abs_stats: Download data from the ABS API
In raustats: Access Data and Statistics from the ABS and RBA Websites

Description Usage Arguments Value Note Author(s) Examples

This function queries and returns data for a specified ABS dataset from the ABS API.

abs_stats(
  dataset,
  filter,
  start_date,
  end_date,
  lang = c("en", "fr"),
  dimensionAtObservation = c("AllDimensions", "TimeDimension", "MeasureDimension"),
  detail = c("Full", "DataOnly", "SeriesKeysOnly", "NoData"),
  return_json = FALSE,
  return_url = FALSE,
  enforce_api_limits = TRUE,
  update_cache = FALSE
)

`dataset`	Character vector of ABS.Stat dataset codes. These codes correspond to the `indicatorID` column from the indicator data frame of `abs_cache` or `abs_cachelist`, or the result of `abs_indicators`.
`filter`	A list that contains filter of dimensions available in the specified `series` to use in the API call. If NULL, no filter is set and the query tries to return all dimensions of the dataset. Valid dimensions to include in the list supplied to filter include: MEASURE, REGION, INDEX, TSEST and FREQUENCY.
`start_date`	Numeric or character. If numeric it must be in year). For data at the sub-annual granularity the API supports a format as follows: Monthly data – '2016-M01', Quarterly data – '2016-Q1', Semi-annual data – '2016-B2', Financial year data – '2016-17'.
`end_date`	Numeric or character (refer to `startdate`).
`lang`	Language in which to return the results. If `lang` is unspecified, english is the default. ## @param remove_na If `TRUE`, remove blank or NA observations. If `FALSE`, no blank or NA ## values are removed from the return. ## @param include_unit If `TRUE`, the column unit is not removed from the return. If ## `FALSE`, this column is removed. ## @param include_obsStatus If `TRUE`, the column obsStatus is not removed from the return. If ## `FALSE`, this column is removed.
`dimensionAtObservation`	The identifier of the dimension to be attached at the observation level. The default order is: 'AllDimensions', 'TimeDimension' and 'MeasureDimension'. AllDimensions results in a flat list of observations without any grouping.
`detail`	This argument specifies the desired amount of information to be returned. Possible values are: Full: all data and documentation, including annotations (default) DataOnly: attributes <e2><80><93> and therefore groups <e2><80><93> will be excluded SeriesKeysOnly: only the series elements and the dimensions that make up the series keys NoData: returns the groups and series, including attributes and annotations, without observations (all values = NA)
`return_json`	Logical. Default is `FALSE`. If `TRUE`, the function returns the result in raw sdmx-json.
`return_url`	Default is `FALSE`. If `TRUE`, the function returns the generated request URL and does not submit the request.
`enforce_api_limits`	If `TRUE` (the default), the function enforces the ABS.Stat RESTful API limits and will not submit the query if the URL string length exceeds 1000 characters or the query would return more than 1 million records. If `FALSE`, the function submits the API call regardless and attempts to return the results.
`update_cache`	Logical expression, if FALSE (default), use the cached list of available ABS.Stat datasets, if TRUE, update the list of available datasets.

Returns a data frame of the selected series from the specified ABS dataset.

The data query submitted by this function uses the ABS RESTful API based on the SDMX-JSON standard. It has a maximum allowable character limit of 1000 characters allowed in the data URL.

Further limitations known at this time include:

Only anonymous queries are supported, there is no authentication
Each response is limited to no more than 1 million observations
Errors are not returned in the JSON format but HTTP status codes and messages are set according to the Web Services Guidelines
The lastNObservations parameter is not supported
Observations follow the time series (or import-specific) order even if dimensionAtObservation=AllDimensions is used.

David Mitchell <david.pk.mitchell@gmail.com>

  
    x <- abs_stats(dataset="CPI", filter="all", return_url=TRUE);
    x <- abs_stats(dataset="CPI", filter=list(MEASURE=1, REGION=c(1:8,50),
                                              INDEX=10001, TSEST=10, FREQUENCY="Q"));
    x <- abs_stats(dataset="CPI", filter=list(MEASURE="all", REGION=50,
                                              INDEX=10001, TSEST=10, FREQUENCY="Q"));
    x <- abs_stats(dataset="CPI", filter=list(MEASURE="all", REGION=50, INDEX=10001,
                                              TSEST=10, FREQUENCY="Q"), return_url=TRUE);