Welcome to blockr

## What is blockr?

blockr is a visual framework for building data workflows. Instead of writing code, you work with blocks - each block performs a specific task like loading data, filtering rows, or creating a chart. Connect blocks together to build complete data pipelines.

    knitr::include_graphics("../man/figures/workflow-example.png")

A blockr workflow: Dataset → Filter → Select → Plot

## Who is it for?

blockr is designed for anyone who works with data:

- Analysts who want to explore data without writing code
- Researchers who need reproducible workflows
- Teams who want to share and collaborate on data pipelines

## How it works

1. Add blocks to your workspace - choose from data import, transformation, visualization, and export blocks
2. Connect blocks together to create a pipeline - data flows from one block to the next
3. Configure blocks using dropdowns, checkboxes, and input fields - no coding required
4. See results in real-time as you build - each block shows a preview of its output

## Available blocks

blockr comes with blocks for common data tasks:

Import and Export

- Import Data - Load CSV, Excel, SPSS, SAS, Stata, Parquet files from your computer, a server, or URLs
- Export Data - Save results to CSV, Excel, or Parquet files

Data Transformation

- Filter Rows - Keep rows matching specific values
- Select Columns - Choose which columns to keep
- Calculate Columns - Create new columns using formulas
- Aggregate Data - Calculate totals, averages, counts
- Sort Rows - Order data by column values
- Lookup & Merge - Combine tables by matching columns
- And more: Rename, Pivot, Stack, Split…

Visualization

- ggplot - Create scatter plots, bar charts, line graphs, histograms, and more
- Theme - Customize colors and styling
- Facet - Split plots into panels
- Grid - Combine multiple plots

## Next steps

- Install blockr locally: `vignette("install", package = "blockr")`, if you want to run it on your own machine
- Working with blockr: `vignette("blockr", package = "blockr")` - a guided walkthrough of building a workflow

## Core packages

blockr is built on six specialized packages:

Foundational:

- blockr.core - Framework and architecture
- blockr.dag - Workflow management
- blockr.dock - User interface components

Block packages:

- blockr.dplyr - Data transformation blocks
- blockr.ggplot - Visualization blocks
- blockr.io - File import and export blocks

## Extending blockr

Additional block packages can be installed for specific domains. For example, blockr.ts adds blocks for time series analysis.