R grid.arrange: nrow * ncol >= n is not TRUE

Question

I have a problem with the function grid.arrange. I would like to plot a boxplot of a dataset and plot a datatable below with the minimum, mean, median and maximum values. I'm getting the following error message: nrow * ncol >= n is not TRUE. Here is my code:

df.plot <- ggplot((Boxplot_Flaechenpotential_2_2),     aes(x=GMDKLASSE,y=Flaeche)) + 
  ylab("Flächenpotential (1000m2)") + xlab(" ") +
  geom_boxplot() + theme_bw() +
  ggtitle(" ") +
  theme(plot.title = element_text(lineheight=.8, face="bold"),
    axis.line = element_line(colour = "black"),
    panel.grid.major = element_blank(),
    panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
    panel.border = element_blank(),
    panel.background = element_blank())


lab.df<-data.frame(lab1=c("Kleine Gemeinde","Mittlere Gemeinde","Grosse Gemeinde"),
               lab2=c("1","2","38"),
               lab3=c("55","78","176"),
               lab4=c("67","96","233"),
               lab5=c("214","443","1042"))

lab.df$lab1 <- factor(lab.df$lab1, levels=lab.df$lab1)
lab.df$lab2 <- factor(lab.df$lab2, levels=lab.df$lab2)
lab.df$lab3 <- factor(lab.df$lab3, levels=lab.df$lab3)
lab.df$lab4 <- factor(lab.df$lab4, levels=lab.df$lab4)
lab.df$lab5 <- factor(lab.df$lab5, levels=lab.df$lab5)

df.table1 <- ggplot(lab.df, aes(x = lab1, y = 0,
                            label = lab1)) +
  geom_text(size = 4.5, colour = "black") + 
  theme_minimal() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks=NULL, name = " ") +
  theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), legend.position = "none",
    panel.border = element_blank(), axis.text.x =  element_blank(),
    axis.ticks =  element_blank(),
    axis.title.x=element_blank(),
    axis.title.y=element_text(angle = 0, hjust = 1.2))

df.table2 <- ggplot(lab.df, aes(x = lab2, y = 0,
                            label = lab2)) +
  geom_text(size = 4.5, colour = "black") + 
  theme_minimal() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks=NULL, name = "Tiefster Wert")+
  theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), legend.position = "none",
    panel.border = element_blank(), axis.text.x =  element_blank(),
    axis.ticks =  element_blank(),
    axis.title.x=element_blank(),
    axis.title.y=element_text(angle = 0, hjust = 3.0))

df.table3 <- ggplot(lab.df, aes(x = lab3, y = 0,
                            label = lab3)) +
  geom_text(size = 4.5, colour = "black") + 
  theme_minimal() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks=NULL, name = "Mittelwert")+
  theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), legend.position = "none",
    panel.border = element_blank(), axis.text.x =  element_blank(),
    axis.ticks =  element_blank(),
    axis.title.x=element_blank(),
    axis.title.y=element_text(angle = 0, hjust = 3.0))

df.table4 <- ggplot(lab.df, aes(x = lab4, y = 0,
                            label = lab4)) +
  geom_text(size = 4.5, colour = "black") + 
  theme_minimal() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks=NULL, name = "Median")+
  theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), legend.position = "none",
    panel.border = element_blank(), axis.text.x =  element_blank(),
    axis.ticks =  element_blank(),
    axis.title.x=element_blank(),
    axis.title.y=element_text(angle = 0, hjust = 3.0))

df.table5 <- ggplot(lab.df, aes(x = lab5, y = 0,
                            label = lab5)) +
  geom_text(size = 4.5, colour = "black") + 
  theme_minimal() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks=NULL, name = "Höchster Wert")+
  theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), legend.position = "none",
    panel.border = element_blank(), axis.text.x =  element_blank(),
    axis.ticks =  element_blank(),
    axis.title.x=element_blank(),
    axis.title.y=element_text(angle = 0, hjust = 3.0))

gA <- ggplotGrob(df.plot)
gB <- ggplotGrob(df.table1)
gC <- ggplotGrob(df.table2)
gD <- ggplotGrob(df.table3)
gE <- ggplotGrob(df.table4)
gF <- ggplotGrob(df.table5)

maxWidth = grid::unit.pmax(gA$widths[2:3], gB$widths[2:3],         gC$widths[2:3], gD$widths[2:3], gE$widths[2:3], gF$widths[2:3])
gA$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)
gB$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)
gC$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)
gD$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)
gE$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)
gF$widths[2:3] <- as.list(maxWidth)

grid.arrange(gA, gB, gC, gD, gE, gF, ncol=1, heights=c(5, 0.6, 0.6))

Any ideas on how to solve this? Thanks for helping me!

Answer 1

I can reproduce the error as follows:

library(gridExtra)
library(grid)
grid.arrange(rectGrob(), rectGrob(), rectGrob(), ncol = 1, heights = c(1, 2))
#Error: nrow * ncol >= n is not TRUE

It's easily fixed by specifying a height for each plot:

grid.arrange(rectGrob(), rectGrob(), rectGrob(), ncol = 1, heights = c(1, 2, 3))

Or you could set ncol = 2.