Error when attempting to call a C++ .dll library in R - r

I have a library, let's say mylibrary.dll, that has c++ code that I want to run in R. I did this:
dyn.load("mylibrary.dll")
.Call("myfun")
I get:
Error in .Call("myfun") : C symbol name "myfun" not in load table
Now, I've seen several answers to similar problems, on here and on other websites, but when I attempted each solution, each seemed to be to require having access to the original source code, for example adding something like this: extern "C" to the C++ code or re-compiling the code in a certain way. All I have is a .dll file, and I'd like to use that directly to call from R the functions contained within it.

Solution: the name of the function was different than what I expected. I went to the thread that Alexey suggested in the comments, and from there was able to use one of the suggested tools (DLL export viewer) to get a list of the functions, where I found the correct name.
(Alas, I now need to figure out why R is locking up when I call the function, but my question here is done!)

Related

source() functions preventing the read of downstream functions

I am trying to teach myself R and coming from a Python programming background.
I am clearly having problems with sourcing in one file (file_read_functions.R) when the functions stored in it are called from a file in the same directory (from read_files.R).
file_read_functions is as follows:
constant_source <- 'constants.R'
function_source <- 'file_read_functions.R'
class_source <- 'classes.R'
source(class_source)
source(constant_source)
source(function_source)
cellecta_counts = read_cellecta_counts(filepath = cell_counts_by_gene_id)
file_read_functions.R is as follows:
constants <- 'constants.R'
classes <- 'classes.R'
assignments <- 'assignment_functions.R'
source(constants)
source(classes)
source(assignments)
read_cellecta_counts = function(filepath) {
print("hello")
return(filepath)}
With the above, if I move read_cellecta_counts to before the source functions, the code can successfully find the function. What might be the cause?
This seems like a straight-forward error message to me. The function object wasn't found, so that means you haven't defined it anywhere, or haven't loaded it.
If it's a function from a package, maybe you forgot to load the package, or call the function as package::function(). If it is a function you wrote as a simple script, maybe you forgot to source it or define it locally. If it's a function you wrote as part of a package, you can load all functions by using the shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+L in RStudio.
That said, I believe you can benefit a lot from reading the chapter on Debugging from Hadley Wickham's "Advanced R" book. It is really well written and easy to understand, especially for beginners in the R language. The chapter will teach you how to use some debugging tools, either interactively or not. You can find it here.
I found it out. By commenting out the parts piece-wise in file_read_functions, I found that there a typo within assignment_functions.R. It was a simple typo; I had the following:
constant_source <- 'constants.R'
source(constants_source)
The extra 's' did it.
If you get an error like this in the future, be sure to check all of the upstream source() files; if there is an error in any of those it will not be able to find any proceeding functions.
Thank you all for your patience.

Variables used in Test Package in R Studio

I am trying to fix an issue in an R project (that I'm not too familiar with). The test script that is executed when running "Test Package" in R-Studio uses a variable, let's call it x. From the result of the test I can tell that the data assigned to this variable is outdated and I want to update it.
Problem is, I just cannot figure out where this variable is actually defined. I have used grep for the entire source code of the package, and I only find the instance from the test script but no declaration. It is not defined in the script itself nor anywhere else in the source code.
When I just load the package, the variable is not defined. Somehow it is defined however when running the test, because only when I change the name in the test script into some dummy I get the error that it isn't defined.
Is there a specific place where I could look, or may be a simple trick how I could figure out where and how the variable is defined?
Thanks
Edit: the actual variable name is a bit complicated, it is not x
The find in files option in RStudio may help.
You can search through multiple files within a folder.
If you get too many matches to sort through (I'm really hoping your variable is not actually called x!), you can try using a regular expression.
enter image description here
Follow the pictures and you could solve the problem.

