tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
tinkr vs xportr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of tinkr and xportr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
tinkr vs xportr: at a glance
What is tinkr?
Markdown round-tripping through XML, where every release is another thing it learned not to mangle.
tinkr parses Markdown into XML, lets callers manipulate it with XPath, and writes it back out — the yarn R6 class is the whole interface. Its development is defined by a single hard problem: surviving the round trip without corrupting syntax the XML representation does not natively model. Maintenance is shared between two active contributors and release cadence is roughly annual.
What is xportr?
The CDISC transport writer collapsed six pipeline calls into one, then spent two years hardening it
xportr applies CDISC metadata — variable types, lengths, labels, formats, ordering — to R data frames and writes the SAS transport files that go into regulatory submissions. Since v0.4.0 the package has had a single entry point, xportr_process(), that runs the whole chain and writes, and metadata arrives as a plain specification rather than a metacore object. The v0.5.0 release in January 2026 finished the cleanup by deleting every deprecated argument left over from that redesign.
tinkr vs xportr: editorial side-by-side
tinkr
0.0ANALYTICS
Markdown round-tripping through XML, where every release is another thing it learned not to mangle.
◆ Current state
tinkr parses Markdown into XML, lets callers manipulate it with XPath, and writes it back out — the yarn R6 class is the whole interface. Its development is defined by a single hard problem: surviving the round trip without corrupting syntax the XML representation does not natively model. Maintenance is shared between two active contributors and release cadence is roughly annual.
◆ Where it's heading
Each release extends the set of constructs that get protected across the round trip — curly braces, escaped brackets, inline math, dollar signs used as currency, French-style dollars, fenced divs, frontmatter. The 0.3.0 notes also add get_protected(), append_md(), and prepend_md(), which is the first sign of building a manipulation API on top of the protection machinery rather than only widening it.
◆ Prediction
Expect the protection list to keep growing toward full Quarto syntax coverage, which the first release named as the long-term goal and which fenced divs and frontmatter both move toward.
xportr
0.0ANALYTICS
The CDISC transport writer collapsed six pipeline calls into one, then spent two years hardening it
◆ Current state
xportr applies CDISC metadata — variable types, lengths, labels, formats, ordering — to R data frames and writes the SAS transport files that go into regulatory submissions. Since v0.4.0 the package has had a single entry point, xportr_process(), that runs the whole chain and writes, and metadata arrives as a plain specification rather than a metacore object. The v0.5.0 release in January 2026 finished the cleanup by deleting every deprecated argument left over from that redesign.
◆ Where it's heading
The work has moved from building the pipeline to defending it against the ways submission data actually arrives: grouped data frames now raise a warning, date and time variables get class checks, illegal characters are resolved rather than erroring, and xportr_write() warns before a file crosses 5GB instead of producing an unusable artifact. Contributor volume is high and spread across sponsors — Atorus, Roche, GSK and others show up in the PR lists — which is what keeps a validated-context package moving without a single owner.
◆ Prediction
With deprecations cleared in 0.5.0, the next cycle likely targets more input-shape validation of the kind 0.5.0 started — the grouped-data and datetime-class checks read as the first two of a series. Nothing in these entries points to a new output format.
Alternatives to tinkr and xportr
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 tinkr or xportr.
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 tinkr alternatives → · See all xportr alternatives →
Recent activity from tinkr and xportr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 7mo agoxportrDeprecated arguments deleted; 5GB and datetime guards added
- 1y agoxportrTest fixes for the metacore 0.2.0 update
- 1y agotinkrFrontmatter, fenced divs, and content-insertion methods
- 1y agoxportrhms accepted as a numeric type; domain logging filled in
- 1y agoxportrFile-size limit moves into xportr_write, deprecating xportr_split
- 2y agoxportrxportr_process() runs the whole pipeline in one call ⚡
- 2y agoxportrUnused dependencies removed
- 3y agotinkrProtects curly braces, escaped brackets, and link anchors
- 3y agotinkrFirst release: the extensible yarn R6 class ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between tinkr and xportr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. tinkr and xportr 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 tinkr better than xportr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. tinkr and xportr 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 tinkr?
Top tinkr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tinkr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tinkr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to xportr?
Top xportr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "xportr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/xportr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.