Unexpected interaction between columnGroups and groupBy

[tdeenes]

If both columnGroups and groupBy arguments are provided, the groupBy column receives the default column header (see defaultGroupHeader in reactableLang()).

reactable(
  iris[1:5, ],
  columns = list(
    Sepal.Length = colDef(name = "Length"),
    Sepal.Width = colDef(name = "Width"),
    Petal.Length = colDef(name = "Length"),
    Petal.Width = colDef(name = "Width")
  ),
  columnGroups = list(
    colGroup(name = "Sepal", columns = c("Sepal.Length", "Sepal.Width")),
    colGroup(name = "Petal", columns = c("Petal.Length", "Petal.Width"))
  ),
  groupBy = "Species"
)

Is this intentional?

[glin]

Yes, this is intentional, and inherited from the underlying React Table library. However, it'll be removed in the next release, along with the defaultGroupHeader argument.

For now, there's no way to get rid of that default column group, but you can give it an empty name. To make it look less awkward, you could also use a bordered style:

reactable(
  iris[1:5, ],
  columns = list(
    Sepal.Length = colDef(name = "Length"),
    Sepal.Width = colDef(name = "Width"),
    Petal.Length = colDef(name = "Length"),
    Petal.Width = colDef(name = "Width")
  ),
  columnGroups = list(
    colGroup(name = "", columns = "Species"),
    colGroup(name = "Sepal", columns = c("Sepal.Length", "Sepal.Width")),
    colGroup(name = "Petal", columns = c("Petal.Length", "Petal.Width"))
  ),
  groupBy = "Species",
  bordered = TRUE
)

In the next release, there won't be a column group unless you specifically create one:

[tdeenes]

@glin , thanks for the quick response (and for the package as well :). What is the ETA of the next release?

[glin]

I don't have an ETA yet, and those changes aren't even up on GitHub. But I'll comment here again once it's available in the development version.

[glin]

The automatic column grouping is now removed in the development version (d9ac371). Since it could be a breaking change in some cases, I've marked it so in the NEWS:

Breaking changes

• When both columnGroups and groupBy arguments are provided, groupBy columns are no longer added to a column group automatically (#87).
• The defaultGroupHeader argument in reactableLang() is now deprecated and no longer used. Use the columnGroups argument in reactable() to customize the column group header for groupBy columns.