R devel - Jun 2004 - [Wish]: Add "..." argument to library function

Hello,

I would find it very usefull to have the ability to load packages with options.
Consider for example the SciViews package Philippe and me are working on. 
When loading on Windows, it automatically loads the associated GUI 
executable. It should be convenient to have an option not to load the exe 
but still have an access to the R functions of the package.

For that, I think a simple change to 'library' would do the trick, which
is
to add '...' to it, as it is not used for the moment.

The definition of library would then be:

----
function (package, help, pos = 2, lib.loc = NULL, character.only = FALSE,
     logical.return = FALSE, warn.conflicts = TRUE, keep.source = 
getOption("keep.source.pkgs"),
     verbose = getOption("verbose"), version,...)
#
# Stuff removed to show which lines are changed later
#
   .Internal(lib.fixup(loadenv, env))
                 if (exists(".First.lib", mode = "function",
envir = env,
                   inherits = FALSE)) {
                   firstlib <- get(".First.lib", mode =
"function",
                     envir = env, inherits = FALSE)
                   tt <- try(firstlib(which.lib.loc, package,...))
                   if (inherits(tt, "try-error"))
                     if (logical.return)
                       return(FALSE)
                     else stop(".First.lib failed")
                 }
                 if (!is.null(firstlib <- 
getOption(".First.lib")[[package]])) {
                   tt <- try(firstlib(which.lib.loc, package,...))
                   if (inherits(tt, "try-error"))
                     if (logical.return)
                       return(FALSE)
                     else stop(".First.lib failed")
                 }
---------

Then, in a package, the maintener can decide to include as many options as 
desired within his ".First.lib"

".First.lib" <-
function(lib,pkg,showGUI=TRUE,useWidgets="TclTk")
{
	if (showGUI) #
}

I am quite sure many packages could benefit from such an additionnal 
loading options

Eric
Eric Lecoutre
UCL /  Institut de Statistique
Voie du Roman Pays, 20
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

tel: (+32)(0)10473050
lecoutre@stat.ucl.ac.be
http://www.stat.ucl.ac.be/ISpersonnel/lecoutre

If the statistics are boring, then you've got the wrong numbers. -Edward 
Tufte

IMHO this should be done by the package author(s), without resorting to
changing behavior of library().  I.e., I write a function, say, startGUI(),
that does just that, and print a message in .First.lib() that tells the user
that that's what he/she should execute to startup the GUI.  I believe this
is sort of how it's done in MASS on Windows (or was that MASS in S-PLUS?),
if I remember correctly...

Andy
> From: Eric Lecoutre
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I would find it very usefull to have the ability to load 
> packages with options.
> Consider for example the SciViews package Philippe and me are 
> working on. 
> When loading on Windows, it automatically loads the associated GUI 
> executable. It should be convenient to have an option not to 
> load the exe 
> but still have an access to the R functions of the package.
> 
> For that, I think a simple change to 'library' would do the 
> trick, which is 
> to add '...' to it, as it is not used for the moment.
> 
> The definition of library would then be:
> 
> ----
> function (package, help, pos = 2, lib.loc = NULL, 
> character.only = FALSE,
>      logical.return = FALSE, warn.conflicts = TRUE, keep.source = 
> getOption("keep.source.pkgs"),
>      verbose = getOption("verbose"), version,...)
> #
> # Stuff removed to show which lines are changed later
> #
>    .Internal(lib.fixup(loadenv, env))
>                  if (exists(".First.lib", mode =
"function",
> envir = env,
>                    inherits = FALSE)) {
>                    firstlib <- get(".First.lib", mode =
"function",
>                      envir = env, inherits = FALSE)
>                    tt <- try(firstlib(which.lib.loc, package,...))
>                    if (inherits(tt, "try-error"))
>                      if (logical.return)
>                        return(FALSE)
>                      else stop(".First.lib failed")
>                  }
>                  if (!is.null(firstlib <- 
> getOption(".First.lib")[[package]])) {
>                    tt <- try(firstlib(which.lib.loc, package,...))
>                    if (inherits(tt, "try-error"))
>                      if (logical.return)
>                        return(FALSE)
>                      else stop(".First.lib failed")
>                  }
> ---------
> 
> Then, in a package, the maintener can decide to include as 
> many options as 
> desired within his ".First.lib"
> 
> ".First.lib" <-
function(lib,pkg,showGUI=TRUE,useWidgets="TclTk")
> {
> 	if (showGUI) #
> }
> 
> I am quite sure many packages could benefit from such an additionnal 
> loading options
> 
> Eric
> Eric Lecoutre
> UCL /  Institut de Statistique
> Voie du Roman Pays, 20
> 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
> Belgium
> 
> tel: (+32)(0)10473050
> lecoutre@stat.ucl.ac.be
> http://www.stat.ucl.ac.be/ISpersonnel/lecoutre
> 
> If the statistics are boring, then you've got the wrong 
> numbers. -Edward 
> Tufte
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> 
>