Documentation

Installation

Before anything, make sure the DependencyReviewer package is installed.

remotes

The latest version is usually available on GitHub, and is installable with the remotes package.

# If you do not have remotes installed:
install.packages("remotes")

# Install DependencyReviewer with remotes:
remotes::install_github("darwin-eu/DependencyReviewer")

install.packages

DependencyReviewer 1.0.0 is also available on CRAN, and can be installed using install.packages as well.

install.packages("DependencyReviewer")

Usage

library(DependencyReviewer)

# Other packages that are used in the examples
library(DT)
library(ggplot2)
#> Warning: package 'ggplot2' was built under R version 4.2.2
library(dplyr)
library(igraph)
library(GGally)
#> Warning: package 'GGally' was built under R version 4.2.2

getDefaultPermittedPackages

What does it do?

The getDefaultPermittedPackages function retrieves a list of packages from several on,- and offline data sources. These data sources include:

1. Base packages with a high priority installed.packages(lib.loc = .Library, priority = "high")
2. Tidyverse packages
3. OHDSI/HADES packages
4. Packages hosted on the DependencyReviewerWhitelists repository
5. Finally the function will also retrieve the defined packages’ dependencies recursively, and add them to the list.

These packages are deemed OK to use. This list will, and should change overtime as packages become outdated, get replaced, or added to the list.

What does it need?

getDefaultPermittedPackages does not require any arguments.

What does it return?

getDefaultPermittedPackages returns a class of data.frame with columns: package and version

datatable(getDefaultPermittedPackages())
#> 





[32m✔
[39m Updated metadata database: 4.85 MB in 12 files.


[32m✔
[39m Updated metadata database: 4.85 MB in 12 files.
#> 
#> 

[36mℹ
[39m Updating metadata database


[36mℹ
[39m Updating metadata database


[32m✔
[39m Updating metadata database ... done


[32m✔
[39m Updating metadata database ... done
#> 
#> Writing temp file

checkDependencies

What does it do?

Now that we have defined our ‘whitelisted’ packages, checkDependencies allows us to check our currently used dependencies against it. checkDependencies will run getDefaultPermittedPackages internally so there is no need to run the two separately to check your dependencies against the white list.

What does it need?

checkDependencies has two optional arguments:

1. packageName default (NULL): Expects a character string of a package name. Example: “ggplot2”.

2. dependencyType default (c("Imports", "Depends")): Expects a character vector of at least length 1 of dependency types. The supported types are: “Imports”, “Depends”, and “Suggests”.

Because both arguments are optional it can also be run without specifying anything. The function will then assume that it is run inside a package-project environment. This is specifically useful when working on, or reviewing a package.

What does it return?

checkDependencies prints out a message in the console that informs the user if all their used package dependencies are whitelisted or not. If not it instructs the user where to go to request the packages to be whitelisted.

# Assumes the current environment is a package-project
# Defaults are: packageName = NULL, packageTypes = c("Imports", "Depends")
checkDependencies()

# Check dependencies for installed package "dplyr"
checkDependencies(
  packageName = "dplyr"
)

1. If packages are not approved yet:

# Check Imports and Suggests
checkDependencies(
  packageName = "dplyr",
  dependencyType = c("Imports", "Suggests")
)
#> Get from temp file
#> 
#> ── Checking if packages in Imports and Suggests have been approved ──
#> 
#> ! Found 9 packages in Imports and Suggests that are not
#> approved
#> →   1) bench
#> →   2) covr
#> →   3) Lahman
#> →   4) lobstr
#> →   5) microbenchmark
#> →   6) nycflights13
#> →   7) RMySQL
#> →   8) RPostgreSQL
#> →   9) testthat
#> ! Please create a new issue at https://github.com/mvankessel-EMC/DependencyReviewerWhitelists/ to request approval for packages with the following message:
#> → |package |version |date | downloads_last_month|license |url |
#> |:-------|:-------|:----|--------------------:|:-------|:---|

As you can see, it returns a list of all the packages that are not white listed. Below the list it will display some information in a markdown table format. This will come in handy later on. The table has six columns: 1) package, 2) version, 3) date, 4) downloads_last_month, 5) license, and 6) url.

Note that only packages available on CRAN are reported in the table. Non-CRAN packages will still show up in the list.

2. If all packages are approved:

# Only check directly imported dependencies of installed package "dplyr"
checkDependencies(
  packageName = "dplyr",
  dependencyType = c("Imports")
)
#> Get from temp file
#> 
#> ── Checking if package in Imports have been approved ──
#> 
#> ✔ All package in Imports are  already approved

Notice how “Imports” and “Depends” packages of dplyr are whitelisted, but “Suggests” packages are not.

