tabviz widgets are interactive by default. This chapter covers the built-in interaction features and how to customize them.

Default Interactions

Every tabviz widget includes these interactions out of the box:

Interaction Action
Sort Click column headers to sort
Select Click rows to select/deselect
Hover Hover to highlight rows
Collapse Click group headers to collapse/expand
Resize Drag column borders to resize
Export Download menu in header (hover to reveal)
Zoom Zoom controls in header
Theme Theme switcher in header
Code 
data(glp1_trials)

# Default: all interactions enabled
glp1_trials |>
  filter(row_type == "data", group == "Main Trials") |>
  head(5) |>
  tabviz(
    label = "study",
    columns = list(
      col_text("drug", "Drug"),
      viz_forest(point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper",
                 scale = "log", null_value = 1, width = 160),
      col_interval("HR (95% CI)", point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper")
    ),
    theme = web_theme_jama(),
    footnote = "Try: click headers to sort, hover over rows, drag column borders"
  )

Customizing Interactions

Use web_interaction() to control which interactions are enabled:

Code 
# Disable sorting and selection
glp1_trials |>
  filter(row_type == "data") |>
  head(4) |>
  tabviz(
    label = "study",
    columns = list(
      col_text("drug", "Drug"),
      viz_forest(point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper",
                 scale = "log", null_value = 1, width = 160)
    ),
    interaction = web_interaction(
      enable_sort = FALSE,
      enable_select = FALSE
    ),
    theme = web_theme_jama()
  )

Available Options

Option Default Description
enable_sort TRUE Click headers to sort
enable_select TRUE Click rows to select
enable_hover TRUE Highlight rows on hover
enable_collapse TRUE Collapse/expand groups
enable_resize TRUE Drag to resize columns
enable_export TRUE Show download button
show_legend TRUE Show legend for multi-effect plots
show_filters FALSE Show filter panel
enable_themes “default” Theme menu control

Hover Tooltips

Add tooltips that appear when hovering over forest plot markers:

Code 
glp1_trials |>
  filter(row_type == "data") |>
  head(4) |>
  tabviz(
    label = "study",
    columns = list(
      viz_forest(point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper",
                 scale = "log", null_value = 1, width = 180),
      col_interval("HR (95% CI)", point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper")
    ),
    interaction = web_interaction(
      tooltip_fields = c("drug", "n", "events", "pvalue")
    ),
    theme = web_theme_jama(),
    footnote = "Hover over markers to see details"
  )

Tooltips show the values from the specified columns for each row.

Presets

tabviz includes preset configurations for common use cases:

Minimal Interaction

Use web_interaction_minimal() for viewing-only mode with just hover highlighting:

Code 
glp1_trials |>
  filter(row_type == "data") |>
  head(4) |>
  tabviz(
    label = "study",
    columns = list(
      col_text("drug", "Drug"),
      viz_forest(point = "hr", lower = "lower", upper = "upper",
                 scale = "log", null_value = 1, width = 160)
    ),
    interaction = web_interaction_minimal(),
    theme = web_theme_jama()
  )

This disables sorting, selection, resize, and export—only hover highlighting remains.

Publication Mode

Use web_interaction_publication() for completely static output:

Code 
tabviz(data, label = "study",
  columns = list(...),
  interaction = web_interaction_publication()
)

This removes all interactivity, creating a static visualization suitable for:

  • Print publications
  • Static documents
  • Screenshots

Theme Menu

Control the theme switcher in the header:

Code 
# Default: show all package themes
tabviz(data, interaction = web_interaction(enable_themes = "default"), ...)

# Hide theme menu
tabviz(data, interaction = web_interaction(enable_themes = NULL), ...)

# Show specific themes only
tabviz(data, interaction = web_interaction(
  enable_themes = list(
    web_theme_jama(),
    web_theme_nature(),
    web_theme_modern()
  )
), ...)

Row Selection

Selected rows are tracked internally and can be styled differently. Selection state persists during sorting and filtering.

Code 
sample_data <- data.frame(
  item = c("Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma", "Delta"),
  value = c(10, 25, 15, 30),
  change = c(0.05, -0.12, 0.08, 0.22)
)

tabviz(sample_data, label = "item",
  columns = list(
    col_numeric("value", "Value"),
    col_percent("change", "Change")
  ),
  theme = web_theme_modern(),
  footnote = "Click rows to select (indicated by left border)"
)

Sorting

Click any column header to sort. Click again to reverse sort order.

  • Text columns: alphabetical
  • Numeric columns: numeric order
  • Forest columns: sort by point estimate

Sorting preserves group structure—rows within each group are sorted while maintaining group order.

Zoom and Scale

The zoom control in the header adjusts the display scale:

  • Use for fitting large tables in limited space
  • Zoom level persists during interaction
  • Export captures the current zoom level

See Also