Updating projects

Because ProjectTemplate is still beta software, there are a number of backwards incompatible changes introduced with each iteration of the package. The information below should help you upgrade an existing project to work with the newest version of ProjectTemplate.

Updating a v0.3-5 (or later) Project

• Simply call the new function ProjectTemplate::migrate.project(). The functions load.project() and reload.project() will issue a warning if this is required.

Updating a v0.3-4 Project to a v0.3-5 Project

• Add lubridate to the libraries configuration settings in config/global.dcf.
• Add the as_factors configuration setting in config/global.dcf. Set it to “on”.
• Add the data_tables configuration setting in config/global.dcf. Set it to “off”.

Updating a v0.3-3 Project to a v0.3-4 Project

• Change any calls to run.tests() to calls to test.project(). run.tests() has now been removed permanently from ProjectTemplate.

Updating a v0.3-1 Project to a v0.3-3 Project

• Rename lib/utilities.R to lib/helpers.R. This is not required in any way, but it will make your project seem like a v0.3-3 project.

Updating a v0.2-1 Project to a v0.3-1 Project

• Replace any configuration file written in YAML with DCF files.
  • Remove all the quote marks from your settings (i.e. munging: ‘on’ => munging: on)
  • Collapse your libraries onto a single line separated by commas (i.e. libraries: ggplot2, stringr)
  • global.yaml needs to be renamed global.dfc.
  • Any .url or .sql files you’ve written in YAML need to be converted to DCF syntax.
• Remove the clean.variable.name and cache.name functions from helpers.R.

Updating a v0.1-3 Project to a v0.3-1 Project

• Create the new ProjectTemplate directories you’re missing. It’s probably easiest to make a new empty project and copy the missing directories from the empty project into your existing project.
  • create.project('tmp')
  • mv tmp/cache/ .
  • mv tmp/config/ .
  • mv tmp/diagnostics/1.R diagnostics
  • mv tmp/munge .
  • mv tmp/src .
  • rm -rf tmp
• Move any preprocessing steps from lib/preprocess_data.R into a file in munge, preferably the 1-A.R script.
• Edit the new configuration file in config/global.dcf. You’ll want to specify the R packages you’ll load and change the load_libraries setting to on.
• Get rid of old scripts from the lib directory that are no longer being used:
  • rm lib/boot.R
  • rm lib/load_data.R
  • rm lib/load_libraries.R
  • rm lib/preprocess_data.R
  • rm lib/run_tests.R
  • rm lib/helpers.R