How can I add a breakpoint to debug my R package without recompiling

When I develop a R package I endup doing the following thing:
load the latest build
use it
realize there is a bug in say function 'f_bug'
try to debug
I would be easy if I could just 're-source' f_bug and that the newly sourced version would be chosen (I'd rebuild the package clean latter).
But I cannot do that, it looks like the package::f_bug is always "chosen" by default when called within another package function.
Can I do such a thing ?
You can't use RStudio's convenient graphical breakpoints, but you can do the same thing using trace:
trace(package::f_bug, browser, at = insertion_point)
Here insertion_point refers not to line numbers but to a vector of substeps. From ?trace:
look at ‘as.list(body(f))’ to get the numbers
associated with the steps in function ‘f’.)
Another option might be to use utils::setBreakpoint which takes a file name and line number as arguments. See the help file for details.

Atom editor: list and jump to definition(s) in project

As already mentioned I'm using the Atom text editor.
I'm currently working on a project written in c++. Of course it is desirable to jump to the definition of a function (in another project file), or other uses of this function (within the project). As far as I know this can be achieved with the packages I'll mention below. I want the package to display me the definition along with the path to the corresponding file which holds the definition and ideally the line where it occurs.
I'll welcome any comments and suggestions on how to solve the below mentioned problem(s) I have with (one of) the packages. Moreover I'm also thankful about pointers to possible solutions or posts concerning my problem(s), or how I can achieve this with another package.
Here is what I found / tried / did so far.
goto
Currently I'm using this package, although it is rather slow and does not show the arguments of the function as e.g. atom-ctags does, but it's the only package which displays me the files I need to see.
It shows me where the function is defined as well as where it is also used. However it does not show me the path to the file corresponding file it refers to.
atom-ctags
I also tried this package, building the tags is quite fast and moreover it show me the path to the file. But this package only lists the .cc files and not the .h files. It appears to me as if it only shows me the other uses but not the definition, which is obviously a problem.
I also tried generating the ctags myself and changing the command options in the settings of the package, unfortunately without any success.
Atoms built-in symbols-view
In order to get this to work, one needs to generate the symbols. This can be, for example, achieved with the symbol-gen package. However, it shows me some of the definitions, but also no .h files. Moreover, jumping to the definition results in a Selected file does not exist., therefore it is not usable at all.
goto-definition
Just for completeness, there is also this package. It does not work for me, since c++ is not supported but maybe others will find it useful.
symbols-plus
Again, for completeness, this should be a replacement for the atom built-in, but when disabling the build-in it does not show me any jump functionality nor is a short cut mentioned.
So, basically, nothing really works well. I have tried Symbol Tree View but it but barely works.

Organizing R's work in functions and subfuctions

My aim is to better organize the work done by a R code.
In particular it could be useful to split the R code I have written in different R files, perhaps with each R file accomplishing to a different task. I have in mind what we can do in Matlab with different M files, where we can easily call functions written in different M files directly from the main code.
Is it useful to write this R files in the form of functions?
How can we call these R files /functions in the main code?
Thanks
You can use source("filename.R") to include the file in your main script.
I am not sure if there is a ready function to include an entire directory, but it is straightforward to write using list.files() and then call source dynamicly for each filename. You can also filter files to only list *.R for example.
Unless you intend to write an R package, you should rethink your organization. R is not Matlab, thank goodness! You can place as many functions as you wish into a single file, and make them all available in your environment with source foo.r . If you are writing a collection of generic functions and don't want to build a package, this really is the cleaner way to go.
As a side thought, consider making some of your tools more flexible by adding more input arguments. You may find that you don't really need so many separate functions/files. As a trivial example, if you have some function do_it_double , another do_it_integer , and yet another do_it_character , all of which do basically the same thing, just merge them into a single do_it_all(x,y,datatype='double') and override the default datatype as desired. (I know this can be done with internal input validation. I'm just giving an example)
Your approach might be working good. I would recommend to wrap the code in a function and use one R file for one R function.
It might be interesting to look at the packages devtools and ProjectTemplate which aim to help organizing R code.

Resources