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FilePath S4 Class

Source: R/compute_graph.R
FilePath-class.Rd

File paths are unique identifiers for files and are used to track changes in the file system. A file path is a general R, Python, SAS, Quarto, shell, etc. agnostic way to refer to a file. It is not tied to any specific software or programming language, but rather to the file system itself.

Usage

# S4 method for class 'FilePath'
show(object)

Arguments

object

A FilePath object.

Details

Represents an individual file node in a computational pipeline dependency graph. A FilePath object encapsulates file-level metadata and state: tracking modification timestamps (mtime), file extensions (file_ext), workflow lifecycle milestones (stage), semantic pipeline roles (artifact_role), and rendering status (renders).

Upon instantiation, the object automatically inspects the target file on disk: if the file exists at path, mtime is populated from file.info()$mtime and file_ext is extracted via tools::file_ext().

Slots

name

Character. A user-supplied, human-readable name for the file, used to refer to the file across other parts of the pipeline and dependency graph.

path

Character. The absolute or project-relative path to the file on the file system.

mtime

POSIXct. The modification time of the file on the file system. Automatically populated from disk during object initialization if the file exists.

file_ext

Character. The file extension of the file (e.g., "xlsx", "rds", "qmd"). Automatically populated from the file path during object initialization.

renders

Logical. A logical indicating whether the file is a rendered file (i.e. a file that is produced by a rendering process) or a rendering source script. Defaults to FALSE.

stage

Character. The workflow lifecycle stage of the file in the pipeline (e.g., "01_EDA", "02_Analysis_Original", "03_Imputation").

artifact_role

Character. The semantic role of the file in the pipeline. Standard roles include:

  • "raw_data": Original immutable input data (e.g. source spreadsheets).

  • "derived_data": Primary processed baseline dataset generated from raw inputs.

  • "enhanced_data": Imputed or augmented analytical dataset.

  • "intermediate_data": Stage-internal calculation artifact or model.

  • "report_source": Executable source document (e.g., Quarto .qmd).

  • "deliverable_report": Rendered deliverable (e.g., .pdf, .html).

  • "helper_script": Child or modular helper script invoked by parent reports.

  • "reference": Lookup tables, crosswalks, or project configuration files.

description

Character. A brief human-readable description of the file's contents or analytical purpose.

See also

FileUses, FileOutputs, FilePath, create_qmd_renderer