fix_border_issues() and before()

This page covers two utilities that complement the border functions in flextable.

`fix_border_issues()`

fix_border_issues() resolves rendering inconsistencies that can occur when borders of adjacent cells conflict. flextable stores borders per-cell, and when both adjacent cells specify a shared edge, different output formats resolve the conflict differently. This function normalises the border data so that rendering is consistent across Word, PowerPoint, HTML, and PDF. Call this function after you have finished applying all border settings and before rendering.

fix_border_issues(x, part = "all")

flextable

required

A flextable object.

part

string

default:"\"all\""

Which part to process: "body", "header", "footer", or "all".

Return value

The modified flextable object with normalised border data.

Example

library(officer)

ft <- flextable(head(iris))
ft <- border_outer(ft, border = fp_border(color = "black", width = 2))
ft <- border_inner_h(ft, border = fp_border(color = "gray", width = 1))
ft <- fix_border_issues(ft)
ft

`before()`

before() is a helper function used as a row selector inside the i argument of hline(). It returns a logical vector that is TRUE for every row that immediately precedes one of the specified entries values. This makes it easy to draw a separator line above summary rows such as "Total".

before(x, entries)

atomic vector

required

The column values to test. Typically a column from the table’s data frame.

entries

atomic vector

required

One or more values to search for. The function returns TRUE for the row immediately before each first occurrence of any of these values.

Return value

A logical vector of the same length as x.

Example

Insert a thick line above the “Total” row:

library(flextable)
library(officer)

dat <- data.frame(
  Level = c("setosa", "versicolor", "virginica", "<NA>", "Total"),
  Freq  = as.integer(c(50, 50, 50, 0, 150))
)

ft <- flextable(dat)
ft <- hline(
  ft,
  i = ~ before(Level, "Total"),
  border = fp_border_default(width = 2)
)
ft

Constructor

Text Formatting

Cell & Border

Layout Functions

Headers & Footers

Content & Formatters

Themes

Saving

Defaults

fix_border_issues() and before()