proxiscout_write_data: Write data files for ProxiScout devices

In proximetricsR: Spectral Preprocessing and Chemometric Calibration of NIR Sensors

Write data files for ProxiScout devices

Description

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This function writes comma-separated files in a format compatible with ProxiScout-related software, which typically require separate comma-separated files - one file for the spectra, another for reference values, and a third one holding all remaining metadata columns. These files are created inside the specified directory (argument path).

Usage

proxiscout_write_data(x, path, file_prefix, properties = NULL, spc = "spc")

Arguments

x	a data.frame of spectral data for which to write the data files. Typically, this is returned by proxiscout_read_data and of class "proxiscout_data".
path	a character for the directory in which the files will be saved.
file_prefix	a character for the prefix of the generated files. The files are then named as ⁠[file_prefix]_spectra.csv⁠, ⁠[file_prefix]_properties.csv⁠ and ⁠[file_prefix]_metadata.csv⁠. Default is proxiscout_export.
properties	a vector of characters of arbitrary length. Which properties in x are to be added to the csv? Default is NULL.
spc	either a character or a vector of integers. Specifies where the spectra can be found inside x. Default is "spc".

Details

This function creates up to three comma separated files in the directory path, which are usable by ProxiScout-related software. These files are named according to the file_prefix argument and contain the spectra together with the sample names and device ID, respectively the reference values with the sample names, and a metadata file with the sample names and all remaining columns.

Typically, the data provided to this function is imported with proxiscout_read_data and of class "proxiscout_data", but it is also possible to construct a data.frame by hand and provide it to this function.

The properties argument specifies which columns in x are the reference values written to the ⁠[file_prefix]_properties.csv⁠ file. If empty (default), this file is not created, as it would only contain sample names. Any row in the provided properties that only contains NA values are dropped. In general, NA values are set to an empty string ("")

The sample names are detected automatically from x as the column with a name that contains "sample". If none are detected, the function will throw an error. This column is named "sampleName" in every file.

Similarly, the device ID is a required column and is identified as having a "device" string inside the name of the column. This column is only written into the ⁠[file_prefix]_spectra.csv⁠ file, with a fixed name "deviceId".

All other columns in either file only correspond to the spectra respectively the reference values. All columns in x that are not written to any of the other files - i.e. that are neither the spectra, the sample name, the device id nor the selected properties - are written to the ⁠[file_prefix]_metadata.csv⁠ file, together with the sample names (as "sampleName"). As with the properties file, this metadata file is only created when there is at least one such column, otherwise it would only contain the sample names.

Value

A character with the paths to the created files.

Author(s)

Leonardo Ramirez-Lopez, Claudio Orellano

proximetricsR documentation built on Sept. 4, 2026, 5:08 p.m.