open_files: Open Multiple Files with Optional Menu Selection

In exams.forge: Support for Compiling Examination Tasks using the 'exams' Package

Open Multiple Files with Optional Menu Selection

Description

The open_files function allows users to manage multiple files by either opening them interactively or reading their contents programmatically. It supports interactive selection through a menu for multiple file paths and adapts to the availability of the rstudioapi package for enhanced integration with the RStudio IDE.

Usage

open_files(file, open = interactive(), ...)

Arguments

file	character: vector of file paths, where each path specifies the location of a file to be opened or read; paths may be absolute or relative
open	logical: Whether to open the files interactively (TRUE) or read their contents programmatically (FALSE). Defaults to the result of interactive().
...	Additional arguments to be passed to the file opening or editing function; these arguments are passed either to rstudioapi::navigateToFile() or utils::edit(), depending on the environment and the availability of the rstudioapi package.

Details

When the file argument contains more than one file path, the function calculates the longest common subsequence (LCS) of the directory structures for all provided file paths and presents the user with an interactive menu. The menu allows selection of files to open; the options include "All," "None," or individual files that match the common directory pattern. In non-interactive sessions, the function reads the content of the files instead.

Internally, the function determines whether the rstudioapi package is available, in which case it uses navigateToFile for opening files within the RStudio IDE; otherwise, it falls back to the base R function edit. In non-interactive sessions, the function reads file contents using readLines and stores them in a named list, with filenames as the names of the list elements.

The auxiliary lcss function calculates the longest common subsequence of directory components for the file paths; this helps in simplifying the user experience by grouping files with similar paths.

This documentation was created with the support of ChatGPT.

Value

Returns an invisible named list. Each element corresponds to a file from the input vector, with the value representing the result of the operation. When opening files, the result indicates success or failure. When reading files, the result contains the file's contents. If "None" is selected, the function returns NULL.

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  files <- pkg.files("poylnomials", package="polynom")
  open_files(files[2]) # open one file
  open_files(files)    # open several files
}

exams.forge documentation built on Aug. 21, 2025, 5:41 p.m.