[Rd] problem with normalizePath()

[Laviolette, Michael]

In researching another issue, I discovered a workaround: the network drive folder needs to be mapped to the local PC.

setwd("//Hzndhhsvf2/data/OCPH/EPI/BHSDM/Group/Michael Laviolette/Stat tools")
df1 <- readxl::read_excel("addrlist-4-MikeL.xls", 2)                                # fails, throws same error
df2 <- readxl::read_excel("Z:/Stat tools/addrlist-4-MikeL.xls", 2)      # works

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Maechler [mailto:maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch] 
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 3:37 PM
To: Evan Cortens
Cc: Laviolette, Michael; r-devel at r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] problem with normalizePath()

>>>>> Evan Cortens <ecortens at mtroyal.ca>
>>>>>     on Thu, 17 Nov 2016 15:51:03 -0700 writes:

    > I wonder if this could be related to the issue that I
    > submitted to bugzilla about two months ago? (
    > https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=17159)

    > That is to say, could it be that it's treating the first
    > path after the single backslash as an actual directory,
    > rather than as the name of the share?

    > -- 
    > Evan Cortens, PhD Institutional Analyst - Office of
    > Institutional Analysis Mount Royal University 403-440-6529

Could well be.  Thank you, Evan, also for your bug report including patch proposal.

In such situations we (R core) would be really happy if Microsoft showed another facet of their investment into R:
Ideally there should be enough staff who can judge and test such bugs and bug fixes? 

--> I'm BCC'ing this to one place at least.

Best,
Martin Maechler  ETH Zurich

    > On Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 2:28 PM, Laviolette, Michael <
    > Michael.Laviolette at dhhs.nh.gov> wrote:

    >> The packages "readxl" and "haven" (and possibly others)
    >> no longer access files on shared network drives. The
    >> problem appears to be in the normalizePath()
    >> function. The file can be read from a local drive or by
    >> functions that don't call normalizePath(). The error
    >> thrown is
    >> 
    >> Error:
    >> path[1]="\\Hzndhhsvf2/data/OCPH/EPI/BHSDM/Group/17.xls":
    >> The system cannot find the file specified
    >> 
    >> Here's my session:
    >> 
    >> library(readxl) library(XLConnect)
    >> 
    >> # attempting to read file from network drive df1 <-
    >> read_excel("//Hzndhhsvf2/data/OCPH/EPI/BHSDM/Group/17.xls")
    >> # pathname is fully qualified, but error thrown as above
    >> 
    >> cat(normalizePath("//Hzndhhsvf2/data/OCPH/EPI/BHSDM/Group/17.xls"))
    >> # throws same error
    >> 
    >> # reading same file with different function df2 <-
    >> readWorksheetFromFile("//Hzndhhsvf2/data/OCPH/EPI/BHSDM/Group/17.xls",
    >> 1) # completes successfully
    >> 
    >> # reading same file from local drive df3 <-
    >> read_excel("C:/17.xls") # completes successfully
    >> 
    >> sessionInfo() R version 3.3.2 (2016-10-31) Platform:
    >> x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit) Running under: Windows 7
    >> x64 (build 7601) Service Pack 1
    >> 
    >> locale: [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
    >> LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252 [3]
    >> LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252 LC_NUMERIC=C [5]
    >> LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
    >> 
    >> attached base packages: [1] stats graphics grDevices
    >> utils datasets methods base
    >> 
    >> other attached packages: [1] readxl_0.1.1 dplyr_0.5.0
    >> XLConnect_0.2-12 [4] XLConnectJars_0.2-12 ROracle_1.2-1
    >> DBI_0.5-1
    >> 
    >> loaded via a namespace (and not attached): [1]
    >> magrittr_1.5 R6_2.2.0 assertthat_0.1 tools_3.3.2
    >> haven_1.0.0 [6] tibble_1.2 Rcpp_0.12.7 rJava_0.9-8
    >> 
    >> Please advise.  Thanks,
    >> 
    >> Michael Laviolette PhD MPH Public Health Statistician
    >> Bureau of Public Health Statistics and Informatics New
    >> Hampshire Division of Public Health Services 29 Hazen
    >> Drive Concord, NH 03301-6504 Phone: 603-271-5688 Fax:
    >> 603-271-7623 Email: Michael.Laviolette at dhhs.nh.gov
    >> 
    >> 
    >> 
    >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
    >> 
    >> ______________________________________________
    >> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
    >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
    >> 

    > 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

    > ______________________________________________
    > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
    > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel