VisionEval 3.0 Release Candidate

[jrawbits]

Final Release candidate for VisionEval 3.0 for R 4.2.2.

What's New

This version manages models, scenarios, results and exports through a simple end-user API. https://docs.visioneval.orgcomes close to documenting this version. To see what "works", run the Github version:

1. Clone the Github
2. Start VisionEval-dev.Rproj in the root directory
3. Run ve.build() to construct the packages
4. Run ve.run() to launch the runtime (note that the built "runtime" is only used indirectly
   1. VisionEval runs in the new "runtime.test" directory
   2. You can set a directory of your choice selected either by passing it as a parameter (ve.run('myRuntimeDirectory")) or by setting the VE_RUNTIME system environment variable. A complete working runtime will be created at that destination if it does not already exist
5. Once running, do the walkthrough() function to get a list of sample scripts illustrating basic functions (all to run in an additional temporary runtime to avoid confusing them with real work).
   1. walkthrough() will also work for ordinary users
   2. A more "advanced" set of walkthroughs exists in sources/framework/VEModel but those are yet to be updated to final code changes so they will change before release.
   3. Use the VEModel test functions for a more complete rendition of the API
6. Run ve.test("VEModel") to load the API test functions (a comprehensive exercise of what works and how).
   1. Inspect the scripts in the walkthrough and the VEModel tests to see how to do various useful things

Chief Accomplishments

Among the many changes made here since the last beta:

• works correctly with R 4.2.2 (our main recent hang-up on new releases was an important change to R language behavior)
• the query functions are working all the way
• all the module packages have been fixed so they pass R CMD check with no messages apart from being grossly oversized
• the framework now supports row-level input file consistency checking (not just columns)
• many improvements have been made to the run scripts (both for developers and end-users)
• previous runs are handled better (including checking for "out of date" status - if their run parameters have changed since the last run)
• a great many issues open on VisionEval have been checked and closed as this pull-request is completed (the ones anticipated to be closed are already identified with comments from @jrawbits. I may accidentally have fixed others...
• The framework now supports "dynamic" module specifications (constructed through functions executed at runtime, rather than through data structures compiled into the packages). The framework VESnapshot package illustrates this functionality.
• Export and query functions have been greatly improved and simplified. Export formats to support efficient visualization with Tableau or Power BI have been included (but are still may prove to be a work in progress).

Next Steps

1.This pull request will shortly be merged into development-next, tagged and bundled as a Release Candidate.

2. We'll ask friends and VisionEval users to try it out then.
3. Once final fixes have been made, it will all be pushed over to "development" and then to "master" (and perhaps we'll change "master" to "trunk").
4. Finally, we will retire "development-next" and just go back to having one "development" branch.

[jrawbits]

Merged behind the scenes into development-next (Tag: VE-3.0.0-Release). Expect 3.0.1 soon.