Class clash for `annotation_custom` default args

[bbcuffer]

Hi, if my x-aesthetic is a date, annotate_custom generates conversion warnings when I use the defaults for xmin and xmax (which are numeric: -Inf).

ggplot(economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + 
  annotation_custom(grid::textGrob("DRAFT"))

yields

Warning messages:
1: In scale_x_date() :
  A <numeric> value was passed to a Date scale.
ℹ The value was converted to a <Date> object.
2: In scale_x_date() :
  A <numeric> value was passed to a Date scale.
ℹ The value was converted to a <Date> object.

And a perfectly good plot.

The workaround for the warnings is to specify that xmin and xmax are dates explicitly. e.g.

ggplot(economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + 
  annotation_custom(grid::textGrob("DRAFT"), xmin = as.Date(-Inf), xmax = as.Date(Inf))

Would it be possible to have the defaults match the class of these arguments to to the class of the x aesthetic?

[teunbrand]

have the defaults match the class of these arguments to to the class of the x aesthetic

Well, that is exactly what is happening, but ggplot2 is chatty about this conversion

[bbcuffer]

Fair point - and thanks for responding so quickly. The chattiness is not too bad for a single save. But a 250 frame animation gets very talkative.

[teunbrand]

Yeah, as you mentioned you can use the as.Date() to suppress the warning, or you can use I() to avoid scales altogether.

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + 
  annotation_custom(grid::textGrob("DRAFT"), xmin = I(0), xmax = I(1))

^{Created on 2025-10-02 with reprex v2.1.1}

[bbcuffer]

Oooooh - thank you. I() is so neat and I never would have thought of it.