Package 'dlr'

Title: Download and Cache Files Safely
Description: The goal of dlr is to provide a friendly wrapper around the common pattern of downloading a file if that file does not already exist locally.
Authors: Jonathan Bratt [aut] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2859-0076>), Jon Harmon [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4781-4346>), Bedford Freeman & Worth Pub Grp LLC DBA Macmillan Learning [cph, fnd]
Maintainer: Jon Harmon <[email protected]>
License: Apache License (>= 2)
Version: 1.0.1.9001
Built: 2026-05-15 09:14:52 UTC
Source: https://github.com/macmillancontentscience/dlr

Help Index

Path to an App Cache Directory

Description

App cache directories can depend on the user's operating system and an overall R_USER_CACHE_DIR environment variable. We also respect a per-app option (appname.dir), and a per-app environment variable (APPNAME_CACHE_DIR). This function returns the path that will be used for a given app's cache.

Usage

app_cache_dir(appname, verbose = interactive())

Arguments

appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.

Value

The full path to the app's cache directory.

Examples

app_cache_dir("myApp")

Construct Cache Path

Description

Construct the full path to the cached version of a file within a particular app's cache, using the source path of the file to make sure the cache filename is unique.

Usage

construct_cached_file_path(source_path, appname, extension = "")

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the full path to the source file.
appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.
extension

Character scalar; an optional filename extension.

Value

The full path to the processed version of source_path in the app's cache directory.

Examples

construct_cached_file_path(
  source_path = "my/file.txt",
  appname = "dlr",
  extension = "rds"
)

Construct Processed Filename

Description

Given the path to a file, construct a unique filename using the hash of the path.

Usage

construct_processed_filename(source_path, extension = "")

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the full path to the source file.
extension

Character scalar; an optional filename extension.

Value

A unique filename for a processed version of the file.

Examples

construct_processed_filename(
  source_path = "my/file.txt",
  extension = "rds"
)

Create a Cache Directory for an App

Description

Create the default path expected by app_cache_dir().

Usage

create_app_cache_dir(appname)

Arguments

appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.

Value

A normalized path to a cache directory. The directory is created if the user has write access and the directory does not exist.

Examples

# Executing this function creates a cache directory.
create_app_cache_dir("dlr")

Cache a File if Necessary

Description

This function wraps maybe_process(), specifying the app's cache directory.

Usage

maybe_cache(
  source_path,
  appname,
  filename = construct_processed_filename(source_path),
  process_f = readRDS,
  process_args = NULL,
  write_f = saveRDS,
  write_args = NULL,
  force_process = FALSE
)

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the path to the raw file. Paths starting with ⁠http://⁠, ⁠https://⁠, ⁠ftp://⁠, or ⁠ftps://⁠ will be downloaded to a temp file if the processed version is not already available.
appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.
filename

Character; an optional filename for the cached version of the file. By default, a filename is constructed using construct_processed_filename().
process_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to process the source file. source_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to read_f.
process_args

An optional list of additional arguments to process_f.
write_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to save the processed file. The processed object will be passed as the first argument to this function, and target_path will be passed as the second argument. Defaults to base::saveRDS().
write_args

An optional list of additional arguments to write_f.
force_process

A logical scalar indicating whether we should process the source file even if the target already exists. This can be particularly useful if you wish to redownload a file.

Value

The normalized target_path.

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  target_path <- maybe_cache(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    appname = "dlr",
    process_f = read.csv
  )
  target_path

  unlink(target_path)
}

Process a File if Necessary

Description

Sometimes you just need to get a processed file to a particular location, without reading the data. For example, you might need to download a lookup table used by various functions in a package, independent of a particular function call that needs the data. This function does the processing if it hasn't already been done.

Usage

maybe_process(
  source_path,
  target_path,
  process_f = readRDS,
  process_args = NULL,
  write_f = saveRDS,
  write_args = NULL,
  force_process = FALSE
)

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the path to the raw file. Paths starting with ⁠http://⁠, ⁠https://⁠, ⁠ftp://⁠, or ⁠ftps://⁠ will be downloaded to a temp file if the processed version is not already available.
target_path

Character scalar; the path where the processed version of the file should be stored.
process_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to process the source file. source_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to read_f.
process_args

An optional list of additional arguments to process_f.
write_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to save the processed file. The processed object will be passed as the first argument to this function, and target_path will be passed as the second argument. Defaults to base::saveRDS().
write_args

An optional list of additional arguments to write_f.
force_process

A logical scalar indicating whether we should process the source file even if the target already exists. This can be particularly useful if you wish to redownload a file.

Value

The normalized target_path.

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  temp_filename <- tempfile()
  maybe_process(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    target_path = temp_filename,
    process_f = read.csv
  )

  unlink(temp_filename)
}

Read or Cache a File

Description

This function wraps read_or_process(), specifying an app's cache directory as the target directory.

