It is good practice to not store API keys in code or as plain text!

To store API keys, we recommend using the keyring package. This vignette provides a minimal intro to the necessary functionality. For further functionalities of keyring, including real keyrings and password protection of the ChemSpider API key, we recommend the documentation of keyring, available here.

Before proceeding, the package needs to be installed.

library("keyring")

Storing an API key using keyring

The keyring::key_set() will open a pop-up window in which the ChemSpider API key can be pasted in.

library(keyring)

## Note that Sys.getenv("USERNAME") is used to dynamically tie the API key to the current user.
key_set(service = "ChemSpider API key", username = Sys.getenv("USERNAME"))

The name of the stored key is "ChemSpider API key", and the username is set to be the one currently operating R; this can of course be modified.

Accessing the API key

The stored API key can be accessed dynamically using the keyring::key_get() function.

apikey <- key_get(service = "ChemSpider API key", username = Sys.getenv("USERNAME"))


NIVANorge/chemspiderapi documentation built on Jan. 10, 2021, 10:12 a.m.