---
title: "Comparison of related software packages"
description: >
  An overview of related software packages in the ODK / OData space.
output:
  rmarkdown::html_vignette:
    self_contained: false
vignette: >
  %\VignetteIndexEntry{Comparison of related software packages}
  %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown}
  %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8}
---

```{r, include = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>")
```

There are several other R packages interacting with the ODK ecosystem, and/or
[OData](https://www.odata.org/).

## Comparison of ODK related software packages (non-ODK core)

| Package                         | [`ruODK`](https://docs.ropensci.org/ruODK/) | [`odkr`](https://github.com/rapidsurveys/odkr) | [`odk`](https://cran.r-project.org/package=odk) | [`odkmeta`](https://github.com/nap2000/odkmeta) | [`koboloadeR`](https://unhcr.github.io/koboloadeR/docs/index.html) | [Pentaho Kettle tutorial](https://github.com/schemetrica/automating-data-delivery-odk-central)
|------------------------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
| Elevator pitch               | "[ckanr](https://github.com/ropensci/ckanr) for ODK Central"  | "Drive ODK Briefcase through R" | "Export ODK Aggregate to SPSS" | "Export ODK Aggregate to STATA" | "Metapackage for the extended ODK ecosystem" | "What ruODK does, but as GUI" |
| Last commit                  | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/ropensci/ruODK.svg)](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK/commits/main) | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/rapidsurveys/odkr.svg)](https://github.com/rapidsurveys/odkr/commits/master) |    Nov 2017    |  [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/nap2000/odkmeta.svg)](https://github.com/nap2000/odkmeta/commits/master) | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/unhcr/koboloadeR.svg)](https://github.com/unhcr/koboloadeR/commits/master) | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/schemetrica/automating-data-delivery-odk-central.svg)](https://github.com/schemetrica/automating-data-delivery-odk-central/commits/master) |
| Website                      | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK) [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=pkgdown&color=brightgreen)](https://docs.ropensci.org/ruODK/) | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/rapidsurveys/odkr) [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=pkgdown&color=brightgreen)](https://rapidsurveys.io/odkr/)   | [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=rdrr.io&color=brightgreen)](https://rdrr.io/cran/odk/) |    [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/nap2000/odkmeta) | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/unhcr/koboloadeR) [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=pkgdown&color=brightgreen)](https://unhcr.github.io/koboloadeR/docs/index.html) | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/schemetrica/automating-data-delivery-odk-central) |
| Test coverage             | ![tic](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK/workflows/tic/badge.svg)  [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/ropensci/ruODK/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/ropensci/ruODK) [![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/1cs19xx0t64bmd2q/branch/main?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/florianm/ruodk/branch/main) | [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/rapidsurveys/odkr/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/rapidsurveys/odkr) | ❌ | In repo | [![Travis build status](https://travis-ci.org/unhcr/koboloadeR.svg?branch=gh-pages)](https://travis-ci.org/unhcr/koboloadeR) [![AppVeyor Build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/unhcr/koboloadeR?branch=gh-pages&svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/unhcr/koboloadeR) [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/unhcr/koboloadeR/branch/gh-pages/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/unhcr/koboloadeR) | NA |
| Working examples             | README, 3 vignettes, pkgdown, Rmd templates | README, pkgdown | CRAN PDF | README | README, 9 vignettes, shiny apps, pkgdown | Tutorial with screenshots |
| Available on CRAN            | [![CRAN status](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/ruODK)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=ruODK) | [![CRAN status](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/odkr)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=odkr) |  [![version](http://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/odk)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=odk)  | NA | NA | NA |
| Technologies            | Tidyverse R, XForms | Base R | Base R | Stata | R metapackage, XlsForms | Pentaho Kettle GUI |
| External dependencies        | None | Java, ODK Briefcase | SPSS | Stata | Java, ODK Briefcase, wraps `odkr` | [Pentaho Kettle](https://github.com/pentaho/pentaho-kettle), Java |
| Affiliation                  |  [ROpenSci](https://ropensci.org/) | [RapidSurveys](https://rapidsurveys.io/) |  [Muntashir-Al-Arefin](https://stackoverflow.com/users/8875690/muntashir-al-arefin) | [ODK Central developer Matt White](https://github.com/matthew-white) | [UNHCR](https://github.com/unhcr) | [Schemetrica](https://github.com/schemetrica) |
| Covers ODK Central OData API        | ✅  |  ❌ |  ❌  | ❌  | ❌ | ✅  |
| Covers ODK Central REST API         | ✅  |  ❌ |  ❌  | ❌  | ❌ | ❌  |
| Covers ODK Central bulk export      | ✅  |  ❌ |  ❌  | ✅  | ❌ | ✅  |
| Covers ODK Central OpenRosa API     | ❌  no need, gets all data through OData/REST API |  ✅  via ODK Briefcase |  ❌  | ❌  | ✅  via ODK Briefcase  | ✅  |
| Data post-processing                | ✅  |  ✅ |  ❌ | ✅  | ✅ | ✅  |
| Data visualisation examples         | ✅  |  ❌ | ❌  | ❌  | ✅  | ❌ |

In summary:

`ruODK` provides a dependency-free interface to ODK Central.

