Improving the Describe > Specific > Graph dialogues

[rdstern]

These are currently the following dialogues from Point Plot to Mosaic plot:

They are the "standard" way of getting an effective ggplot graph. They are not the only way - in another discussion document we consider 5 ways of using R-Instat for graphs, and these are the third. They are likely to be the most-used way, once R-Instat is released.
The improvements are faciliting the easy production of graphs for at least the situations and graph types from the Visualisation book - which is one of the 5 books related to data science considered here.

We don't have plans to make the list of graphs longer - in fact, perhaps 1 shorter!

I list the changes below.

1. More of the dialogues will resemble the current histogram and boxplot dialogues, where there are multiple geoms using the top-button options.
2. There will be more alternative and additional geoms for the plots. Currently the boxplot dialogue has an option for Tufte boxplots, which is an alternative base geom, and in the Line dialogue the base geom can be changed to become either path or step.
3. This gives the first task to be added, namely when the geom changes (and probably also when an additional layer is added) the special sub-dialogue e.g. boxplot options, should change to become Tufte boxplot options. This is already the case, so an easy improvement is to add this facility for the step and path options. That is an exception as the checkbox opens up either of 2 geoms. The simple checkbox (Tufte boxplot) could usefully become a custom control, if not already, because there are many more uses of it.
   4)The current rug plot dialogue is an oddity. The dialogue should be transformed for mapping as described in issue 6665. Then rugplots should be added as a checkbox in (at least) the point plot and the line-plot dialogues. This is an example which adds a layer to an existing plot. I suggest, when checked that it also changes to special sub-dialogue button to Rug Plot Options. Just untick it to change that option back to Point-plot or line plot options. This also to be done for Labels (geom Text) in the new bar chart dialogue.
4. The bar chart dialogue is becoming usefully more comprehensive. I suggest a change in position in the list of dialogues, to the top, i.e. before point plots. It should also add more buttons at the top, namely Tree Maps (that are in the procurement menu) and Mosaic Plots that are currently on their own. They are each extensions of the bar chart idea for more factors.
5. Then I suggest boxplots could be next in the menu, followed by histograms - each useful for single variables - before point plots.
6. The current rug plot dialogue could later be maps/choropleth/contour/heatmap. I am also not sure where geom_raster comes in all this? The urgent one is simple, and is heatmap, which uses geom_tile. We need that for various applications, particularly agriculture.
7. There is continued work needed on the line plots (that's also for time series). Completing the smooth button is high pririty, then adding geom_dumbbell and slope graphs. The name of the dialogue will then become Line/Smooth/Dumbbell/Slope.
8. The bar chart dialogue has various improvements still. A simple addition is geom_lollipop. This is just an option (checkbox on the left), not a button at the top. The name of the dialogue will become Bar Chart/Tree Map/Mosaic. We can get rid of pie from the name. We need to finish the labels option and this may need some help, because the default label (for frequencies) does not have an explicit label, as it is produced on the fly. Another improvement for discussion is the ways of choosing bar-chart orders in the dialogue.

[rdstern]

If the above is roughly agreed I list a series of possible small tasks that could be implemented - many at the start of the sprint. I hope @dannyparsons and @shadrackkibet could be part of the discussion to confirm (or change) these tasks. Some may need specific issues, others might lead straight to work and pull requests.
a) Complete the changes to geom_smooth in the line plot dialogue. On the same dialogue there can be a change to geom_step or geom_path. This should change the corresponding button to Step options and Path Options.
b) Confirm the value of a simple new user control to change the special option button. After discussions with @dannyparsons this should change to button, when there are multiple controls. It sort of adds a drop down to the button, so you have easy access to those options. I am liking that a lot
c) Add rug plot checkbox to point plot dialogue, and options (also specify options) - not too many for this control. The same set of controls will later also be added to further dialogues, including line plot.
d) Confirm the changes in the order and contents of the menu items for Describe > Specific menu. Implement them, even if some are currently disabled. Consider adding tooltip for disabled items, rather than only changing what is currently available.
e) Add geom lollipop to the bar chart dialogue. It is a checkbox with 2 or 3 options on the size/colour of the circle.
f) Add dumbbell charts to the line charts dialogue. They are a button at the top. Possibly add slope charts as well if easy.
g) Start the spatial menu item by the most urgent, which is heatmaps.