`wrap_table()` removes `gt::fmt_markdown()`

[jack-davison]

gt version 0.11.0

patchwork version 1.3.0

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reprex:

gt <- data.frame(x = "ug m<sup>-3</sup>") |> gt::gt() |> gt::fmt_markdown()

gt

patchwork::wrap_table(gt)

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I wasn't sure if a) this was a known issue and b) whether there's a workaround to get subscripts/superscripts/etc. in a "wrapped table" in a patchwork assembly?

Cheers!

(I don't know if I should cc @teunbrand as I know you worked on gt grob outputs!)

[teunbrand]

R graphics doesn't really support markdown or html formatting out of the box, so I'm afraid you're hitting the limitations of the graphics system.
You can swap out the text generating function, but I think there currently is no easy way to forward this from within {patchwork}.

gt <- data.frame(x = "ug m<sup>-3</sup>") |> gt::gt()
plot(gt::as_gtable(gt, text_grob = gridtext::richtext_grob))

^{Created on 2024-10-15 with reprex v2.1.1}

[jack-davison]

Thanks - that makes sense to me!

plot(gt::as_gtable(gt, text_grob = gridtext::richtext_grob))

This actually does the job for my use-case as I don't necessarily need the other nice patchwork things (e.g., table header alignment with "space" etc.), just to stick a small table to a plot.

Happy to mark as closed if this is an impossible/unlikely to be achieved thing for patchwork.

[egouldo]

Just checking to see if markdown preservation is on the horizon at all?
Cheers.

[teunbrand]

The gt::as_gtable() function, which underpins the conversion between {gt} and grid graphics, has a text_grob argument. The closest thing to markdown in grid graphics is the {marquee} package. You may be able to write a wrapper for marquee_grob() to use marquee for rendering the cell text. Other than this, I don't think there is any planned markdown compatibility.