simmer.plot
The plotting companion to simmer, shipping only when the simulator or a graphics dependency moves.
Comparison · Analytics
condformat vs rnpn
A side-by-side editorial comparison of condformat and rnpn — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
condformat vs rnpn: at a glance
What is condformat?
A dormant table-formatting package woken by a 20-PR correctness and coverage sweep
condformat applies conditional formatting rules to R data frames and renders them to HTML, LaTeX, Excel and grob output. After 0.10.1 in 2023 it went quiet for nearly three years. Version 0.11.0 breaks that silence with a single-maintainer sweep of roughly twenty pull requests: CI modernized across R-devel, release and oldrel; lockcells fixed for LaTeX and grob output; a rule_fill_bar() crash at zero width; theme_htmlTable() no longer dropping chained arguments; and a .col pronoun added across all rules.
What is rnpn?
The USA phenology data client rebuilt its entire stack and stopped handing users -9999 as a number.
rnpn is the R client for the USA National Phenology Network, retrieving observation records, phenometrics and gridded model layers. Version 1.3.0 in March 2025 replaced nearly all of its infrastructure at once — sp and raster dropped, terra made optional, XML swapped for xml2, plyr for dplyr, httr and curl for httr2 — and changed what functions return, with tibbles in place of data.tables and empty tibbles in place of NULL on error. The two releases since have completed the missing-value handling and restored performance lost in the transition.
condformat vs rnpn: editorial side-by-side
condformat
0.0ANALYTICS
A dormant table-formatting package woken by a 20-PR correctness and coverage sweep
◆ Current state
condformat applies conditional formatting rules to R data frames and renders them to HTML, LaTeX, Excel and grob output. After 0.10.1 in 2023 it went quiet for nearly three years. Version 0.11.0 breaks that silence with a single-maintainer sweep of roughly twenty pull requests: CI modernized across R-devel, release and oldrel; lockcells fixed for LaTeX and grob output; a rule_fill_bar() crash at zero width; theme_htmlTable() no longer dropping chained arguments; and a .col pronoun added across all rules.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a maintenance-debt payoff rather than a change of direction. The bulk of 0.11.0 is test coverage — render_gtable, knit_print, theme_grob, render_xlsx and rule_fill_bar all gained tests — which reads as a maintainer establishing a safety net before touching anything further. The .col pronoun and scalar recycling in the text rules are the only real API additions, and both smooth inconsistencies rather than extend the rule vocabulary.
◆ Prediction
With coverage and CI now in place, the next release is more likely to extend rule or output-format support than to continue with fixes, though the three-year gap makes cadence hard to call from these entries alone.
rnpn
0.0ANALYTICS
The USA phenology data client rebuilt its entire stack and stopped handing users -9999 as a number.
◆ Current state
rnpn is the R client for the USA National Phenology Network, retrieving observation records, phenometrics and gridded model layers. Version 1.3.0 in March 2025 replaced nearly all of its infrastructure at once — sp and raster dropped, terra made optional, XML swapped for xml2, plyr for dplyr, httr and curl for httr2 — and changed what functions return, with tibbles in place of data.tables and empty tibbles in place of NULL on error. The two releases since have completed the missing-value handling and restored performance lost in the transition.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being brought onto the current R stack and made honest about missing data, and those are the same project. Converting the -9999 sentinel to NA started in 1.3.0 for download functions and was extended to all columns in 1.4.1; the string "emptyvalue" got the same treatment. Beyond the migration, the feature additions are modest and specific to the domain, such as custom start and end dates for defining a phenometrics season.
◆ Prediction
With the dependency migration finished and sentinel handling now applied across all columns, the next releases most likely return to domain features and to fixes surfaced by the server side, which has already prompted work through migrations and backend moves. The removed progress indicator is an acknowledged regression that may come back.
Alternatives to condformat and rnpn
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either condformat or rnpn.
fastrg
A fast random-graph sampler that spent 0.3.1 fixing what its parameters actually mean.
maths.genealogy
A young Mathematics Genealogy client spending its first four releases satisfying CRAN.
nat.templatebrains
The natverse package that taught neuron data to remember which brain space it lives in.
nat.nblast
The NBLAST neuron-similarity engine is stable code on life support, shipping once every few years.
RandomWalker
A random-walk generator that outgrew one dimension and renamed its core column to prove it.
See all condformat alternatives → · See all rnpn alternatives →
Recent activity from condformat and rnpn
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agocondformatEnds a three-year gap with a 20-PR fix and coverage sweep
- 11mo agornpnSentinel -9999 now converted to NA across all columns
- 1y agornpnCustom season windows for phenometrics, and a speed regression fixed
- 1y agornpnDependency stack and return types replaced wholesale ⚡
- 1y agornpnBackfilled notes for seven earlier maintenance releases
- 2y agocondformatDocumentation fixes and internal S3 method registration
- 3y agocondformatcondformat2grob() gains a draw argument for composite figures
- 6y agocondformatDrops the lazyeval API and replaces xlsx with openxlsx
- 7y agocondformatAdds bar, bold and color rules plus grob rendering
- 8y agocondformatIntroduces the tidy-evaluation API alongside the old one
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between condformat and rnpn?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. condformat and rnpn are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is condformat better than rnpn?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. condformat and rnpn are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to condformat?
Top condformat alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "condformat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/condformat for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rnpn?
Top rnpn alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rnpn alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rnpn for the full list with editorial commentary on each.