How to write a test for a ggplot plot

Question

I have a lot of functions that generate plots, typically with ggplot2. Right now, I'm generating the plot and testing the underlying data. But I'd like to know if there's a reasonable way to test that the plot contains the layers/options I expect it to or that graphical elements match expectations.

For example:

library(ggplot2)
library(scales) # for percent()
library(testthat)

df <- data.frame(
  Response = LETTERS[1:5],
  Proportion = c(0.1,0.2,0.1,0.2,0.4)
)

#' @export plot_fun
plot_fun <- function(df) {
  p1 <- ggplot(df, aes(Response, Proportion)) +
    geom_bar(stat='identity') + 
    scale_y_continuous(labels = percent)
return(p1)
}

test_that("Plot returns ggplot object",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_is(p,"ggplot")
})

test_that("Plot uses correct data", {
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_that(df, equals(p$data))

})

This is where I'm stuck

test_that("Plot layers match expectations",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_that(...,...)
})

test_that("Scale is labelled percent",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_that(...,...)
})

Perhaps there's a more direct approach?

Answer 1

This seems to be what you're aiming at, though specific requirements for plotting parameters and contents will vary of course. But for the example you nicely crafted above these tests should all pass:

##  Load the proto library for accessing sub-components of the ggplot2
##    plot objects:
library(proto)

test_that("Plot layers match expectations",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_is(p$layers[[1]], "proto")
  expect_identical(p$layers[[1]]$geom$objname, "bar")
  expect_identical(p$layers[[1]]$stat$objname, "identity")
})

test_that("Scale is labelled 'Proportion'",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_identical(p$labels$y, "Proportion")
})

test_that("Scale range is NULL",{
  p <- plot_fun(df)
  expect_null(p$scales$scales[[1]]$range$range)
})

This question and its answers offer a good starting point on other ways to characterize ggplot objects in case you have other things you'd like to test.