Requesting packages to be whitelisted

If you find that some packages are not yet whitelisted, you can request them to be. The DependencyReviewerWhitelists repository on GitHub houses the white list for DependencyReviewer.

To request new packages a new issue can be created on this repository.

Assuming we have the following output from checkDependencies:

Get from temp file

── Checking if packages in Imports and Suggests have been approved ──

! Found 3 packages in Imports and Suggests that are not
approved
→   1) GGally
→   2) lintr
→   3) pak
! Please create a new issue at https://github.com/mvankessel-EMC/DependencyReviewerWhitelists/ to request approval for packages with the following message:
|package |version |date                | downloads_last_month|license            |url                                                              |
|:-------|:-------|:-------------------|--------------------:|:------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------------|
|GGally  |2.1.2   |2021-06-21 03:40:10 |                86657|GPL (>= 2.0)       |https://ggobi.github.io/ggally/, https://github.com/ggobi/ggally |
|lintr   |3.0.2   |2022-10-19 08:52:37 |                61729|MIT + file LICENSE |https://github.com/r-lib/lintr, https://lintr.r-lib.org          |
|pak     |0.3.1   |2022-09-08 20:30:02 |                39420|GPL-3              |https://pak.r-lib.org/                                           |

When creating a new issue, a request template is available.

Request template button

This template asks for some basic information about the requested packages, and a reason as to why the requested packages should be whitelisted.

Request template

Initially it displays some dummy information as to what a request might look like.

Firstly it asks us is to supply a table in markdown format with some basic information about the packages. We can copy this from the output message from the checkDependencies function.

Then it asks us to give a description as to why we would like these packages to be whitelisted.

Finally, we can add some additional information if required.

Request filled out

We can then preview our request issue:

Request preview

If everything looks good, we can submit the issue.

summariseFunctionUse

What does it do?

summariseFunctionUse goes through all specified R-files and attempts to list all the functions used in those files. It will also report in what file the function was found, at what line number the function call was found, and from which package the function comes from.

What does it need?

summariseFunctionUse has several optional arguments:

1. r_files default (list.files(here::here(“R”))): If in_package = TRUE expects a character vector of at least length 1 of file names in the /R/ folder. If in_package == FALSE expects full paths to the R-files.

2. verbose default (FALSE): If verbose = TRUE will print messages in the console on which file the function is currently working. Useful when reviewing large R-files. If verbose = FALSE will not print said messages.

3. in_package default (TRUE): If in_package = TRUE will expect that the function is run inside a package-project. If in_package = FALSE will expect that the function is run outside a package-project and will expect full file paths to the files reviewed.

By default summariseFunctionUse will expect that it is ran inside a package-project and will look at the /R/ folder inside the project.

What does it return?

summariseFunctionUse returns a class of data.frame with the following columns: r_file, line, pkg, fun.

# Assumes the function is run inside a package-project.
datatable(
  summariseFunctionUse(list.files(here::here("R"), full.names = TRUE)
))

if (interactive()) {
  # Any other R-file, with verbose messages
  foundFuns <- summariseFunctionUse(
    r_files = "../inst/testScript.R",
    verbose = TRUE
  )

  datatable(foundFuns)
}

The found functions can then be plotted out for each package. For the sake of this demonstration, only a few packages will be plotted.

if (interactive()) {
  funCounts <- foundFuns %>%
    group_by(fun, pkg, name = "n") %>%
    tally() %>%
    dplyr::filter(pkg %in% c("checkmate", "DBI", "dplyr"))

  ggplot(
    data = funCounts,
    mapping = aes(x = fun, y = n, fill = pkg)
  ) +
    geom_col() +
    facet_wrap(
      vars(pkg),
      scales = "free_x",
      ncol = 1
    ) +
    theme_bw() +
    theme(
      legend.position = "none",
      axis.text.x = (element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1, vjust = 1))
    )
}

getGraphData

What does it do?

getGraphData creates an igraph graph object of all the dependencies that the root package depends on. This includes direct and transitive dependencies.

What does it need?

getGraphData has three optional parameters:

1. path default (here::here()): Path to the package to get the graph data of. By default assumes that the function is ran inside a package-project.

2. excluded_packages default (c(““)): A character vector of packages to be excluded. By default is empty.

3. package_types default (c(“imports”, “depends”)): Package dependency types to be included. By default imports and depends are included. Available types are: 1) “imports”, 2) “depends”, 3) “suggests”, 4) “enhances”, 5) “linkingto”

Without any of these specified, the getGraphData function assumes that it is ran inside an package-project.

