HTML Report Generation From Processed Omics

html-report-generation-from-processed-omics

Summary

Generate publication-ready HTML quality control reports and tab-delimited summary exports from processed metabolomics data objects. This skill produces interactive visual summaries and machine-readable outputs after data normalization and quality control filtering.

When to use

After completing batch normalization and quality control filtering on a Metaboprep object, when you need to communicate QC decisions, visualize exclusion patterns, and export final processed data for downstream analysis or sharing with collaborators.

When NOT to use

• Input Metaboprep object has not yet undergone quality_control() — report will reflect unfiltered raw data only
• Output directory does not exist or lacks write permissions
• Data has already been exported in final form and only HTML visualization is needed (use generate_report alone)

Inputs

• Metaboprep object (post batch_normalise and post quality_control)
• project name (string)
• output directory path (string)

Outputs

• HTML QC report file (project_name_metaboprep_qc_report.html)
• Tab-delimited processed data matrix (.txt or .tsv)
• Tab-delimited sample metadata (.txt or .tsv)
• Tab-delimited feature metadata (.txt or .tsv)

How to apply

Load the quality-controlled Metaboprep object (post-batch_normalise and post-quality_control). Call generate_report() with the project name, output directory, format='html', and template='qc_report' to render an interactive HTML report summarizing sample and feature exclusion statistics, diagnostic plots, and QC thresholds applied. Simultaneously call export() with format='metaboprep' to write the processed data matrix, sample metadata, and feature metadata as tab-delimited text files (.txt/.tsv) to the same output directory. The report template uses rmarkdown and knitr to knit ggplot2-based visualizations and kableExtra-styled tables. Verify that the HTML file (project_name_metaboprep_qc_report.html) and corresponding .txt/.tsv files exist and contain expected row/column counts matching the QC-filtered Metaboprep object.

Related tools

• metaboprep (R package providing generate_report() and export() methods for Metaboprep objects) — https://github.com/MRCIEU/metaboprep
• rmarkdown (Renders R markdown templates to HTML report)
• knitr (Executes embedded R code blocks within markdown during report generation)
• ggplot2 (Produces statistical graphics embedded in the QC report)
• kableExtra (Formats and styles summary tables in the HTML report)

Examples

mydata <- mydata |> quality_control(source_layer = "input", sample_missingness = 0.2, feature_missingness = 0.2); generate_report(mydata, project_name = "my_study", output_dir = "./results", format = "html", template = "qc_report"); export(mydata, directory = "./results", format = "metaboprep")

Evaluation signals

• HTML file exists at expected path and is valid HTML (can be opened in a web browser)
• Tab-delimited text files exist with expected filenames and contain data matching QC-filtered Metaboprep object dimensions (rows = samples/features, columns = metadata fields)
• Report visually displays exclusion counts and codes matching the Exclusion Codes Summary from summary(mydata)
• Sample and feature counts in exported files are consistent with the reduced sample and feature count after quality_control filtering
• HTML report contains functional visualizations (dendrograms, summary plots) rendered without rendering errors

Limitations

• Report generation requires rmarkdown and knitr to be installed; rendering may fail if dependencies are missing or incompatible
• Large datasets (>10,000 features or >1,000 samples) may produce HTML files that are slow to load or render in some web browsers
• The qc_report template is tailored to metabolomics; application to other omics data types (proteomics, genomics) may require custom templates
• Export format is currently limited to tab-delimited text; other formats (Excel, HDF5, NetCDF) are not supported by export(format='metaboprep')

Evidence

• [methods] Call generate_report() with project name, output directory, format='html', and template='qc_report': "Call generate_report() with project name, output directory, format='html', and template='qc_report' to render the QC report."
• [methods] Call export() to write processed data, sample metadata, and feature metadata as tab-delimited text files: "Call export() with format='metaboprep' to write processed data, sample metadata, and feature metadata as tab-delimited text files to the specified output directory."
• [methods] Verify that HTML report file and tab-delimited exports exist in output directory: "Verify that the HTML report file (project_name_metaboprep_qc_report.html) and associated tab-delimited exports (.txt/.tsv) exist in the output directory."
• [intro] Generate summary data as tab-delimited text file and html report: "Provide useful summary data in the form of tab-delimited text file and a html report"
• [readme] Metaboprep generates tab-delimited text files and HTML report as outputs: "Provide useful summary data in the form of tab-delimited text file and a html report."