R: Computations with Classes

findClass {methods}

R Documentation

Computations with Classes

Description

Functions to find and manipulate class definitions.

Usage

removeClass(Class, where)

isClass(Class, formal=TRUE, where)

getClasses(where, inherits = missing(where))

findClass(Class, where, unique = "")

resetClass(Class, classDef, where)

sealClass(Class, where)

Arguments

Class

character string name for the class. The functions will usually take a class definition instead of the string. To restrict the class to those defined in a particular package, set the packageSlot of the character string.

where

The environment in which to modify or remove the definition. Defaults to the top-level environment of the calling function (the global environment for ordinary computations, but the environment or name space of a package in the source for a package).

When searching for class definitions, where defines where to do the search, and the default is to search from the top-level environment or name space of the caller to this function.

unique

if findClass expects a unique location for the class, unique is a character string explaining the purpose of the search (and is used in warning and error messages). By default, multiple locations are possible and the function always returns a list.

inherits

in a call to getClasses, should the value returned include all parent environments of where, or that environment only? Defaults to TRUE if where is omitted, and to FALSE otherwise.

formal

Should a formal definition be required?

classDef

For removeClass, the optional class definition (but usually it's better for Class to be the class definition, and to omit classDef).

Details

These are the functions that test and manipulate formal class definitions. Brief documentation is provided below. See the references for an introduction and for more details.

removeClass:

Remove the definition of this class, from the environment where if this argument is supplied; if not, removeClass will search for a definition, starting in the top-level environment of the call to removeClass, and remove the (first) definition found.

isClass:

Is this the name of a formally defined class? (Argument formal is for compatibility and is ignored.)

getClasses:

The names of all the classes formally defined on where. If called with no argument, all the classes visible from the calling function (if called from the top-level, all the classes in any of the environments on the search list). The inherits argument can be used to search a particular environment and all its parents, but usually the default setting is what you want.

findClass:

The list of environments or positions on the search list in which a class definition of Class is found. If where is supplied, this is an environment (or name space) from which the search takes place; otherwise the top-level environment of the caller is used. If unique is supplied as a character string, findClass returns a single environment or position. By default, it always returns a list. The calling function should select, say, the first element as a position or environment for functions such as get.

If unique is supplied as a character string, findClass will warn if there is more than one definition visible (using the string to identify the purpose of the call), and will generate an error if no definition can be found.

resetClass:

Reset the internal definition of a class. Causes the complete definition of the class to be re-computed, from the representation and superclasses specified in the original call to setClass.

This function is called when aspects of the class definition are changed. You would need to call it explicitly if you changed the definition of a class that this class extends (but doing that in the middle of a session is living dangerously, since it may invalidate existing objects).

sealClass:

Seal the current definition of the specified class, to prevent further changes. It is possible to seal a class in the call to setClass, but sometimes further changes have to be made (e.g., by calls to setIs). If so, call sealClass after all the relevant changes have been made.

References

Chambers, John M. (2008) Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R Springer. (For the R version.)