src/library/methods/man/setLoadActions.Rd

% File src/library/methods/man/setLoadActions.Rd
% Part of the R package, https://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 2012-2014 R Core Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{setLoadActions}
\alias{setLoadAction}
\alias{setLoadActions}
\alias{getLoadActions}
\alias{hasLoadAction}
\alias{evalOnLoad}
\alias{evalqOnLoad}
\title{
Set Actions For Package Loading
}
\description{
  These functions provide a mechanism for packages to specify
  computations to be done during the loading of a package namespace.
  Such actions are a flexible way to provide information only available at
  load time (such as locations in a dynamically linked library).

  A call to \code{setLoadAction()} or \code{setLoadActions()} specifies
  one or more functions to be called when the corresponding namespace is
  loaded, with the \dots{} argument names being used as identifying
  names for the actions.

  \code{getLoadActions} reports the currently defined load actions,
  given a package's namespace as its argument.

  \code{hasLoadAction} returns \code{TRUE} if a load action
  corresponding to the given name has previously been set for the
  \code{where} namespace.

  \code{evalOnLoad()} and \code{evalqOnLoad()} schedule a specific
  expression for evaluation at load time.
}
\usage{
setLoadAction(action, aname=, where=)

setLoadActions(..., .where=)

getLoadActions(where=)

hasLoadAction(aname, where=)

evalOnLoad(expr, where=, aname=)

evalqOnLoad(expr, where=, aname=)
}
\arguments{

  \item{action, \dots}{
    functions of one or more arguments, to be called when this package is
    loaded. The functions will be called with one argument (the package
    namespace) so all following arguments must have default values.

    If the elements of \dots{} are named, these names will be used for the
    corresponding load metadata.
  }

  \item{where, .where}{
    the namespace of the package for which the list of load actions are
    defined. This argument is normally omitted if the call comes from the
    source code for the package itself, but will be needed if a package
    supplies load actions for another package.
  }

  \item{aname}{the name for the action.  If an action is set without
    supplying a name,  the default uses the position in the sequence of
    actions specified (\code{".1"}, etc.).
  }

  \item{expr}{an expression to be evaluated in a load action in
    environment \code{where}.  In the case of \code{evalqOnLoad()},
    the expression is interpreted literally, in that of
    \code{evalOnLoad()} it must be precomputed, typically as an object
    of type \code{"language"}.
  }
}
\details{
  The \code{evalOnLoad()} and \code{evalqOnLoad()} functions are for
  convenience.  They construct a function to evaluate the expression and
  call \code{setLoadAction()} to schedule a call to that function.

  Each of the functions supplied as an argument to \code{setLoadAction()}
  or \code{setLoadActions()} is saved as metadata in the namespace,
  typically that of the package containing the call to
  \code{setLoadActions()}.  When this package's namespace is loaded, each
  of these functions will be called.  Action functions are called in the
  order they are supplied to \code{setLoadActions()}.  The objects
  assigned have metadata names constructed from the names supplied in the
  call; unnamed arguments are taken to be named by their position in the
  list of actions (\code{".1"}, etc.).
  
  Multiple calls to \code{setLoadAction()} or \code{setLoadActions()}
  can be used in a package's code; the actions will be scheduled after any
  previously specified, except if the name given to \code{setLoadAction()}
  is that of an existing action.  In typical applications,
  \code{setLoadActions()} is more convenient when calling from the
  package's own code to set several actions.  Calls to
  \code{setLoadAction()} are more convenient if the action name is to be
  constructed, which is more typical when one package constructs load
  actions for another package.

  Actions can be revised by assigning with the same name, actual or
  constructed, in a subsequent call.  The replacement must still be a
  valid function, but can of course do nothing if the intention was to
  remove a previously specified action.

  The functions must have at least one argument.  They will be called with
  one argument, the namespace of the package.  The functions will be
  called at the end of processing of S4 metadata, after dynamically
  linking any compiled code, the call to \code{.onLoad()}, if any, and
  caching method and class definitions, but before the namespace is
  sealed.  (Load actions are only called if methods dispatch is on.)

  Functions may therefore assign or modify objects in the namespace
  supplied as the argument in the call.  The mechanism allows packages
  to save information not available until load time, such as values
  obtained from a dynamically linked library.

  Load actions should be contrasted with user load hooks supplied by
  \code{\link{setHook}()}.  User hooks are generally provided from
  outside the package and are run after the namespace has been sealed.
  Load actions are normally part of the package code, and the list of
  actions is normally established when the package is installed.

  Load actions can be supplied directly in the source code for a
  package.  It is also possible and useful to provide facilities in one
  package to create load actions in another package.  The software needs
  to be careful to assign the action functions in the correct
  environment, namely the namespace of the target package.
}

\value{  
  \code{setLoadAction()} and \code{setLoadActions()} are called for
  their side effect and return no useful value.

  \code{getLoadActions()} returns a named list of the actions in the
  supplied namespace.

  \code{hasLoadAction()} returns \code{TRUE} if the specified action
  name appears in the actions for this package.
}

\seealso{
  \code{\link{setHook}} for safer (since they are run after the
  namespace is sealed) and more comprehensive versions in the
  base package.
}

\examples{
\dontrun{
## in the code for some package

## ... somewhere else
setLoadActions(function(ns)
   cat("Loaded package", sQuote(getNamespaceName(ns)),
       "at", format(Sys.time()), "\n"),
  setCount = function(ns) assign("myCount", 1, envir = ns),
  function(ns) assign("myPointer", getMyExternalPointer(), envir = ns))
  ... somewhere later
if(countShouldBe0)
  setLoadAction(function(ns) assign("myCount", 0, envir = ns), "setCount")
}
}
\keyword{ package }