R help - Apr 2005 - R closes unexpectedly with write.dbf()

Dear R-list,

I am trying to do a relatively simple manipulation in R on a dbf file and then
write the dbf file back out the file system. Here are the commands:

(load the foreign library package) 
union <- read.dbf("C:/ITRSampleData/fromGrass/union.dbf",
as.is=FALSE)
attach(union) 
union$wu_fract <- area_union*a_SUM/a_area_tor 
detach(union) 
write.dbf(union, "C://ITRSampleData/fromR/union_postR.dbf") 

after I run the last command, Windows tells me that R has encountered a problem
and needs to shut down. It also asks if I want to report the problem to
microsoft... R then shuts down completely.

I have tried this with the factor2char=TRUE and FALSE, with the same result. 
I checked is.data.frame(union) and it is true.

An empty dbf file is created in the correct place, so I know R has
access/permissions and my file path is correct.

I have used the write.dbf command in a number of other places and have never run
into this problem.

I am running R 2.0.0 on windows xp.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Robin Schroeder

> Robin Tori Schroeder (formerly Schoeninger)
> International Institute for Sustainability 
> P.O. Box 873211
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, Arizona 85287-3211
> Phone: (480) 727-7290
> 
> 
>

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005, Robin Schroeder wrote:
> Dear R-list,
> 
> I am trying to do a relatively simple manipulation in R on a dbf file and
then write the dbf file back out the file system. Here are the commands:
> 
> (load the foreign library package) 
> union <- read.dbf("C:/ITRSampleData/fromGrass/union.dbf",
as.is=FALSE)
> attach(union) 
> union$wu_fract <- area_union*a_SUM/a_area_tor 
> detach(union) 
> write.dbf(union, "C://ITRSampleData/fromR/union_postR.dbf") 
> 
> after I run the last command, Windows tells me that R has encountered a
> problem and needs to shut down. It also asks if I want to report the
> problem to microsoft... R then shuts down completely.
> 
> I have tried this with the factor2char=TRUE and FALSE, with the same
result.
> I checked is.data.frame(union) and it is true.
> 
> An empty dbf file is created in the correct place, so I know R has
> access/permissions and my file path is correct.
> 
> I have used the write.dbf command in a number of other places and have
> never run into this problem.
Please state the version of the foreign library you are using, update
foreign to 0.8-7, and try again. There were two bugs in write.dbf() up to
0.8-5, one when a column of the data frame was all 0 and the other when a
column was all NA. Also please do summary(union$wu_fract) - I suspect it
is either all 0 or NA. 0.8-7 guards against both of these problems, which
are in code trying to work out the appropriate width of the output DBF
fields.

> 
> I am running R 2.0.0 on windows xp.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Robin Schroeder
> 
> 
> > Robin Tori Schroeder (formerly Schoeninger)
> > International Institute for Sustainability 
> > P.O. Box 873211
> > Arizona State University
> > Tempe, Arizona 85287-3211
> > Phone: (480) 727-7290
> > 
> > 
> >
> 
> ______________________________________________
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> PLEASE do read the posting guide!
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> 
-- 
Roger Bivand
Economic Geography Section, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of
Economics and Business Administration, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen,
Norway. voice: +47 55 95 93 55; fax +47 55 95 95 43
e-mail: Roger.Bivand at nhh.no