Using Vega
A Vega plot specification is represented as a VGSpec object in Julia. There are multiple ways to create a VGSpec object:
- The
@vgplotmacro is the main way to createVGSpecinstances in code. - Using the
vgstring macro, you can write Vega specifications as JSON in your Julia code. - You can load Vega specifications from disc with the
loadfunction.
There are two main things one can do with a VGSpec object:
- One can display it in various front ends.
- One can save the plot to disc in various formats using the save function.
This section will give a brief overview of these options.
The @vgplot macro
The @vgplot macro is the main way to specify Vega plots in Vega.jl. The macro uses a syntax that is closely aligned with the JSON format of the original Vega specification. It is very simple to take a Vega specification and "translate" it into a corresponding @vgplot macro call.
A typical Vega JSON specification looks like this:
{
"width": 400,
"height": 200,
"padding": 5,
"data": [
{
"name": "table",
"values": [
{"category": "A", "amount": 28},
{"category": "B", "amount": 55},
{"category": "C", "amount": 43},
{"category": "D", "amount": 91},
{"category": "E", "amount": 81},
{"category": "F", "amount": 53},
{"category": "G", "amount": 19},
{"category": "H", "amount": 87}
]
}
],
"signals": [
{
"name": "tooltip",
"value": {},
"on": [
{"events": "rect:mouseover", "update": "datum"},
{"events": "rect:mouseout", "update": "{}"}
]
}
],
"scales": [
{
"name": "xscale",
"type": "band",
"domain": {"data": "table", "field": "category"},
"range": "width",
"padding": 0.05,
"round": true
},
{
"name": "yscale",
"domain": {"data": "table", "field": "amount"},
"nice": true,
"range": "height"
}
],
"axes": [
{ "orient": "bottom", "scale": "xscale" },
{ "orient": "left", "scale": "yscale" }
],
"marks": [
{
"type": "rect",
"from": {"data":"table"},
"encode": {
"enter": {
"x": {"scale": "xscale", "field": "category"},
"width": {"scale": "xscale", "band": 1},
"y": {"scale": "yscale", "field": "amount"},
"y2": {"scale": "yscale", "value": 0}
},
"update": {
"fill": {"value": "steelblue"}
},
"hover": {
"fill": {"value": "red"}
}
}
},
{
"type": "text",
"encode": {
"enter": {
"align": {"value": "center"},
"baseline": {"value": "bottom"},
"fill": {"value": "#333"}
},
"update": {
"x": {"scale": "xscale", "signal": "tooltip.category", "band": 0.5},
"y": {"scale": "yscale", "signal": "tooltip.amount", "offset": -2},
"text": {"signal": "tooltip.amount"},
"fillOpacity": [
{"test": "datum === tooltip", "value": 0},
{"value": 1}
]
}
}
}
]
}This can be directly translated into the following @vgplot macro call:
using Vega
@vgplot(
height=200,
padding=5,
marks=[
{
encode={
update={
fill={
value="steelblue"
}
},
hover={
fill={
value="red"
}
},
enter={
x={
field="category",
scale="xscale"
},
y2={
value=0,
scale="yscale"
},
width={
scale="xscale",
band=1
},
y={
field="amount",
scale="yscale"
}
}
},
from={
data="table"
},
type="rect"
},
{
encode={
update={
x={
signal="tooltip.category",
scale="xscale",
band=0.5
},
fillOpacity=[
{
test="datum === tooltip",
value=0
},
{
value=1
}
],
text={
signal="tooltip.amount"
},
y={
offset=-2,
signal="tooltip.amount",
scale="yscale"
}
},
enter={
fill={
value="#333"
},
baseline={
value="bottom"
},
align={
value="center"
}
}
},
type="text"
}
],
axes=[
{
scale="xscale",
orient="bottom"
},
{
scale="yscale",
orient="left"
}
],
data=[
{
name="table",
values=[
{
amount=28,
category="A"
},
{
amount=55,
category="B"
},
{
amount=43,
category="C"
},
{
amount=91,
category="D"
},
{
amount=81,
category="E"
},
{
amount=53,
category="F"
},
{
amount=19,
category="G"
},
{
amount=87,
category="H"
}
]
}
],
scales=[
{
name="xscale",
padding=0.05,
range="width",
domain={
data="table",
field="category"
},
type="band",
round=true
},
{
name="yscale",
nice=true,
range="height",
domain={
data="table",
field="amount"
}
}
],
width=400,
signals=[
{
name="tooltip",
on=[
{
events="rect:mouseover",
update="datum"
},
{
events="rect:mouseout",
update="{}"
}
],
value={
}
}
]
)The main difference between JSON and the @vgplot macro is that keys are not surrounded by quotation marks in the macro, and key-value pairs are separate by a = (instead of a :).
