[R-sig-Geo] Introducing: an R package for calling functions within a running instance of QGIS (ALPHA)

[Kevin Stadler]

As my Google Summer of Code project is coming to an end, here's some
updates on the R package:

1. we renamed the package to 'qgisremote', so the repository and
documentation are now available from here:
https://gitlab.com/qgisapi/qgisremote
https://qgisapi.gitlab.io/qgisremote/
The corresponding QGIS plugin can still be found at its old address --
it has also been greatly expanded, so if you've installed a previous
version of it be sure to update both the R package and the plugin,
otherwise new features will most likely not work:
https://gitlab.com/qgisapi/networkapi

2. thanks to the feedback and comments I received from this mailing
list, I've both fixed numerous issues as well as added new
functionality that several people asked about, especially regarding
simple manipulations of QGIS rendering options from R. The package now
has dedicated functions for getting and setting styles in QGIS' XML
specification format, as well as some helper functions that simplify
very basic style spec manipulation tasks. To get a quick idea of how
the functions work, see the renderer article here:
https://qgisapi.gitlab.io/qgisremote/articles/renderers.html

I hope the package (and QGIS plugin) will be useful to some of you,
Best!
Kevin

On 14 July 2017 at 15:46, Kevin Stadler <e0425926 at student.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> as part of my Google Summer of Code project I am currently developing
> a QGIS plugin that allows controlling a running QGIS instance through
> a HTTP interface -- and an R package making use of this 'Network API'
> along with it.
>
> This package is quite different from the existing RQGIS in that it
> connects to a running instance of QGIS, meaning that programmatic
> control from within R + user interaction can be combined (the QGIS
> instance being controlled does not even have to run on the same
> machine).
>
> Both components (QGIS plugin and R package) are still deep in alpha
> stages, however for those interested there is now sufficient
> documentation to give testing a shot, and I would welcome all feedback
> and suggestions. This simple example tutorial vignette should give you
> an idea of how the package works:
> http://qgisapi.gitlab.io/rqgisapi/articles/tutorial.html
>
> Instructions for installing the two components can be found here:
> https://gitlab.com/qgisapi/networkapi#testing
> and here:
> http://qgisapi.gitlab.io/rqgisapi/#installation
>
>
> I will be expanding the package as well developing example use cases
> in the form of Rmarkdown and JuPyteR notebooks until the end of the
> summer, so I'd be happy to receive requests for QGIS functionality
> that you'd like to see exposed to R (access to processing functions in
> particular is not implemented at the moment). If there is more
> interest I'd be happy to keep posting regular updates about new
> features to this list too.
>
> Best!
> Kevin