Background colour for directlabels & ggplot2?

Question

Here's some test data:

y <- c(1:10, 6:15)
b <- c(rep(c("A", "B"), each=10))
x <- 1:10
df <- data.frame(b, x, y)

And a test plot:

library(ggplot2)
library(directlabels)
p1 <- ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=b)) + geom_line()
direct.label(p1, list("first.points", hjust=-1, vjust=-0.5))

I'd like the background of the labels to be white (in a rectangle around the text). Is there a way to achieve that? I tried fill="white", colour="white", background="white", nothing happened..

Answer 1

Alright, thanks to Henrik's comment pointing to this question I came up with this:

p1 <- ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=b)) + geom_line()

my.dl <- list(box.color="white", "draw.rects")
direct.label(p1, list("first.points", hjust=-1, vjust=-0.3, "calc.boxes", "my.dl"))

Answer 2

Your only adaption your code requires is theme_set(theme_bw())

y <- c(1:10, 6:15)
b <- c(rep(c("A", "B"), each=10))
x <- 1:10
df <- data.frame(b, x, y)

theme_set(theme_bw())  # added
library(ggplot2)
library(directlabels)
p1 <- ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=b)) + geom_line()
direct.label(p1, list("first.points", hjust=-1, vjust=-0.5))