The vg string macro
Similar to the vl string macro, the vg string macro takes the Vega spec as a JSON string and returns and renders a VGSpec.
using Vega
spec = vg"""
{
"width": 400,
"height": 200,
"padding": 5,
"data": [
{
"name": "table",
"values": [
{"category": "A", "amount": 28},
{"category": "B", "amount": 55},
{"category": "C", "amount": 43},
{"category": "D", "amount": 91},
{"category": "E", "amount": 81},
{"category": "F", "amount": 53},
{"category": "G", "amount": 19},
{"category": "H", "amount": 87}
]
}
],
"signals": [
{
"name": "tooltip",
"value": {},
"on": [
{"events": "rect:mouseover", "update": "datum"},
{"events": "rect:mouseout", "update": "{}"}
]
}
],
"scales": [
{
"name": "xscale",
"type": "band",
"domain": {"data": "table", "field": "category"},
"range": "width",
"padding": 0.05,
"round": true
},
{
"name": "yscale",
"domain": {"data": "table", "field": "amount"},
"nice": true,
"range": "height"
}
],
"axes": [
{ "orient": "bottom", "scale": "xscale" },
{ "orient": "left", "scale": "yscale" }
],
"marks": [
{
"type": "rect",
"from": {"data":"table"},
"encode": {
"enter": {
"x": {"scale": "xscale", "field": "category"},
"width": {"scale": "xscale", "band": 1},
"y": {"scale": "yscale", "field": "amount"},
"y2": {"scale": "yscale", "value": 0}
},
"update": {
"fill": {"value": "steelblue"}
},
"hover": {
"fill": {"value": "red"}
}
}
},
{
"type": "text",
"encode": {
"enter": {
"align": {"value": "center"},
"baseline": {"value": "bottom"},
"fill": {"value": "#333"}
},
"update": {
"x": {"scale": "xscale", "signal": "tooltip.category", "band": 0.5},
"y": {"scale": "yscale", "signal": "tooltip.amount", "offset": -2},
"text": {"signal": "tooltip.amount"},
"fillOpacity": [
{"test": "datum === tooltip", "value": 0},
{"value": 1}
]
}
}
}
]
}
"""Data
The easiest way to pass data into a Vega spec is to use the @vgplot macro, and assign the data to the data element. There are various options:
- You can pass a
Pairas an element in thedatavector, where the key is the name of the data source and the value any iterable table. - You can also assign any iterable table to the
valuefield inside a composite object in thedatavector.
The first option looks like this:
...,
data = [:my_datasource_name=>mydataframe],
...The second option looks like this:
...,
data = [
{
name=:my_datasource,
values=mydataframe
}
],
...A full example of a Vega plot that uses the first option looks like this:
using Vega, VegaDatasets
@vgplot(
height=200,
width=200,
padding=5,
data=[:source=>dataset("cars")],
marks=[{
name="marks",
encode={
update={
shape={value="circle"},
x={field="Horsepower", scale="x"},
y={field="Miles_per_Gallon", scale="y"}
}
},
from={data="source"},
type="symbol"
}],
axes=[
{
domain=false,
tickCount=5,
grid=true,
title="Horsepower",
scale="x",
orient="bottom"
},
{
domain=false,
grid=true,
titlePadding=5,
title="Miles_per_Gallon",
scale="y",
orient="left"
}
],
scales=[
{
name="x",
nice=true,
zero=true,
range="width",
domain={data="source",field="Horsepower"},
type="linear",
round=true
},
{
name="y",
nice=true,
zero=true,
range="height",
domain={data="source",field="Miles_per_Gallon"},
type="linear",
round=true
}
]
)Loading and saving Vega specifications
The load and save functions can be used to load and save vega specifications to and from disc. The following example loads a vega specification from a file named myfigure.vega:
using Vega
spec = load("myfigure.vega")To save a VGSpec to a file on disc, use the save function:
using Vega
spec = ... # Aquire a spec from somewhere
spec |> save("myfigure.vega")