R devel - Sep 2004 - checking for _non-existing_ documentation entries.

Hi!

I have renamed some functions and deleted others. I have noticed that R CMD
check complains only about newly added functions, but documented
non-anymore-existing functions seem not to matter.
I knew about prompt and promptMethods promptClass. They are extremely useful if
you are starting to write a package. But what with existing packages that have
to be rewritten?

Having code and documentation in one place would be a great help. Has anyone a
tool which is able to generate from appropriately commented R-code files (e.g.
<<example>>= -example section) Rd files:
e.g. a noweb lit-prog file or patched version of Doxygen?

Yours
Eryk.

Wolski wrote:
 
#I knew about prompt and promptMethods promptClass. They are 
#extremely useful if you are starting to write a package. But 
#what with existing packages that have to be rewritten?
#
#Having code and documentation in one place would be a great 
#help. Has anyone a tool which is able to generate from 
#appropriately commented R-code files (e.g. <<example>>= 
#-example section) Rd files:
#e.g. a noweb lit-prog file or patched version of Doxygen?
#

Yes, there is such a tool-- or something close to it, anyway. My
'mvbutils' package lets you keep documentation in the same source
"file" as the the function definition, appended at the end. Usually,
when I am developing a function I start by writing informal documentation (which
still displays with "?" but isn't an Rd file). Eventually I
convert the documentation into a plain-text format close to the pager
representation of R help files; this format can be converted into a .Rd file
using my 'doc2Rd' function. Once I am close to having a whole package
ready, I use the 'formalize.package' function to set up the a whole
package; it creates the skeleton and the .R source file, and all the .Rd files
via 'doc2Rd', ready for RCMD.

For more details, have a look at README.mvbutils()

Hope this helps

Mark

*******************************

Mark Bravington
CSIRO (CMIS)
PO Box 1538
Castray Esplanade
Hobart
TAS 7001

phone (61) 3 6232 5118
fax (61) 3 6232 5012
Mark.Bravington@csiro.au