[Bioc-devel] NAMESPACE questions

[Diego Díez Ruiz]

Hi Seth,

El 18/11/2005, a las 18:03, Seth Falcon escribió:

> Hi Diego,
>
> I'm cc'ing bioc-devel because I think others may find interest in
> answers to your questions.  The good stuff is at the bottom.
>
>
> On 18 Nov 2005, ddiez at iib.uam.es wrote:
>> Hi Seth,
>>
>> I forgot to mention that the link http://www.bioconductor.org/
>> develPage/develPage.html to developer page you send me in the
>> attached file is not working.
>
> Oops.  The best place for updated developer info is the Developer
> Wiki:
> http://www.bioconductor.org/developers/devwiki
>
> We'll restore that URL, however, thanks for the report.
>
>
>> Also I'm having some problems using NAMESPACE (I don't known if this
>> question is better to be in bioc-devel, sorry for the
>> inconvenience).  I create a NAMESPACE file and initially exported
>> all variables with the export command as:
>>
>> export(arraySize.Codelink, as.matrix.Codelink, bkgdCorrect.Codelink,
>> Codelink-class, codelink.example, cutCV.Codelink, dec.Codelink,
>> dim.Codelink, fc.Codelink, log2.Codelink, mergeArray.Codelink,
>> na2false, normalize.Codelink, normalize.loess.Codelink,
>> plotCorrelation.Codelink, plotCV.Codelink,
>> plotDensities.Codelink,
>> plotMA.Codelink, printHead.Codelink, read.Codelink,
>> readHeader.Codelink, report.Codelink, selCV.Codelink,
>> snr.Codelink,
>> SNR, write.Codelink)
>
> Some of these names seem strange:
>
> Codelink-class especially because this is not a valid name unless it
> is quoted.  I would suggest renaming.
>
> The dots in the names can cause confusion because that is how S3
> method dispatch works.
>

Than you for this tips. I have changed all names and let only with  
dots real S3 methods.

>
>> Then R CMD check gives me error:
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>> ---
>> -----------------
>> * checking package directory ... OK
>> * checking for portable file names ... OK
>> * checking for sufficient/correct file permissions ... OK
>> * checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK
>> * checking package dependencies ... OK
>> * checking index information ... OK
>> * checking package subdirectories ... OK
>> * checking R files for syntax errors ... OK
>> * checking R files for library.dynam ... OK
>> * checking S3 generic/method consistency ... WARNING
>> Error: package/namespace load failed for 'codelink'
>> Call sequence:
>> 2: stop(gettextf("package/namespace load failed for '%s'",
>> libraryPkgName(packag
>> e)),
>> call. = FALSE, domain = NA)
>> 1: library(package, lib.loc = lib.loc, character.only = TRUE, verbose
>> = FALSE)
>> Execution halted
>> See section 'Generic functions and methods' of the 'Writing R
>> Extensions'
>> manual.
>> * checking replacement functions ... WARNING
>> Error: package/namespace load failed for 'codelink'
>>
>
> So one thing to try is simply R CMD INSTALL <YOURPACKAGE> before
> running check.
>
>
>> Before I tried exportin only a few functions as example and then I
>> found that some examples fail to compile when using R CMD check.
>> Maeby I miss some basic concept about all of that?
>
> Well the examples are supposed to illustrate how to use the public API
> of your package.  That is, the part that end users will interact
> with.  Hence, when running examples, only those functions that are
> exported in the NAMESPACE file will be accessible.  Make sense?

It really make sense.

>> Also I don't understand fully how NAMESPACE works. For example if I
>> define a function 'normalize' with the same name as 'normalize' in
>> affy package, and both packages export 'normalize' function, when I
>> do:
>>
>> library(affy)
>> library(codelink)
>>
>> I will have attached both version (one masking the other)?
>
> Yes, exactly.  And since you loaded codelink last, I believe that an
> unqualified call to normalize() would get the function defined in
> codelink.  Names are resolved by looking in the environments defined
> by the search path which you can inspect using search().
>
> If packges A and B both define a function foo (whether or not they use
> a NAMESPACE) and if A appears before B in the search list as reported
> by search(), then a call to foo() will get the definition in package
> A.
>
>> how diferentiate the call to one or other? I have seen the
>> possibility affy::normalize described in the documentation but it
>> says it is a not recommended alternative to the use of NAMESPACE.
>
> At the interactive level, using "::" to fully qualify your function
> calls is the best way to get the function you want.  The comment in
> the documentation is about what to do inside your own package code.
> Before I say a bit more on that...
>
> Continuing with the packages A and B both defining foo(), let's
> suppose that package A has a function bar that calls foo:
>
> Package A
>
> bar <- function(x) {
>   ## stuff
>   z <- foo(x*2)
>   z
> }
>
> Now suppose that package B comes first on the search path.  Without
> NAMESPACES, when we call packge A's bar() function, it will end up
> calling package B's foo and this is bad.
>
> NAMESPACES protect us from this type of situation.  With a NAMESPACE,
> package A can be sure that the foo it gets is its own regardless of
> what the search path looks like.
>
> If in package A we wanted to call function baz from package B then we
> could:
>
> - use B::baz()
> - import baz from B in the NAMESPACE file and just call baz()

This is only possible if package B has a NAMESPACE, isn't it?

And what if package A and B have either function foo() and B call  
also function foo() from package A. I defined a function log2 to  
manage log2 for some type of data and inside uses log2 from base  
package. But instead of that it tries to use log2 from my package.  
This is because my log2 if first in the search path. I could solve  
this using base::log2 in case log2 has a NAMESPACE but I prefer to  
rename my function. But developers deal normally in this situations?

>
> Either method will guarantee that we get the right baz.
>
> Hope that clarifies some things with NAMESPACES.  If there are
> questions, post 'em to the list and we'll do our best to clarify
> further.
>

Another question is that I have some S4 classes and methods. I make  
the corresponding entry in the NAMESPACE file but the documentation  
tell something about .onLoad call that must be present. I see that in  
package Biobase is in file zzz.R in R directory but I don't known how  
to call it in my case. In fact it is not actually and my package  
compiles and works without warning.

By the way I think it really clarifies things. I have solved the  
issues with my package and now has a  working NAMESPACE file (maeby  
with some bugs?)

Best,

D.


> Best,
>
> + seth

------------------------------------------------------
Diego Díez Ruiz
Molecular Endocrinology.
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas
CSIC/UAM
Madrid (SPAIN)
mail:    ddiez at iib.uam.es
url:       http://www.iib.uam.es/~ddiez
tlf:         +0034915854446
fax:       +0034915854401