Provide R package-related tasks

[jacob-long]

There are some things added in one of the recent releases that we should consider including as VS Code tasks as well.

In particular, being able to run tests and R CMD check is ideally-suited to tasks.

I wasn't sure whether an extension can provide tasks in this way, but it appears to be possible. I don't know TypeScript well enough to implement, but here's an example of an extension that provides users with tasks: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-extension-samples/tree/master/task-provider-sample

I can help in terms of putting together the task definition JSONs since I'm using some in my own projects already.

[Ikuyadeu]

@jacob-long Sorry my late reply. Good idea! if you have a task JSON files, could you share it?

[andycraig]

Hi @jacob-long, I’m following up on some old issues. Are tasks still something you’re keen to see added?

[jacob-long]

I think these would be valuable additions to support R package developer workflows.

[andycraig]

@jacob-long Great! It sounds like you might already have some task definition JSON files that you can share? If so, that would be very useful.

I structure most of my projects as packages and use a workflow based around devtools::load_all() and devtools::test(), but I’ve never submitted a package to CRAN, used R CMD, or used VSCode tasks. Would you be able to provide a list of desired tasks and what they should do? I’m happy to help out on the implementation side of things.

Thank you!

[crsh]

Sorry, to barge in. I'm only just getting started using VS Code, but in case it helps, my set up looks as follows:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Build package",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "RScript -e 'devtools::install(upgrade = \"never\")'",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always"
            },
            "problemMatcher": [],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        },
        {
            "label": "Run unit tests",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "RScript -e 'devtools::test()'",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always"
            },
            "problemMatcher": [],
            "group": {
                "kind": "test",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        },
        {
            "label": "Run R CMD checks",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "RScript -e 'devtools::check()'",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always"
            },
            "problemMatcher": [],
            "group": {
                "kind": "test",
                "isDefault": false
            }
        }
    ]
}

[maxheld83]

based on @crsh's example, I've factored out/expanded this a bit to replicate as much as possible the RStudio build pane. (Corresponding keymaps are in #551).

I understand there's a way to make an extension a proper Task provider.

I think this might also warrant deprecating the R: Document shortcuts in the command picker now, since a task is arguably the proper way to do this. In particular, the tasks run in their own R session, which makes sense for devtools::document().

I'm not knowledgeable about TypeScript (?), let alone VSCode extensions, otherwise I'd be happy to make PR, but I can help curate the tasks (rmarkdown, shiny, etc).

Here's what I got:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "options": {
        "shell": {
            "executable": "Rscript",
            "args": [
                "-e"
            ]
        }
    },
    "presentation": {
        "reveal": "always",
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "group": "build"
    },
    "type": "shell",
    "problemMatcher": [],
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Document",
            "command": "devtools::document(roclets = c('rd', 'collate', 'namespace'))",
            "problemMatcher": []
        },
        {
            "label": "Install",
            "command": "devtools::install(quick = TRUE, upgrade = 'never')",
            "group": "build",
            "dependsOn": "Document"
        },
        {
            "label": "Test",
            "command": "devtools::test()",
            "group": "test",
            "problemMatcher": []
        },
        {
            "label": "Check",
            "command": "devtools::check(error_on = 'warning')",
            "group": {
                "kind": "test",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "dependsOn": "Document"
        },
        {
            "label": "Pkgdown",
            "command": "muggle::build_site2()",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "dependsOn": "Document",
            "problemMatcher": []
        },
        {
            "label": "Build and Test",
            "dependsOn": [
                "Pkgdown",
                "Check"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

[andycraig]

@crsh Thank you for posting that info, and apologies for not responding! I completely missed the notification.

@maxheld83 Thank you for the followup on this issue. This isn't something I'm going to pursue any time soon, but contributions are very welcome!

[jolars]

Good idea, and thanks for the task configs. To really emulate the functionality from R Studio, it would be nice if it was possible to restart the R Session (and run library(<package>), just like the Install and Restart function does in R Studio.

I've fiddled a bit with the tasks, but I'm not sure how to do this properly. It's of course easy to start up R as part of the task, but then the R extension does not recognize the new console as the "main" R terminal, and sends commands to either a new terminal or the old one (if it was already opened).

What I'd like to achieve is to have the task reuse the standard R terminal. Does anyone know how to achieve this?

[maxheld83]

I thought about that too @jolas. Maybe just put devtools::load_all() in a project-specific .rprofile? Though I forget ... I think project-specific project/.rprofile overrides ~/.rprofile and the whole thing is the same load_all() call so maybe just put it in the personal ~/.rprofile.

Might need some logic to test whether R is being launched inside an r package dir, but I think devtools (or usethis?) have some functions to test this.

---

Update: I was confused in the above, sorry @jolars. You were talking about "Install and Restart", I was talking about devtools::load_all(), so that's a separate issue. I always use load_all() had forgotten about "Install and Restart".

I would guess that there is a way to programmatically close/open the R terminal, since you can already open an r terminal from the command pallette ... but I don't know enough about the internals.

Anyway, I'm going to mark my own reply here off-topic, since this is a separate issue.

[krlmlr]

@jolars: I have mapped workbench.action.terminal.relaunch to Ctrl + Shift + F10 to restart the active terminal if the active language is R. Works for me.

[andycraig]

I've added tasks for Check, Document, Install and Test.

It should be fairly easy to add new tasks by copy-pasting the code for these tasks, which is here: https://github.com/Ikuyadeu/vscode-R/blob/17a7d69423d3a4377211e83f39ebc3bceba6ab69/src/extension.ts#L147-L154

[krlmlr]

Nice! I wonder if we can use "problemMatchers" to implement tasks that work on the active document, e.g. "knit".

[andycraig]

@krlmlr I think problem matchers work on the output of tasks. For tasks that use the active file, we might be able to use variable substitution: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference

[gowerc]

This is quite a meaty issue now I'm wondering if its worth splitting it into sub issues namely:

• Add knitr task (Further possible requirements listed in #608)
• Add problemMatchers (already partially implemented in #989 but probably needs to be refined)
• Enhance existing tasks (currently we have the most basic implementation devtools::document() it might be worth updating them in line with https://github.com/REditorSupport/vscode-R/issues/59#issuecomment-776116826)