I'm currently working on a new package for R that interfaces with an API. Most of the package's functionality requires users to supply an access key that allows the package to work with the API. I want to display text immediately upon loading the package that instructs/reminds users to enter their access key before attempting to do anything (as the package won't really work without it). I've searched the relevant help files for creating packages but haven't been able find anything about how to do this. As an example, library(Zelig) does what I'm trying to achieve. Thanks for your help! And sorry if there's an obvious answer to this that I am oblivious to. -Thomas -- Thomas J. Leeper PhD Candidate, ABD Department of Political Science Northwestern University leeper@u.northwestern.edu http://www.thomasleeper.com [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
On 7 April 2012 at 16:27, Thomas J. Leeper wrote:
| I'm currently working on a new package for R that interfaces with an API.
| Most of the package's functionality requires users to supply an access key
| that allows the package to work with the API. I want to display text
| immediately upon loading the package that instructs/reminds users to enter
| their access key before attempting to do anything (as the package won't
| really work without it). I've searched the relevant help files for
creating
| packages but haven't been able find anything about how to do this. As an
| example, library(Zelig) does what I'm trying to achieve.
Start with
help(packageStartupMessage)
help(.onLoad)
and also peruse the list archives here---you probably want this in your
.onLoad() function.
Maybe some of the packages interfacing Google's APIs and webservices have an
example.
Dirk
--
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On 07/04/2012 22:27, Thomas J. Leeper wrote:> I'm currently working on a new package for R that interfaces with an API. > Most of the package's functionality requires users to supply an access key > that allows the package to work with the API. I want to display text > immediately upon loading the package that instructs/reminds users to enter > their access key before attempting to do anything (as the package won't > really work without it). I've searched the relevant help files for creating > packages but haven't been able find anything about how to do this. As an > example, library(Zelig) does what I'm trying to achieve. > > Thanks for your help! And sorry if there's an obvious answer to this that I > am oblivious to. > -Thomas >?.onAttach ?packageStartupMessage (You could also look at the sources for package Zelig, but actually it is a poor example since it ignores the arguments to .onAttach, and wastes time calling packageDescription() twice.) -- Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
On 12-04-07 5:27 PM, Thomas J. Leeper wrote:> I'm currently working on a new package for R that interfaces with an API. > Most of the package's functionality requires users to supply an access key > that allows the package to work with the API. I want to display text > immediately upon loading the package that instructs/reminds users to enter > their access key before attempting to do anything (as the package won't > really work without it). I've searched the relevant help files for creating > packages but haven't been able find anything about how to do this. As an > example, library(Zelig) does what I'm trying to achieve. > > Thanks for your help! And sorry if there's an obvious answer to this that I > am oblivious to. > -Thomas >You can create functions that run when your package is attached (put onto the search list) or loaded (loaded into memory, possibly because another package is using it). You can read about these in the "Load Hooks" section of the Writing R Extensions manual, or the ?.onLoad help page. Duncan Murdoch
Great! I will look into .onAttach, .onLoad, and packageStartupMessage. Thanks so much! -Thomas On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 4:27 PM, Thomas J. Leeper <thosjleeper@gmail.com>wrote:> I'm currently working on a new package for R that interfaces with an API. > Most of the package's functionality requires users to supply an access key > that allows the package to work with the API. I want to display text > immediately upon loading the package that instructs/reminds users to enter > their access key before attempting to do anything (as the package won't > really work without it). I've searched the relevant help files for creating > packages but haven't been able find anything about how to do this. As an > example, library(Zelig) does what I'm trying to achieve. > > Thanks for your help! And sorry if there's an obvious answer to this that > I am oblivious to. > -Thomas > > -- > Thomas J. Leeper > > PhD Candidate, ABD > Department of Political Science > Northwestern University > leeper@u.northwestern.edu > http://www.thomasleeper.com > >-- Thomas J. Leeper PhD Candidate, ABD Department of Political Science Northwestern University leeper@u.northwestern.edu http://www.thomasleeper.com [[alternative HTML version deleted]]