tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
DoseFinding vs rtflite
A side-by-side editorial comparison of DoseFinding and rtflite — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
DoseFinding vs rtflite: at a glance
What is DoseFinding?
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
DoseFinding implements MCP-Mod and related dose-response methodology for clinical trial design and analysis. In 2024 it changed hands — Marius Thomas took over as maintainer, Novartis was recorded as copyright holder and funder, and the package moved to the openpharma GitHub organisation with roxygen documentation and a proper NEWS file. The two releases since have added substantive methodology: model averaging for dose-response fitting in 1.3-1, and conditional and predictive power for interim analyses in 1.4-1.
What is rtflite?
rtflite stopped being an RTF writer and became the conversion layer for clinical table output.
rtflite generates the RTF tables clinical study reports are built from, a Python answer to the R tooling that has owned this niche. Over one dense month it grew a full export path: DOCX in 2.2.0, DOCX concatenation in 2.3.0, a configurable LibreOffice converter in 2.4.0, and HTML plus PDF in 2.5.0. The three releases since have been documentation, test infrastructure, and typing work — the feature push has stopped and consolidation has started.
DoseFinding vs rtflite: editorial side-by-side
DoseFinding
0.0ANALYTICS
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
◆ Current state
DoseFinding implements MCP-Mod and related dose-response methodology for clinical trial design and analysis. In 2024 it changed hands — Marius Thomas took over as maintainer, Novartis was recorded as copyright holder and funder, and the package moved to the openpharma GitHub organisation with roxygen documentation and a proper NEWS file. The two releases since have added substantive methodology: model averaging for dose-response fitting in 1.3-1, and conditional and predictive power for interim analyses in 1.4-1.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern before the handover was maintenance — R-devel compliance, a bug fix, a link. After it, each release carries a named methodological addition with an acknowledged contributor, plus documentation to match: a longitudinal analysis vignette shipped alongside the interim power work. Housekeeping continues underneath, mostly clearing deprecated ggplot2 interfaces, aes_string in one release and qplot in the next.
◆ Prediction
Given the last two releases each added one method with a supporting vignette, expect the next to follow the same shape. Both additions so far extend the package beyond fixed dose-response fitting, so adaptive and interim methodology is the more likely direction.
rtflite
0.0ANALYTICS
rtflite stopped being an RTF writer and became the conversion layer for clinical table output.
◆ Current state
rtflite generates the RTF tables clinical study reports are built from, a Python answer to the R tooling that has owned this niche. Over one dense month it grew a full export path: DOCX in 2.2.0, DOCX concatenation in 2.3.0, a configurable LibreOffice converter in 2.4.0, and HTML plus PDF in 2.5.0. The three releases since have been documentation, test infrastructure, and typing work — the feature push has stopped and consolidation has started.
◆ Where it's heading
Every format addition routes through the same LibreOffice converter rather than a per-format implementation, and 2.4.0's breaking change made that converter an injectable object you can configure and reuse. That is the shape of a package expecting to run inside a pipeline that produces hundreds of tables, not one that converts a document at a time. The recent quiet — snapshot tests moved onto `pytest-r-snapshot`, docs migrated, pandas and pyarrow dropped from dev dependencies — reads as work to stay dependency-light while the surface stabilizes.
◆ Prediction
With the export matrix filled in and three consecutive infrastructure-only releases, the next substantive change is most likely on the input side — table construction and pagination — since `page_by` and `subline_by` are the only feature area still generating bug reports in these notes.
Alternatives to DoseFinding and rtflite
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 DoseFinding or rtflite.
Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
See all DoseFinding alternatives → · See all rtflite alternatives →
Recent activity from DoseFinding and rtflite
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agortfliteMulti-section body typing tightened; pandas dropped from dev deps
- 7mo agortfliteAPI reference renders Pydantic field metadata
- 7mo agortfliteDocumentation site migrated to Zensical
- 7mo agortfliteSnapshot tests moved to pytest-r-snapshot
- 7mo agortfliteHTML and PDF export complete the output matrix ⚡
- 7mo agortfliteLibreOffice conversion becomes an injectable converter object
- 1y agoDoseFindingConditional and predictive power for interim analyses
- 1y agoDoseFindingModel averaging arrives for dose-response fitting ⚡
- 1y agoDoseFindingPackage moves to openpharma under new maintainership
- 2y agoDoseFindingCompliance update for R-devel
- 3y agoDoseFindingpowMCTBinCount bug fix
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between DoseFinding and rtflite?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. DoseFinding and rtflite 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 DoseFinding better than rtflite?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. DoseFinding and rtflite 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 DoseFinding?
Top DoseFinding alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "DoseFinding alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dosefinding for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rtflite?
Top rtflite alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rtflite alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rtflite for the full list with editorial commentary on each.