6 When there are multiple column per event type

When there are separate columns for the data, and event type it is more complex. In this data the response start, end, and response types are all stored in different columns, but must be kept together per patient and event.

long_start <- gather_(data=wide_example[,c('ID','Response1.Start','Response2.Start','Response3.Start')],
                      "response_number", "start_time", gather_cols=c('Response1.Start','Response2.Start',
                                                                'Response3.Start'),na.rm=T)

long_start$response_number <- substring(long_start$response_number,1,9) # Will be used to match to the end and types

ID	response_number	start_time
ID:001	Response1	1.2
ID:002	Response1	0.6
ID:001	Response2	4.0
ID:002	Response2	1.5
ID:002	Response3	2.0

Separate dataframes are created for the end time, and response, then they are all merged together by the id, and response_number

long_end <- gather_(data=wide_example[,c('ID','Response1.End','Response2.End','Response3.End')],
                    "response_number", "end_time", gather_cols=c('Response1.End','Response2.End',
                                                            'Response3.End'),na.rm=T)
long_end$response_number <- substring(long_end$response_number,1,9)

long_response <- gather_(data=wide_example[,c('ID','Response1','Response2','Response3')],
                         "response_number", "Response", gather_cols=c('Response1','Response2','Response3'),
                         na.rm=T)

long_response_full <- Reduce(function(...) merge(..., all=TRUE,by=c('ID','response_number')), 
                            list(long_start, long_end, long_response))

ID	response_number	start_time	end_time	Response
ID:001	Response1	1.2	2.2	SD
ID:001	Response2	4.0	5.0	CR
ID:002	Response1	0.6	0.8	SD
ID:002	Response2	1.5	2.0	PR
ID:002	Response3	2.0	4.0	CR

The lines can then be added to the plot

plot+ 
  swimmer_points(df=points_long,id='ID',name_shape = 'point',size=8)+
  swimmer_lines(df_lines = long_response_full,id='ID',start = 'start_time',end='end_time',
                name_col='Response',size=25)