[R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable link
Ian Gow
iandgow at gmail.com
Mon May 23 18:45:28 CEST 2011
This might be a little late, but one option for this issue might be to add
a line like
Sys.setenv("DROPBOX_PATH" = "/Users/PersonA/Dropbox/")
to Person A's .Rprofile (on my Mac, this is in my home directory) and the
equivalent (mutatis mutandis) to Person B's .Rprofile and then use
Sys.getenv("DROPBOX_PATH")
to access the path. It seems from looking at forums for Dropbox that there
is no easily accessed environment variable that Dropbox sets for the path
to the Dropbox folder.
--
Ian Gow
Accounting Information and Management
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Rd, Rm 6229
Evanston, IL 60208-2002
Phone: +1-847-467-4508
i-gow at kellogg.northwestern.edu
[R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable linkBryan Hanson
hanson at depauw.edu
<mailto:r-help%40r-project.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BR%5D%20Downloading%20a%20
csv%20from%20Dropbox%20using%20the%20shareable%20link&In-Reply-To=%3C04D199
AF-8868-4C5E-A47D-1A21C22D0508%40depauw.edu%3E>
Sat May 21 03:17:42 CEST 2011
* Previous message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable
link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278732.html>
* Next message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable
link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278749.html>
* Messages sorted by: [ date ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/date.html#278733> [ thread
] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/thread.html#278733> [
subject ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/subject.html#278733> [
author ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/author.html#278733>
________________________________________
Hi Patrick, here is the set up:
Everyone is already sharing all the files and has full access. We
have an Rnw file which generates a report and uses a csv file in a
"nearby" directory. Dropbox keeps it all sync'd. But, if Person A is
working on the file on their computer the path to the data would be
(Mac OSX) /Users/PersonA/Dropbox/Project/data.csv However, to Person
B the path would be /Users/PersonB/Dropbox/data.csv I'm looking for a
way to keep the path to data.csv universal and independent of who is
actually using the file. That's why I was looking at the "shareable
link" feature on Dropbox.
I guess I see two solutions (partially answering my own question now).
1. Keep the data file in the same directory as the report and I don't
think there would be any problems.
2. In the Rnw file, use a relative path. I know you can do this for
instance when you specify where the graphics go. I suppose the same
approach would allow me to specify the path as going up one level and
then down into a different directory. As long as I bury these folders
deep enough that I don't have to use a relative path that ever hits
the "PersonX" level I suppose it will work.
I'll try it out. Further suggestions welcome. Thanks, Bryan
On May 20, 2011, at 8:24 PM, Patrick Connolly wrote:
> On Fri, 20-May-2011 at 02:05PM -0400, Bryan Hanson wrote:
>>> Hello Kindred R Spirits...
>>>> I'm trying to get a file (csv) from Dropbox using their shareable
>> link
>> concept. They issue a short URL that goes to a web page where you
>> see a
>> button that says "Download File". They don't really give you the
>> URL of
>> the file itself, just this page. Is there a way to coax R into
>> getting
>> such a file? I don't even really want the file per se, I just want a
>> Dropbox allows you to share folders with other Dropbox users who would
> then have access to your file/s as a file/s on their individual
> computers. It would mean that any collaborator would have to have a
> Dropbox account and they'd all end up downloading the file. If there
> aren't too many for you to individually invite and it's not excessive
> bandwidth for them to download that many copies of the file, it would
> be easily done. (You might even get yourself some more diskspace on
> Dropbox by inviting other users.)
>> You'd have to think about whose version has what effect on others but
> without knowing your objectives, it's impossible for me to say what's
> the best approach.
>> HTH
>>>>> path to the file so I can reference it for Sweave purposes and read
>> the
>> contents into an object. Seems like a job for RCurl but I have
>> little
>> experience and this seems like an odd case anyway.
>>>> By the way, I want to do this as a way to have several people on
>> different computers run a .Rnw file that needs to access common
>> data set
>> w/o changing the path to the file each time a different person
>> opens the
>> file and works on it. Perhaps there is another way of doing this.
>>>> Thanks for any suggestions. Bryan
>> ****************
>> Prof. Bryan Hanson
>> Dept of Chemistry & Biochemistry
>> DePauw University
>> Greencastle IN 46135 USA
>>>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org <https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help>
>> mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help>> PLEASE do read the
>> posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html>> and provide
>> commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> --
> ~
> .~
> .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
> ___ Patrick Connolly
> {~._.~} Great minds discuss ideas
> _( Y )_ Average minds discuss events
> (:_~*~_:) Small minds discuss people
> (_)-(_) ..... Eleanor Roosevelt
>
> ~
> .~
> .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
________________________________________
* Previous message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable
link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278732.html>
* Next message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable
link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278749.html>
* Messages sorted by: [ date ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/date.html#278733> [ thread
] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/thread.html#278733> [
subject ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/subject.html#278733> [
author ]
<https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/author.html#278733>
________________________________________
More information about the R-help mailing list
<https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help>
More information about the R-help
mailing list