Add prefix to all imported functions from a package

[FBrockmeyer]

Thank you for sharing those great lines of code. We are currently moving our {shiny} applications to the {box}-framework.

With

box::use(
  dplyr[
   select
  ]
)

there, eventually, is a mechanism to overcome wildcard imports like

library(dplyr)
# or 
box::use(dplyr[...]) 

Moreover, there is the possibility do set a prefix, i.e.,

box::use(
  dplyr[
   dplyr_select = select
   ]
)

However, in large projects, we are forced to load many functions from different projects. To keep track we currently do something along the lines

box::use(
  r/core[...],
  
  bslib[
    bslib_page_sidebar = page_sidebar,
    bslib_sidebar = sidebar,
    bslib_card = card,
    <...>
    ], 

  <...>
)

This might get exhausting. From

f = c('page_sidebar', 'sidebar', 'card')  
p = 'bslib'

# verbose, but kept explicit for clarity
sprintf('%s_%s = %s', p, f, f) |> 
  paste(collapse = ', ') |> 
  sprintf(fmt = 'box::use(%s[%s])', p, ... = _) |> 
  parse(text = _) |> 
  eval()

we could construct a helper function that is extendable to several packages. However, this doesn’t look quite right. Wouldn’t it make sense to add (another) prefix argument to box::use() so that all functions exported from a package are prefixed?

(We may be overlooking something obvious, and the issue might simply boil down to a mismatch in our mental model.)

[klmr]

Hi,

for this case the intended solution is to use the module name itself. That is, write:

box::use(
  r/core[...],
  
  bslib,

  <...>
)

# To use it:

bslib$card("test")
# instead of
# bslib_card("test")

You can also give it an alias (e.g. bs = bslib, and then write bs$card, etc.). And you can combine explicit qualification with shorthands. For instance, you could declare

box::use(
  bs = bslib[sidebar = page_sidebar],
)

Then you could use bs$card (qualified), but page_sidebar (unqualified).

Note that if you want to use attached names and module-qualified names, you must provide an alias, even if its name is that of the original module/package. So if you have

box::use(
  bslib[… anything …],
)

… that is, you provide a [] list of names, then you can only use those names directly, you cannot write bslib$…. If you also want to use the latter, you need to instead use

box::use(
  bslib = bslib[… anything …],
)

[FBrockmeyer]

Thank you very much for this throughout answer. In other words, in our case the fallback is a wildcard import? To my eyes, bslib$card('test') doesn't look different to bslib::card('test') then, and, unfortunately, I currently do not see where we profit from {box} w.r.t. to imports from CRAN packages.

[klmr]

If you only use imports with explicit names, where the name is the original package name, then there’s indeed very little benefit (besides having a way of declaring your dependencies up-front). The real benefit comes from having a consistent way of declaring different ways of interacting with imports, depending on what’s most convenient.