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This guide walks you through building a complete data workflow in blockr. You’ll learn how to import data, transform it, create a visualization, and export the results.

The workspace

When you open blockr, you see a workspace where you can add and connect blocks. Each block performs a specific operation and shows a preview of its output.

Blocks are organized into categories:

• Input - Import Data
• Transform - Filter, Select, Calculate, Aggregate, Sort, and more
• Plot - ggplot, Theme, Facet, Grid
• Output - Export Data

Building a workflow: Step by step

Let’s build a workflow that loads data, filters it, and creates a chart.

Step 1: Import your data

Add an Import Data block to load your dataset. You can:

• From Browser - Upload a file from your computer
• From Server - Browse files on a server (if configured)
• From URL - Load data from a web address

blockr automatically detects the file format and shows a preview of the data.

Supported formats: CSV, Excel, SPSS, SAS, Stata, Parquet, Feather.

Step 2: Filter the data

Add a Filter Rows block and connect it to your data. This block lets you keep only the rows you need.

Use the dropdowns to:

1. Select a column
2. Choose a comparison (equals, greater than, contains, etc.)
3. Pick the value(s) to filter by

For example, to keep only rows where cyl equals 4:

• Column: cyl
• Comparison: equals
• Value: 4

The preview updates immediately to show the filtered data.

For more complex filters with AND/OR logic, use Filter (Advanced) instead.

Step 3: Select columns

Add a Select Columns block to choose which columns to keep.

Drag columns to reorder them. Toggle “Remove duplicates” to keep only unique rows.

Step 4: Create a visualization

Add a ggplot block to create a chart.

1. Choose a chart type: point (scatter), bar, line, boxplot, histogram, etc.
2. Map columns to aesthetics:
   • x - Column for the horizontal axis
   • y - Column for the vertical axis (not needed for histogram)
   • color - Color points/bars by a column
   • size - Size points by a column

The chart updates as you make selections.

Step 5: Export results

Add an Export Data block to save your results.

Choose a format:

• CSV - For spreadsheets and other tools
• Excel - With support for multiple sheets
• Parquet - For large datasets

Select To Browser to download the file, or To Server to save it to a configured location.

More blocks

Data transformation

Visualization

Working with multiple inputs

Some blocks accept data from multiple sources:

• Lookup & Merge - Connect two data sources to combine them by matching columns
• Stack Tables - Connect multiple sources to stack them vertically
• Grid - Connect multiple plots to arrange them in a grid

Tips

Start simple. Begin with one data source and one transformation. Add complexity gradually.

Use previews. Each block shows its output - use this to verify each step works correctly.

Build incrementally. Add one block at a time and check the result before continuing.

Block reference

For detailed documentation on each block, see:

• Data Transformation Blocks vignette("blockr-dplyr-showcase", package = "blockr.dplyr")
• Visualization Blocks vignette("blockr-ggplot-showcase", package = "blockr.ggplot")
• Import/Export Blocks vignette("blockr-io-showcase", package = "blockr.io")

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.
Health stats visible at Monitor.