Teodor -- Nice question! I don't think there is anything exactly like you are looking for.
One problem is that in general R function arguments (and return values) are not typed (!) and of course saying in the docs that a function takes a particular type of argument is no guarantee that is the case. A solution is to provide typing (e.g., via the TypeInfo package in Bioconductor) or to restrict yourself to S4 methods (for which at least some arguments are typed, though not generally return values [though I believe they could be specified]). A very different approach would recognize that R function arguments are S-expressions of different types (raw, logical, character, int, double, etc). Marking up R functions in XML then becomes the task of (a) representing S-expressions or at least their content appropriately (e.g., an important feature is to allow for NA; see StatDataML), (b) identifying, perhaps on the fly since new packages are made available all the time, functions to be exposed (with, e.g., 'get' and the appropriate 'mode' argument), (c) determining the untyped signature via 'formals', (d) creating an appropriate map between the (untyped) signature and the XML representation of (a). This would mark up R functions in XML without strong typing (i.e., with the level of type specification currently available to R users!), but still seems, naively, to be do-able. I think it's worth asking whether you really want to expose 'all of R' to C#, because this has significant security consequences (in a server kind of environment) in addition to implicitly requiring use of the R language semantics and evaluation model, and without some careful thought needless movement of data across the R/C# boundary. Mostly speculative ideas here, so please edit accordingly. Followup definitely belongs in R-devel, where you might get some much more informed input. Others might suggest less exciting solutions, like (D)COM-based packages referenced on the 'Other', packages, and FAQs links of the R home page. Martin "Teodor Krastev" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi, > > I was wondering if there is a standard for R function description in > XML (or any plain text) format. > > Rd files are the closest thing I found, but they do not describe the > argument (or return value) types. The purpose would be to write a > program to automate the creation of C# wrapper around any R > function, but without the argument type Rd descriptions are useless. > > Any clues... > > thank you > Teodor Krastev > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- Martin Morgan Computational Biology / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N. PO Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109 Location: Arnold Building M2 B169 Phone: (206) 667-2793 ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