`koboloadeR` is a metapackage containing lots of ancillary packages, with some
heavy dependencies on Java and ODK Briefcase (which in turn can access ODK Central).
Although built around the XlsForm standard and paradigm, `koboloadeR` is well worth
exploring as a larger context to data wrangling in the ODK ecosystem.

Schemetrica's tutorial illustrates data ETL from ODK Central and deserves a special
mention, as it is both very recent and aimed specifically against ODK Central.
The GUI paradigm of Pentaho Kettle addresses a different audience to the scripting
paradigm of `ruODK`. It should be mentioned that Kettle's composable data
manipulation steps can be used for many other use cases apart from ODK Central.

## Comparison of OData related R packages

| Package                         | [`ruODK`](https://docs.ropensci.org/ruODK/) | [`odataR`](https://github.com/HanOostdijk/odataR) | [`cbsodataR`](https://github.com/edwindj/cbsodataR) | [`OData`](https://cran.r-project.org/package=OData) | [OData JDBC R tutorial](https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/odata-jdbc-r.rst)
|------------------------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|
| Elevator pitch               | "[ckanr](https://github.com/ropensci/ckanr) for ODK Central"  | "OData client for https://opendata.cbs.nl (and similar)" | "OData client for https://www.cbs.nl" | "Minimal OData example" | "Minimal RJDBC example" |
| Last commit                  | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/ropensci/ruODK.svg)](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK/commits/main) | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/HanOostdijk/odataR.svg)](https://github.com/HanOostdijk/odataR/commits/master) | [![Last-changedate](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/edwindj/cbsodataR.svg)](https://github.com/edwindj/cbsodataR/commits/master) | Dec 2016 | ❓ |
| Website | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK) [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=pkgdown&color=brightgreen)](https://docs.ropensci.org/ruODK/) | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/HanOostdijk/odataR) | [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=CRAN&color=green)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=cbsodataR) [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=GitHub&color=brightgreen)](https://github.com/edwindj/cbsodataR) [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=pkgdown&color=brightgreen)](https://edwindj.github.io/cbsodataR/) | [![](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=code&message=CRAN&color=green)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=OData) | [![docs](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=docs&message=html&color=brightgreen)](https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/odata-jdbc-r.rst) |
| Test coverage            | ![tic](https://github.com/ropensci/ruODK/workflows/tic/badge.svg)  [![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/1cs19xx0t64bmd2q/branch/main?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/florianm/ruodk/branch/main) [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/ropensci/ruODK/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/ropensci/ruODK) | ❌ | [![Travis-CI Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/edwindj/cbsodataR.png?branch=master)](hhttps://app.travis-ci.com/edwindj/cbsodataR) [![AppVeyor Build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/edwindj/cbsodatar?branch=master)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/edwindj/cbsodatar) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Targets ODK Central | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Works with ODK Central | ✅ | ❓ |  ❓  | ❌ | ❌ |
| Data wrangling helpers for post-processing | ✅ | some |  some  | ❌ | ❌ |
| Actively maintained to work against ODK Central | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Technologies | R, httr, xml2, tidyr, purrr | R, jsonlite, tidyverse | R, tidyverse | R, XML, RJSONIO | R, RJDBC, Java |
| External dependencies | ✅  None  |  ✅  None   | ✅  None | ✅  None | ❌ JDBC, Java |
| Available on CRAN     | [![CRAN status](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/ruODK)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=ruODK) | NA |  [![version](http://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/cbsodataR)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=cbsodataR) | [![version](http://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/OData)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=OData) |  NA |

In summary:

`ruODK` is the only R package explicitly aimed at ODK Central's OData and
RESTful API, as well as providing context and helpers around specific recurring
data wrangling tasks.

The value of OData lies in its self-descriptive nature, which allows tools to
introspect the data structures and types. Both GUI-driven tools like MS PowerBI
and `ruODK` use this introspection to assist users in wrangling their own data.

The script-based approach of `ruODK` allows to automate the data extraction,
transformation, and reporting pipeline, and therefore provide reproducible
reporting.