RPR-Setup

Setup R to work with it

 

Keywords:  R projects; working with git version control via RStudio; the history mechanism and why not to use it; .Rprofile to customize startup behaviour; the working directory

 

 

Caution!

This unit is under development. There is some contents here but it is incomplete and/or may change significantly: links may lead to nowhere, the contents is likely going to be rearranged, and objectives, deliverables etc. may be incomplete or missing. Do not work with this material until it is updated to "live" status.

 

Abstract

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This unit ...

Prerequisites

You need to complete the following units before beginning this one:

• RPR-Installation

 

Objectives

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Outcomes

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Deliverables

• Time management: Before you begin, estimate how long it will take you to complete this unit. Then, record in your course journal: the number of hours you estimated, the number of hours you worked on the unit, and the amount of time that passed between start and completion of this unit.

• Journal: Document your progress in your course journal.

• Insights: If you find something particularly noteworthy about this unit, make a note in your insights! page.

 

Evaluation

Evaluation: NA

This unit is not evaluated for course marks.

 

Contents

"Projects"

We will make extensive use of "projects" in class. Read more about projects in RStudio here.

 

Git Version control

We will also make extensive use of version control. In fact, we will now load a project via Git version control from its free, public repository on GitHub.

Task:

• Read more about Version Control in RStudio here.
• Follow the instructions to install git on your computer.

 

Then do the following:

• open RStudio
• Select File → NewProject...
• Click on Version Control
• Click on Git
• Enter https://github.com/hyginn/R_Exercise-BasicSetup as the Repository URL.
• Type a <tab> character, the Project directory name field should then autofill to read R_Exercise-BasicSetup
• Click on Browse... to find your project directory. (The one that you have created above). Click Open.
• Click Create Project; the project files should be downloaded and the console should prompt you to type init() to begin.
• Type init() into the console pane.

An R script should load.

• Explore the script and follow its instructions.

 

Notes for troubleshooting...

What could possibly go wrong?...

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I get an error message

"Git not found".

The simplest reason is that you may have had RStudio open while installing git. Just restart RStudio.

The executable for Git (the Git "program" - "git.exe" on Windows, "git" elsewhere) needs to be on your system's path, or correctly specified in RStudio's options. The correct "path" to Git will depend on your operating system, and how git was installed. To find where git is installed –

On Mac and Unix systems, open a Terminal window and type which git. This will either print the path (Yay), or tell you that git is not found. The latter could have two reasons: either git has no been installed in the first place, or it has been installed in a non-standard location by whatever installation manager you have used. Ask Google to help you figure out how to solve your specific case.

On Windows you can find the location of the executable by searching "git.exe" in your "programs and files". Once it's been found, right click on it and select "Open file location" from the options. It might be in C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe but the exact location depends on your operating system.

Once you know the path to your git executable, open File → Preferences, click on the Git/SVN option, click on the Browse button, and find the correct folder. On Macs you may need to click <shift> <command> G to open the "Go to ..." dialogue, then type the top-folder of the path (e.g. /usr) and click your way down to folder where the program lives. Find the installation directory and select git.exe. Then click "ok".

Then try again to create the project and let us know what happened in case it still did not work.

 

I get an error message like "directory exists and is not empty".

A directory with the name of the project already exists in the location in which you are asking RStudio to create the project. Either delete the existing directory, or install the project into a different parent directory.

 

The git icon has disappeared.

I have seen this happen when somehow the path to git has changed.

(A) Make sure the correct path to git is set in your File → Preferences → Git/SVN.

(B) Open Tools → Project options... → Git/SVN. Next to Version control system git must be selected, not (None). If it is (None), change this to git. If that's not an option, the path is not correct. Go back to (A).

(C) I think you may need to restart RStudio then and reload your project via the Files → Recent projects... menu for the git icon and the version control options to reappear.