Tutorial setup_codingclub_session()

Before each coding club you will usually have to download some datasets and some scripts. This can be done manually from the corresponding GitHub webpages but it is much easier to use the setup_codingclub_session() function of the inborutils package.

To begin, make sure that you have the latest version of inborutils installed by running the following code:

if (!"remotes" %in% rownames(installed.packages())) {
  install.packages("remotes")
}
remotes::install_github("inbo/inborutils")

Next load the package:

library(inborutils)

The function takes four arguments with the following default settings:

• session_date which is set to the present day
• root_dir which is set to the current/project directory "."
• src_rel_path which is set to the subdirectory src
• data_rel_path which is set to the subdirectory data

So when we just run the function like this:

setup_codingclub_session()

… we will get the coding club materials for the date of today (if and only if today there is a coding club, otherwise there are no materials and nothing will be downloaded). These materials will be saved in the src and data folders of the current working directory or project directory if you work within a RStudio project as recommended in the coding club’s getting started. R scripts are downloaded in src while datasets are downloaded in data using the date of today in the “YYYYMMDD” format as subfolders. Your coding club folder will look like this:

├── src
    ├── YYYYMMDD
        └── YYYYMMDD_challenges.r
└── data
    ├── YYYYMMDD
        ├── YYYYYMMDD_filename1.txt
        ├── YYYYYMMDD_filename2.txt   # if more than one dataset is used
        └── ...

If you want to get the coding club materials for a past date, use the “YYYYMMDD” format, e.g. for material of August 25, 2020:

setup_codingclub_session("20200225")

The subfolders ./src/20200225 and ./data/20200225 are automatically created and files downloaded if not present:

├── src
    ├── 20200225
        ├── 20200225_create_messy_project.r
        ├── 20200225_challenges.r
        └── 20200225_challenges_solutions.r
└── data
    ├── 20200225
        └── 20200225_urban_gaia_policy.txt

This function is also interactive: before downloading starts a message appears on screen showing the URL of the files to download and the absolute path where R scripts and data will be downloaded, followed by the question: Do you want to continue? (Y/n) as shown below:

If everything is ok, enter Y (y works as well, but it’s a kind of a secret…)

If your folders are not named src or data (although we recommend to name them as such) but for example scripts and data_codingclub you can specify them as such:

setup_codingclub_session("20200225",
                         src_rel_path = "scripts",
                         data_rel_path = "data_codingclub")

├── scripts
    ├── 20200225
        ├── 20200225_create_messy_project.r
        ├── 20200225_challenges.r
        └── 20200225_challenges_solutions.r
└── data_codingclub
    ├── 20200225
        └── 20200225_urban_gaia_policy.txt

To make the function even more flexible, you can modify the root directory although you shouldn’t need to while working within an RStudio project. For example, if you want to move the root to the parent directory:

setup_codingclub_session(root_dir = "../")

Last but not least, you can always check examples and documentation online or via R console:

?setup_codingclub_session

Doesn’t setup_codingclub_session() work as expected? Do you think there is a bug? Or do you have some ideas to improve the function? Raise your hand! Write an issue or contact one of the INBO coding club organizers. We will be happy to help you.