From sfalcon at fhcrc.org  Tue May  1 22:31:39 2007
From: sfalcon at fhcrc.org (Seth Falcon)
Date: Tue, 01 May 2007 13:31:39 -0700
Subject: [Rd] Questions about name space directives
Message-ID: <m27irsi8us.fsf@ziti.local>

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some clarification of the intent of some of
directives used in NAMESPACE files.

1. Is import(somePkg) also intended to import all classes and methods
   that are exported via exportClasses and exportMethods in somePkg?
   I think import pulls in classes and methods, but it isn't clear
   from the docs whether this is as intended.

2. What is exportMethods intended to do?  I'm confused about when/if
   exportMethods deals with a generic function vs method(s) for a
   generic function.

   a) In a package that defines a generic function "foo" via
      setGeneric, it seems to be sufficient to use
      exportMethods("foo") to export the generic (and any methods
      defined).  Is this as intended or should the author add an
      export("foo") directive to explicitly export the generic
      function?

   b) In a package that only sets methods on generic "foo", an
      exportMethods("foo") directive does not re-export the "foo"
      generic.  I find it confusing that exportMethods sometimes
      exports the generic and sometimes not.  The generic can be
      re-exported using export().


+ seth

-- 
Seth Falcon | Computational Biology | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
http://bioconductor.org



[Rd] Questions about name space directives
Seth Falcon