This might be a little late, but one option for this issue might be to add a line like Sys.setenv("DROPBOX_PATH" = "/Users/PersonA/Dropbox/") to Person A's .Rprofile (on my Mac, this is in my home directory) and the equivalent (mutatis mutandis) to Person B's .Rprofile and then use Sys.getenv("DROPBOX_PATH") to access the path. It seems from looking at forums for Dropbox that there is no easily accessed environment variable that Dropbox sets for the path to the Dropbox folder.
-- Ian Gow Accounting Information and Management Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University 2001 Sheridan Rd, Rm 6229 Evanston, IL 60208-2002 Phone: +1-847-467-4508 i-...@kellogg.northwestern.edu [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable linkBryan Hanson hanson at depauw.edu <mailto:r-help%40r-project.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BR%5D%20Downloading%20a%20 csv%20from%20Dropbox%20using%20the%20shareable%20link&In-Reply-To=%3C04D199 AF-8868-4C5E-A47D-1A21C22D0508%40depauw.edu%3E> Sat May 21 03:17:42 CEST 2011 * Previous message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278732.html> * Next message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278749.html> * Messages sorted by: [ date ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/date.html#278733> [ thread ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/thread.html#278733> [ subject ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/subject.html#278733> [ author ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/author.html#278733> ________________________________________ Hi Patrick, here is the set up: Everyone is already sharing all the files and has full access. We have an Rnw file which generates a report and uses a csv file in a "nearby" directory. Dropbox keeps it all sync'd. But, if Person A is working on the file on their computer the path to the data would be (Mac OSX) /Users/PersonA/Dropbox/Project/data.csv However, to Person B the path would be /Users/PersonB/Dropbox/data.csv I'm looking for a way to keep the path to data.csv universal and independent of who is actually using the file. That's why I was looking at the "shareable link" feature on Dropbox. I guess I see two solutions (partially answering my own question now). 1. Keep the data file in the same directory as the report and I don't think there would be any problems. 2. In the Rnw file, use a relative path. I know you can do this for instance when you specify where the graphics go. I suppose the same approach would allow me to specify the path as going up one level and then down into a different directory. As long as I bury these folders deep enough that I don't have to use a relative path that ever hits the "PersonX" level I suppose it will work. I'll try it out. Further suggestions welcome. Thanks, Bryan On May 20, 2011, at 8:24 PM, Patrick Connolly wrote: > On Fri, 20-May-2011 at 02:05PM -0400, Bryan Hanson wrote: >>> Hello Kindred R Spirits... >>>> I'm trying to get a file (csv) from Dropbox using their shareable >> link >> concept. They issue a short URL that goes to a web page where you >> see a >> button that says "Download File". They don't really give you the >> URL of >> the file itself, just this page. Is there a way to coax R into >> getting >> such a file? I don't even really want the file per se, I just want a >> Dropbox allows you to share folders with other Dropbox users who would > then have access to your file/s as a file/s on their individual > computers. It would mean that any collaborator would have to have a > Dropbox account and they'd all end up downloading the file. If there > aren't too many for you to individually invite and it's not excessive > bandwidth for them to download that many copies of the file, it would > be easily done. (You might even get yourself some more diskspace on > Dropbox by inviting other users.) >> You'd have to think about whose version has what effect on others but > without knowing your objectives, it's impossible for me to say what's > the best approach. >> HTH >>>>> path to the file so I can reference it for Sweave purposes and read >> the >> contents into an object. Seems like a job for RCurl but I have >> little >> experience and this seems like an odd case anyway. >>>> By the way, I want to do this as a way to have several people on >> different computers run a .Rnw file that needs to access common >> data set >> w/o changing the path to the file each time a different person >> opens the >> file and works on it. Perhaps there is another way of doing this. >>>> Thanks for any suggestions. Bryan >> **************** >> Prof. Bryan Hanson >> Dept of Chemistry & Biochemistry >> DePauw University >> Greencastle IN 46135 USA >>>> ______________________________________________ >> R-help at r-project.org <https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help> >> 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. >> -- > ~ > .~ > .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~. > ___ Patrick Connolly > {~._.~} Great minds discuss ideas > _( Y )_ Average minds discuss events > (:_~*~_:) Small minds discuss people > (_)-(_) ..... Eleanor Roosevelt > > ~ > .~ > .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~. ________________________________________ * Previous message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278732.html> * Next message: [R] Downloading a csv from Dropbox using the shareable link <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/278749.html> * Messages sorted by: [ date ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/date.html#278733> [ thread ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/thread.html#278733> [ subject ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/subject.html#278733> [ author ] <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-May/author.html#278733> ________________________________________ More information about the R-help mailing list <https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help> ______________________________________________ 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.