Importing Census Data

Since I needed to extract a large amount of data from the American Community Survey (ASC) and convert it into a CSV file. In light of this I wrote this code to extract ASC data from the table codes. The Code takes in a list of names that you want the file name to be. Along with the corresponding table code. It also takes in a folder name. It then makes (if needed) and adds the CVS files to the specified folder (For a clean directory). Its important to note that where you run the R file is where a folder is made. I made this with the intentions of it being editable (and hopefully user friendly).

####################
#  Inserting Data  #
####################


folder <- "Folder_Name_Here" # <---------- Change this value FIRST!

ACSList <- c(
    # "Data Name","DataCode", 
    # ...
  ) 
ACSListToCSV(ACSList,folder)


##########################################
#  Global Variables That can be Changed  #
##########################################

#To change the get_acs() geography variable
geographyType <- "county"

#To change the get_acs() servay variable
servayType <- "ACS5"

#Change to NULL if no state
stateType <- "IA"

#This will make a geometry file as well if TRUE
withGeometry <- FALSE

#checking the year
year = NULL

###################################
#  Functions that make life easy  #
###################################

#Imports 
library(tidycensus) #For ACS extractions
library(stringi) #For folderNameFixer()
library(tigris)
options(tigris_use_cache = TRUE)


#File name changers. This will set the name of the file. Feel free to edit this
renameFile <- function(tableTitle, tableCode, isGeometric){
  fileName <- paste(tableTitle, " (", tableCode, sep='')
  if(isGeometric){
    fileName = paste(fileName, ", ",capFirst("tract"), sep='')
  } else {
    fileName = paste(fileName, ", ",capFirst(geographyType), sep='')
  }
  if(is.null(stateType) == FALSE){
    fileName = paste(fileName, ", ", stateType, sep='')
  }
  if(is.null(year) == FALSE){
    fileName = paste(fileName, ", ", year, sep='')
  }
  fileName = paste(fileName, ", ", servayType, sep='')
  if(isGeometric){
    fileName = paste(fileName, ", Geometry).csv", sep='')
  } else {
    fileName = paste(fileName, ").csv", sep='')
  }
  return(fileName)
}

#ACS extractions.
#Feel free to add to this list.
geoACSDataFrame = function(tableCode){
  get_acs(
    #Add Changes here
    geography = "tract",
    table = tableCode,
    servay = servayType,
    state = stateType,
    geometry = TRUE
  )
}

defaultACSDataFrame = function(tableCode){
  get_acs(
    #Add Changes here
    geography = geographyType,
    table = tableCode,
    servay = servayType,
    state = stateType
  )
}

#Conditions for files fell free to edit this
fileImplications <- function(tableTitle, tableCode){
  #Add a condition and apply both the ACS extraction and the File name changer
  #Example
  if(withGeometry){
    fileName <- renameFile(tableTitle, tableCode, TRUE)
    #output with Geometry
    dataToCSV(geoACSDataFrame(tableCode), fileName)
  }
  
  fileName <- renameFile(tableTitle, tableCode, FALSE)
  #Default
  #This Makes the CSV File
  #format dataToCSV(your ACS DataFrame, File name changer() )
  dataToCSV(defaultACSDataFrame(tableCode), fileName)
}


#For clarity capitalizes the first letter in a string and lowercases the rest (Feel free to Use)
capFirst = function(xStr){
   paste(toupper(substring(xStr, 1, 1)), tolower(substring(xStr, 2, nchar(xStr))), sep = "")
}
#Validates and fixes folder name string (Feel free to edit)
nameFixer <- function(xStr, fixType){
  #Replaces bad characters with ''
  xStr <- stri_replace_all_regex(xStr, 
                         pattern=c('/', ':', '\\*', '"', '<', '>', '\\|'),
                         replacement=c('-', '', '', '', '', '', ''),
                         vectorize=FALSE)
  if(xStr == ""){
    if(capFirst(fixType) == "Folder"){
      print("Ops the folder name has all bad characters lets fix that")
      xStr <- "New_Data_Folder"
    }
    else{
      print("Ops the file name has all bad characters lets fix that")
      xStr <- "New_Data_file"
    }
  }
  return(xStr)
}
#For bulk downloading tables
ACSListToCSV <- function(bulkArray, folder){
  if(length(bulkArray) %% 2){
    #Scream if array is odd length. We don't need any mistakes!
    print("Somethings Missing. List format should be like c( Data Name, DataCode, ... )")
    return("ERROR")
  }
  #Validates folder name
  folder <- nameFixer(folder, "Folder")
  #Makes a folder if needed
  if(!file.exists(folder)){
    dir.create(folder)
    print("New Folder Made Adding Files")
  }
  index <- 1
  #Adds files
  while(index < length(bulkArray)){
    fileImplications(nameFixer(bulkArray[index], "File"), bulkArray[index+1]) # (title , code)
    index <- index + 2
  }
  print("All Files have been downloaded")
}
#ACS Data frame to CSV file
dataToCSV <- function(data, fileName){
  #This adds the file to the folder
  path <- paste(".\\",folder,"\\", fileName, sep='')
  #Makes the CSV
  write.csv(data, path)
  print(paste("Added File:",fileName))
}