[SOLVED] How can I add elements to an existing officer block

How can I add elements to an existing officer block_list object?

I have an existing officer block_list object and would like to extend it after its original creation. How can I achieve that?

i.e. in the code below, how can I create my_block_list_2 with a preexisting my_block_list_1?

library(officer) # 0.6.2

my_block_list_1 <- block_list(fpar("Something on the left",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "left")))

my_block_list_2 <- block_list(fpar("Something on the left",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "left")),
                              fpar("Something on the right",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "right")))

Solution

Since the block_list is a list (can be checked with is.list()) we can simply add the additional element to position two of that list. When comparing my_block_list_1 with my_block_list_2 via all.equal() after the addition we find that they are indeed the same.

library(officer) # 0.6.2

my_block_list_1 <- block_list(fpar("Something on the left",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "left")))

my_block_list_2 <- block_list(fpar("Something on the left",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "left")),
                              fpar("Something on the right",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "right")))


my_block_list_1[[2]] <- fpar("Something on the right",
                             fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "right"))

all.equal(my_block_list_1, my_block_list_2)

In the context of an actual Rmd we also see that it works when rendering:

---
output:
  officedown::rdocx_document:
    base_format: "rmarkdown::word_document"
---

```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE)

library(officedown) # 0.3.3
library(officer) # 0.6.2
library(ggplot2) # 3.4.2
library(flextable) # 0.9.4
```

```{r}
my_block_list_1 <- block_list(fpar("Something on the left",
                                   fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "left")))

my_block_list_1[[2]] <- fpar("Something on the right",
                             fp_p = fp_par(text.align = "right"))

block_section(prop_section(footer_default = my_block_list_1))
```

```{r my-figure, fig.cap = "A figure."}
ggplot(data = iris, aes(x = Sepal.Length, y = Sepal.Width)) +
  geom_point()
```