argoDefaultDestdir: Get Default Values

In argoFloats: Analysis of Oceanographic Argo Floats

Get Default Values

Description

These are helper functions that permit customization of various aspects of functions within the argoFloats package. The idea is that values can be set using options() or by using system 'environment variables', freeing the user from the necessity of altering the parameters provided to various argoFloats functions. See “Details” for more on the individual functions, noting that the entry for argoDefaultServer() is written with the most detail, with other entries relying on the background established there.

Usage

argoDefaultDestdir()

argoDefaultServer()

argoDefaultIndexAge()

argoDefaultProfileAge()

argoDefaultBathymetry()

hasArgoTestCache()

Details

• argoDefaultServer() The getIndex() and getProfiles() functions download data from a remote machine with URL specified by an argument named server. A user may prefer one server over another, perhaps due to speed of downloads to a particular research laboratory. However, that choice might not be best for another user, or even the same user at another time. Code reusability would be enhanced if the user had a way to alter the value of the server argument across all code, thereby eliminating the need to work in a text editor to find all instances of the function call. This is where argoDefaultServer() is useful. It lets the user specify a value for server either in R, using a call like options(argoFloats.server="ifremer-https") within R code (perhaps in the user's .Rprofile file), or by defining an environment variable named R_ARGOFLOATS_SERVER at the operating-system level. If the argoFloats.server option has not been set in R, and R_ARGOFLOATS_SERVER has not been set in the OS, then argoDefaultServer() defaults to c("ifremer-https","usgodae").

• argoDefaultDestdir() returns the name of the local directory into which to store indices and other argo data. The option is named argoFloats.destdir, the environment variable is named R_ARGOFLOATS_DESTDIR, and the default is '"~/data/argo".

• argoDefaultIndexAge() returns the number of days beyond which an index is regarded as stale (and thus in need of a new download). The option is named argoFloats.indexAge, the environment variable is named R_ARGOFLOATS_INDEX_AGE, and the default is 1.0, for 1 day.

• argoDefaultProfileAge() returns the number of days beyond which an individual profile netCDF file is regarded as stale (and thus in need of a new download). The option is named argoFloats.profileAge, the environment variable is named R_ARGOFLOATS_PROFILE_AGE, and the default is 365.0 days. (Note that this is much higher than the value for argoDefaultIndexAge(), on the assumption that users will prefer recent indices, to get new data, but will prefer to update profile-specific datasets infrequently.)

• argoDefaultBathymetry() returns a value for the bathymetry argument used by plot,argoFloats-method(). The option is named argoFloats.bathymetry, the environment variable is named R_ARGOFLOATS_BATHYMETRY, and the default is FALSE.

• hasArgoTestCache() is not a user-facing function. Rather, its purpose is to speed the running of test suites during development, by preventing multiple downloads of data already downloaded.

Value

A value as described above, depending on the particular function in question.

Examples

argoDefaultServer()
argoDefaultDestdir()
argoDefaultIndexAge()
argoDefaultProfileAge()
argoDefaultBathymetry()

argoFloats documentation built on Oct. 18, 2023, 1:06 a.m.