[R-pkg-devel] Initialize Method

[Glenn Schultz]

All,

My package is S4 an I would like to strongly type the input to the constructor function.  I understand from reading help etc that the call to new should be in a function and the method initialize is only used when one would like to customize the call to new or when the inputs are different from the slots.

I cannot seem to get the method initialize to work.  Below is a minimal example.  My class works, my getter works, my constructor function works but I cannot get the initialize to strongly type the inputs.  Any help to understand this would be greatly appreciated

Best,
Glenn

setClass("TestClass",
slots = c(
FirstNum = "numeric",
SeconNum = "numeric",
))

setGeneric("FirstNum", function(object)
standardGeneric("FirstNum"))

setMethod("FirstNum", signature("TestClass"),
function(object){object at FirstNum})

TestClass <- function(data1, data2, data3){
FirstNum = data1 * data2
SeconNum = data1/data2 * data3
new("TestClass",
FirstNum = FirstNum,
SeconNum = SeconNum)
}

setMethod("initialize", "TestClass",
"Can I use initialize to type the inputs data1, data2, and data3.
If the function TestClass does heavy lifting can I use TestClass in
the method initialize ?  If so, how?"
})