(
        y = 0.7,
        buttons = list(
          list(method = "restyle",
               args = list("y", df$y),
               label = "Show A"),
          list(method = "restyle",
               args = list("y", df$z),
               label = "Show B")))
))

Result here: https://plot.ly/~spietrzyk/98/drop-down-menus-styling/ This approach cannot work, as the data from df$z is not posted to the grid (https://plot.ly/~spietrzyk/99/).

So I was wondering is there anyway to manipulate the data to be plotted based on dropdown selection, beyond plotting all traces and than switching the visible property by dropdown selections.

Solution 1

Is this what you were after?

require(plotly)
df <- data.frame(x = runif(200), y = runif(200), z = runif(200))
p <- plot_ly(df, x = ~x, y = ~y, mode = "markers", name = "A", visible = T) %>%
layout(
  title = "Drop down menus - Styling",
  xaxis = list(domain = c(0.1, 1)),
  yaxis = list(title = "y"),
  updatemenus = list(
    list(
      y = 0.7,
      buttons = list(
        list(method = "restyle",
             args = list("y", list(df$y)),  # put it in a list
             label = "Show A"),
        list(method = "restyle",
             args = list("y", list(df$z)),  # put it in a list
             label = "Show B")))
))
p

Solution 2

On the top of @jimmy G's answer.

You can automatically create the buttons so that you don't have to manually specify every single variable you want in the plot.

library(plotly)

df <- data.frame(x = runif(200), y = runif(200), z = runif(200), j = runif(200), k = rep(0.7, 200), i = rnorm(200,0.6,0.05))

create_buttons <- function(df, y_axis_var_names) {
  lapply(
    y_axis_var_names,
    FUN = function(var_name, df) {
      button <- list(
        method = 'restyle',
        args = list('y', list(df[, var_name])),
        label = sprintf('Show %s', var_name)
      )
    },
    df
  )
  
}

y_axis_var_names <- c('y', 'z', 'j', 'k', 'i')

p <- plot_ly(df, x = ~x, y = ~y, mode = "markers", name = "A", visible = T) %>%
     layout(
         title = "Drop down menus - Styling",
         xaxis = list(domain = c(0.1, 1)),
         yaxis = list(title = "y"),
         updatemenus = list(
             list(
                 y = 0.7,
                 buttons = create_buttons(df, y_axis_var_names)
             )
         ))
p

Hope you find it useful.

Comments

[Mark Neal]

Is it possible to make this example handle a list of length that is determined by the dataframe, not hardcoded as a list for each list item?

[yts61]

@jimmy G i have a similary question here: stackoverflow.com/questions/60556896/…, if you are free, please drop by and have a look, thank you.

[Martin]

Most useful indeed! As an addition, multiple data attributes can be added in the arg function as shown in this answer: stackoverflow.com/a/69364462/8076560