paramCheckOtherMods can't deal with vector parameters with length > 1

[CeresBarros]

When p[[paramToCheck]] has vectors of length > 1 and the parameter is not defined in the current module, the following line will break this structure due to the unlist

  paramToUpdateValInOtherMods <- unlist(lapply(params, function(p) p[[paramToCheck]]))

for instance:

Browse[3]> lapply(params, function(p) p[[paramToCheck]])
$.progress
NULL

$checkpoint
NULL

$.globals
NULL

$Biomass_borealDataPrep
NULL

$Biomass_speciesParameters
NULL

$Biomass_sppEcoregDataPrep
NULL

$Biomass_sppEcoregPredict
[1] "pixelGroup"  "speciesCode" "age"        

$PermafrostThaw
NULL

$Biomass_core
[1] "pixelGroup"  "speciesCode" "age"

becomes

Browse[3]> unlist(lapply(params, function(p) p[[paramToCheck]]))
Biomass_sppEcoregPredict1 Biomass_sppEcoregPredict2 Biomass_sppEcoregPredict3             Biomass_core1             Biomass_core2 
             "pixelGroup"             "speciesCode"                     "age"              "pixelGroup"             "speciesCode" 
            Biomass_core3 
                    "age" 

The structure of the parameter must be preserved to check for parameter equality across modules

[CeresBarros]

will try to get a reprex

[CeresBarros]

reprex

Require::Require("PredictiveEcology/SpaDES.core@52d2258477571e6d6dc869e0f7f52b6a7c01c2b0")  ## development as of August 23rd

options(spades.moduleCodeChecks = FALSE, 
        spades.debug = FALSE,
        reproducible.ask = FALSE, 
        spades.useRequire = FALSE)

tmpdir <- file.path(tempdir())
setPaths(cachePath = file.path(tmpdir, "cache"),
         modulePath = system.file("sampleModules", package = "SpaDES.core"),
         outputPath = file.path(tmpdir, "outputs"))
pths <- getPaths()

mySim <- simInit(
  times = list(start = 0.0, end = 1.0, timeunit = "year"),
  params = list(
    .globals = list(stackName = "landscape", 
                    burnStats = "nPixelsBurned"),
    # Turn off interactive plotting
    fireSpread = list(.plotInitialTime = NA),
    caribouMovement = list(.plotInitialTime = NA,
                           .useCache = c(".inputObjects", "init")),
    randomLandscapes = list(.plotInitialTime = NA,
                            .useCache = c(".inputObjects", "init"))
  ),
  modules = list("randomLandscapes", "fireSpread", "caribouMovement"),
  paths = pths,
  # Save final state of landscape and caribou
  outputs = data.frame(objectName = c("landscape", "caribou"),
                       stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
)

spades(mySim, debug = "fireSpread")
## then in  browser mode:
paramCheckOtherMods(sim, ".useCache")
## Error in data.frame(module = currentModule, value = paramInThisMod, row.names = NULL) : 
  arguments imply differing number of rows: 1, 0

[CeresBarros]

After a bit more digging, I think the issue is not only related to my initial message. But is also further downstream. The error is linked to the parameter not being defined in the current module (so paramInThisMod is NULL), there being several definitions of the parameter (definef in several modules) -- which leads failure in line 52.

But also, even in the case where there are several equal definitions of the parameter (as in the example above), the function is failing to detect that they are all the same -- in which case it should output the parameter value