README.md

In viafoundry: R Client for 'Via Foundry' API

Via Foundry R SDK

viafoundry is an R package for interacting with the Via Foundry API. It provides functions for user authentication, dynamic endpoint discovery, and executing API calls.

Features

• Authentication: Log in to the Via Foundry API using your credentials.
• Dynamic API Discovery: List all available API endpoints.
• Custom API Calls: Send HTTP requests to any endpoint with parameters or payloads.

Installation

Development Version

You can install the package directly from the source using devtools:

# Install the viafoundry package
install.packages("viafoundry")

# Or

# Install devtools if not already installed
install.packages("devtools")

# Install the `viafoundry` package
devtools::install_github("viascientific/viafoundry-R-SDK")

Getting Started

Authentication

Before interacting with the API, you need to authenticate and store your credentials. Once authentication is done it will put token into ~/.viaenv file, you don't need to re-authenticate.

Use the authenticate() function:

library(viafoundry)

# Authenticate and save the token
authenticate(
    hostname = "https://your_foundry_server",
    username = "username",
    password = "password",
    config_path = "~/.viaenv",
    overwrite = TRUE
)

or use authenticate() function it will ask the information needed for authentication

library(viafoundry)
authenticate()

Configuration File

The viafoundry package uses a configuration file (~/.viaenv) to store the hostname and token. Example:

{
    "hostname": "http://localhost",
    "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
}

Listing Available Endpoints

You can list all available API endpoints using the list_endpoints() function:

library(viafoundry)
# Fetch and display available endpoints
endpoints <- discover()
print(endpoints)

Calling an API Endpoint

To interact with a specific API endpoint, use the call_endpoint() function:

library(viafoundry)
# Call an API endpoint
response <- call_endpoint(
    method = "GET",
    endpoint = "/api/v1/process",     # Replace with your desired endpoint
    params = list(key = "value"),   # Optional query parameters
    data = NULL                     # Optional payload for POST/PUT
)

# Print the API response
print(response)

Example workflow

library(viafoundry)

# Step 1: Authenticate
authenticate()

# Step 2: List all available endpoints
endpoints <- discover()
print("Available endpoints:")
print(endpoints)

# Step 3: Call a specific endpoint
response <- call_endpoint(
    method = "GET",
    endpoint = "/api/v1/process"
)
print("API response:")
print(response)

Accessing the reports and load files

You can access any files in the report section using SDK

library(viafoundry)
#get report id from Via Foundry

reportID <- 1 

# Fetch the report 
report <- fetchReportData(reportID)

# Get all processes belong to the report
getProcessNames(report)

# Select the file from a process or a module 
getFileNames(report, "RSEM_module")

# Load a specific file
rsem_data <- loadFile(report, "RSEM_module", "genes_expression_expected_count.tsv")
head(rsem_data)

You can access any files in the report section using SDK

library(viafoundry)
#get report id from Via Foundry

reportID <- 1 

# Fetch the report 
report <- fetchReportData(reportID)

getAllFileNames(report)

# Choose a file from the list, if the extension is not tsv, csv, or txt, the file will be downloaded. you can define download directory

loadFile(report, "DE_module_RSEM", "control_vs_exper_des.Rmd")

Uploading files to the reports section in Foundry

You can first get the available directories in report and upload the files to those directories. After creating new plots(e.g png, pdf) or would like to upload some analysis code to organize the data within the report section you can use this method.

library(viafoundry)
#get report id from Via Foundry
reportID <- 1 

getReportDirs(1) # [1] "summary"       "multiqc"     "multiqc"  etc.

response <- uploadReportFile(1, "FILE_LOCATION", dir="summary") # Change the file location

print(response)

Process Management Functionalities

Process Functions

List All Processes - Fetches all existing processes from the API. - Example: R processes <- listProcesses() print(processes)

Get Process Details - Retrieves details for a specific process. - Example: R process_details <- getProcess("12345") print(process_details)

Create a New Process - Creates a new process using provided data. Make sure add all necessary parameters to create a process. - Example: R new_process <- createProcess(list(name = "New Process", description = "Example Process")) print(new_process)

Update an Existing Process - Updates a process with given data. - Example: R updated_process <- updateProcess("12345", list(name = "Updated Process")) print(updated_process)

Delete a Process - Deletes a process by its ID. - Example: R deleteProcess("12345")

Duplicate a Process - Duplicates an existing process. - Example: R duplicated_process <- duplicateProcess("12345") print(duplicated_process)

Get Process Revisions - Fetches all revisions for a given process. - Example: R revisions <- getProcessRevisions("12345") print(revisions)

Check Process Usage - Checks if a process is used in pipelines or runs. - Example: R usage <- checkProcessUsage("12345") print(usage)

Menu Group Functions

Create a Menu Group - Creates a new menu group. - Example: R new_menu_group <- createMenuGroup("New Menu Group") print(new_menu_group)

List Menu Groups - Lists all menu groups. - Example: R menu_groups <- listMenuGroups() print(menu_groups)

Update a Menu Group - Updates a menu group name. - Example: R updated_menu_group <- updateMenuGroup("123", "Updated Menu Name") print(updated_menu_group)

Parameter Functions

List Parameters - Fetches all parameters. - Example: R parameters <- listParameters() print(parameters)

Create a New Parameter - Creates a new parameter. - Example: R new_parameter <- createParameter(list(name = "New Param", type = "string")) print(new_parameter)

Update a Parameter - Updates an existing parameter. - Example: R updated_parameter <- updateParameter("123", list(name = "Updated Param")) print(updated_parameter)

Delete a Parameter - Deletes a parameter by its ID. - Example: R deleteParameter("123")

Get Pipeline Parameters - Retrieves parameter list for a pipeline. - Example: R pipeline_params <- getPipelineParameters("pipeline123") print(pipeline_params)

Session History Functionality

Save and Upload Session History

The ViaFoundry SDK for R allows you to save your session history while working in R. This is particularly useful for maintaining reproducibility and tracking the commands you execute.

Saving Session History

To save your session history to a file with a timestamp, you can use the prepareSessionHistory function:

# Save session history
history_file <- prepareSessionHistory()
print(paste("Session history saved to:", history_file))

Uploading Session History

You can also upload your session history to the server.

Upload Session History Separately

response <- uploadSessionHistory(report_id = "12345", dir = "session_logs")
print("Session History Upload Response:", response)

This functionality ensures that your session history is automatically saved and uploaded for reproducibility.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Authentication Fails:
2. Verify your username, password, and hostname.
3. Check if the token in the ~/.viaenv file is expired.
4. API Call Fails:
5. Ensure the endpoint exists and you have the necessary permissions.
6. Check the API documentation for the correct method and parameters.
7. Server Returns HTML Instead of JSON:
8. Ensure the Accept: application/json header is sent with requests. This is handled automatically by the package.
9. If you want to re-authenticate remove the viaenv file (e.g ~/.viaenv)

viafoundry documentation built on Aug. 23, 2025, 1:11 a.m.