What does it return?

getGraphData returns a class of igraph.

graphData <- getGraphData()

Because the amount of dependencies in the graph quickly get out of hand, it is suggested that you would either filter the igraph object after the fact, or only look at one kind of package type. In the following example we’ll look at “Imports” only to keeps things simple.

It could then be plotted like so:

# Get graphData with only imports
graphData <- DependencyReviewer::getGraphData()

# Calculate colour of nodes based on distances from root package
cols <- factor(as.character(apply(
  X = distances(graphData, V(graphData)[1]),
  MARGIN = 2,
  FUN = max
)))

# Plot graph
ggnet2(
  net = graphData,
  arrow.size = 1,
  arrow.gap = 0.025,
  label = TRUE,
  palette = "Set2",
  color.legend = "distance",
  color = cols,
  legend.position = "bottom",
  edge.alpha = 0.25,
  node.size = 2.5,
  label.size = 1,
  legend.size = 2
)

runShiny

What does it do?

runShiny runs a local shiny app that houses all the before mentioned functionality in one environment. runSHiny assumes that it is being ran inside a package-project.

What does it need?

runShiny Takes no arguments

What does it return?

runShiny returns a class of shiny.appobj.

runShiny()

The shiny application has three main tabs: 1) Package review, 2) Dependency Graph, and 3) Path to dependency.

Package review

On the package review tab there are three main panels.

1. Settings: The settings have two parts on this panel: A file picker, and tick boxes to packages. Currently all the files are in the summariseFunctionUse table.

2. summariseFunctionUse table and plot: The summariseFunctionUse table for the specified files, or all files if ALL is picked in the file picker in the settings.

3. Script preview: A preview of the contents of the selected file. If ALL is chosen, a dummy script will appear, or the last viewed contents will stay.

   

   Function review

Notice how the Settings, summariseFunctionUse table and plot, and Script preview dynamically change when the darwinLint.R file is selected.

Package review

When swapping from the Function review to the Plot tab a bar graph is shown for each package used in the file. The bars represent the amount of function calls in that file per package.

Function review plot

Lets say base functions are not interesting for your use case, you can then tick the base tick box in the Exclude Packages in the settings.

Package review

base packages are now excluded from both the summariseFunctionUse table and plot.

Package review

Dependency Graph

The Dependency Graph tab displays a graph, like plotted earlier, using the graphData function. On the right-hand-side different kinds of dependencies are able to be chosen to be included in the graph.

Package review

Path to dependency

The path to dependency tab displays how the root package depends on any recursive dependency.

On the right-hand-side a dependency found somewhere included in the root package can be chosen. A cutoff can be defined to limit the distance from the root package to the chosen dependency.

Package review

darwinLintFile

What does it do?

darwinLintFile is an extension of the default Lintr object, but instead of snake_case, it uses camelCase. As the name suggest it will run the lintr on a specified file.

What does it need?

darwinLintFile takes one parameter: 1. fileName: Path to an R-file.

What does it return?

It returns a class of lints.

However the output of a lintr function can be cast to a data.frame.

if (interactive()) {
  lintOut <- data.frame(
    darwinLintFile(
      fileName = "../inst/testScript.R"
    )
  )
}

Which can then be manipulated to get a summary of lint messages.

if (interactive()) {
  lintOut %>%
    group_by(type, message) %>%
    tally(sort = TRUE) %>%
    datatable()
}

darwinLintPackage

What does it do?

darwinLintPackage is an extension of the default Lintr object, but instead of snake_case, it uses camelCase. But unlike darwinLintFile, will run the lintr on the entire package. Therefore it will assume that the function is ran inside a package-project.

What does it need?

darwinLintPackage Does not take any arguments.

What does it return?

It returns a class of lints.

darwinLintScore

What does it do?

darwinLintScore calculates a percentage per type of lint-message from the lintr.

The percentage is calculated as:

\[darwinLintScore_{type} = \frac{n_{messages}}{n_{lines}} \times 100 \]

What does it need?

darwinLintScore takes one predefined argument: 1. lintFunction: A lint function extended from lintr::lint_package or lintr::lint 2. …: Any other arguments that the lint function might need

What does it return?

Returns a class of data.frame with two columns: 1) type, and 2) pct.

It will also print out colour coded messages with the percentages per message type.

if (interactive()) {
  darwinLintScore(darwinLintPackage)
}

i style: 5.9% of lines of code have linting messages
i warning: 0.95% of lines of code have linting messages

type	pct
style	5.9
warning	0.95