cbind_rtables displays column names in wrong order in some cases when hierarchy structure differs

[danielinteractive]

It seems like cbind_rtables can only reliably work when used in specific order.

Example:

library(rtables)

tab1 <- rtable(
  header = "a",
  rrow("one", 1)
)
tab2 <- rtable(
  header = "b",
  rrow("one", 2)
)
tab3 <- rtable(
  header = "c",
  rrow("one", 3)
)

first <- cbind_rtables(tab1, tab2)
wrong <- cbind_rtables(first, tab3)
ok <- cbind_rtables(tab3, first)

Here wrong has the wrong order of column names (but cell content is correct). ok is ok.

Session info:

R version 3.6.3 (2020-02-29)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
Running under: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)

Matrix products: default
BLAS/LAPACK: /usr/lib/libopenblasp-r0.2.19.so

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C               LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8       
 [4] LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8     LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=C             
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                  LC_ADDRESS=C              
[10] LC_TELEPHONE=C             LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] rtables_0.3.2.17.9029 magrittr_1.5         

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] compiler_3.6.3  htmltools_0.4.0 tools_3.6.3     Rcpp_1.0.4.6    digest_0.6.25   packrat_0.5.0  
[7] rlang_0.4.5     purrr_0.3.4    

[danielinteractive]

Thanks @gmbecker for the workaround and generalization of cbind_rtables(), that works nicely!
I guess this bug would still be good to get fixed though, since it will be very confusing for users.

[anajens]

Some more examples of this bug:

library(rtables)

df1 <- data.frame(
  arm = c("ARM A", "ARM B"),
  stat2 = c(2, 4),
  stat3 = c(3, 5)
) 

df2 <- data.frame(
  arm = c("OVERALL", "OVERALL"),
  stat3 = 6,
  stat4 = 7,
  stat1 = 1
) 

t1 <- basic_table() %>%
  split_cols_by("arm") %>%
  split_cols_by_multivar(vars = c("stat2", "stat3")) %>%
  analyze_colvars(afun = mean) %>%
  build_table(df1)

t2 <- basic_table() %>%
  split_cols_by("arm") %>%
  split_cols_by_multivar(vars = c("stat3", "stat4", "stat1")) %>%
  analyze_colvars(afun = mean) %>%
  build_table(df2)

# Works:
cbind_rtables(t1, t2)

# Here however, there is a warning and header is incorrect:
cbind_rtables(t2[, 3], t1, t2[, 1:2])

# Also with cbind in 2 steps gives yet another result for the header:
cbind_rtables(
  cbind_rtables(t2[, 3], t1),
  t2[, 1:2]
)

Session info:

R version 3.6.3 (2020-02-29)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
Running under: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)

Matrix products: default
BLAS/LAPACK: /usr/lib/libopenblasp-r0.2.19.so

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C               LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8     LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=C             
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                  LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C             LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] rtables_0.3.2.17.9035 magrittr_1.5         

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] compiler_3.6.3  htmltools_0.4.0 tools_3.6.3     Rcpp_1.0.4.6    digest_0.6.25   packrat_0.5.0   rlang_0.4.5     purrr_0.3.4

[gmbecker]

Fixed the underlying bug so that the initial recursive cbinding displays correctly.