Usage

read_or_cache(
  source_path,
  appname,
  filename = construct_processed_filename(source_path),
  process_f = readRDS,
  process_args = NULL,
  read_f = readRDS,
  read_args = NULL,
  write_f = saveRDS,
  write_args = NULL,
  force_process = FALSE
)

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the path to the raw file. Paths starting with ⁠http://⁠, ⁠https://⁠, ⁠ftp://⁠, or ⁠ftps://⁠ will be downloaded to a temp file if the processed version is not already available.
appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.
filename

Character; an optional filename for the cached version of the file. By default, a filename is constructed using construct_processed_filename().
process_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to process the source file. source_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to read_f.
process_args

An optional list of additional arguments to process_f.
read_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to read the processed file. target_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to base::readRDS().
read_args

An optional list of additional arguments to read_f.
write_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to save the processed file. The processed object will be passed as the first argument to this function, and target_path will be passed as the second argument. Defaults to base::saveRDS().
write_args

An optional list of additional arguments to write_f.
force_process

A logical scalar indicating whether we should process the source file even if the target already exists. This can be particularly useful if you wish to redownload a file.

Value

The processed object.

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  austin_smoke_free <- read_or_cache(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    appname = "dlr",
    process_f = read.csv
  )
  head(austin_smoke_free)
}

if (interactive()) {
  # Calling the function a second time gives the result instantly.
  austin_smoke_free <- read_or_cache(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    appname = "dlr",
    process_f = read.csv
  )
  head(austin_smoke_free)
}

if (interactive()) {
  # Remove the generated file.
  unlink(
    construct_cached_file_path(
      "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co"
    )
  )
}

Read or Process a File

Description

Often, a file must be processed before being usable in R. It can be useful to save the processed contents of that file in a standard format, such as RDS, so that the file does not need to be processed the next time it is loaded.

Usage

read_or_process(
  source_path,
  target_path,
  process_f = readRDS,
  process_args = NULL,
  read_f = readRDS,
  read_args = NULL,
  write_f = saveRDS,
  write_args = NULL,
  force_process = FALSE
)

Arguments

source_path

Character scalar; the path to the raw file. Paths starting with ⁠http://⁠, ⁠https://⁠, ⁠ftp://⁠, or ⁠ftps://⁠ will be downloaded to a temp file if the processed version is not already available.
target_path

Character scalar; the path where the processed version of the file should be stored.
process_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to process the source file. source_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to read_f.
process_args

An optional list of additional arguments to process_f.
read_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to read the processed file. target_path will be passed as the first argument to this function. Defaults to base::readRDS().
read_args

An optional list of additional arguments to read_f.
write_f

A function or one-sided formula to use to save the processed file. The processed object will be passed as the first argument to this function, and target_path will be passed as the second argument. Defaults to base::saveRDS().
write_args

An optional list of additional arguments to write_f.
force_process

A logical scalar indicating whether we should process the source file even if the target already exists. This can be particularly useful if you wish to redownload a file.

Value

The processed object.

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  temp_filename <- tempfile()
  austin_smoke_free <- read_or_process(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    target_path = temp_filename,
    process_f = read.csv
  )
  head(austin_smoke_free)
}

# Calling the function a second time gives the result instantly.
if (interactive()) {
  austin_smoke_free <- read_or_process(
    "https://query.data.world/s/owqxojjiphaypjmlxldsp566lck7co",
    target_path = temp_filename,
    process_f = read.csv
  )
  head(austin_smoke_free)
}

if (interactive()) {
  # Remove the generated file.
  unlink(temp_filename)
}

Set a Cache Directory for an App

Description

Override the default paths used by app_cache_dir().

Usage

set_app_cache_dir(appname, cache_dir = NULL)

Arguments

appname

Character; the name of the application that will "own" the cache, such as the name of a package.
cache_dir

Character scalar; a path to a cache directory.

Value

A normalized path to a cache directory. The directory is created if the user has write access and the directory does not exist. An option is also set so future calls to app_cache_dir() will respect the change.

Examples

# Executing this function creates a cache directory.
set_app_cache_dir(appname = "dlr", cache_dir = "/my/cache/path")

Set Download Timeout

Description

The default timeout for downloads is 60 seconds. This is not long enough for many of the files that are downloaded using this package. We therefore supply a convenience function to easily change this setting. You can permanently change this default by setting R_DEFAULT_INTERNET_TIMEOUT in your .Renviron.

Usage

set_timeout(seconds = 600L)

Arguments

seconds

The number of seconds to set as the timeout (default 600 seconds).

Value

A list with the old timeout setting (invisibly).

Examples

getOption("timeout")
old_setting <- set_timeout()
getOption("timeout")
options(old_setting)