Define a parameter used in a module

Used to specify a parameter's name, value, and set a default. The min and max arguments are ignored by simInit or spades; they are for human use only. To ensure that a user cannot set parameters outside of a range of values, the module developer should use assertions in their module code.

defineParameter(name, class, default, min, max, desc)

# S4 method for character,character,ANY,ANY,ANY,character
defineParameter(name, class, default, min, max, desc)

# S4 method for character,character,ANY,missing,missing,character
defineParameter(name, class, default, desc)

# S4 method for missing,missing,missing,missing,missing,missing
defineParameter()

Arguments

name	Character string giving the parameter name.
class	Character string giving the parameter class.
default	The default value to use when none is specified by the user. Non-standard evaluation is used for the expression.
min	With max, used to define a suitable range of values. Non-standard evaluation is used for the expression. These are not tested by simInit or spades. These are primarily for human use, i.e., to tell a module user what values the module expects.
max	With min, used to define a suitable range of values. Non-standard evaluation is used for the expression. These are not tested by simInit or spades. These are primarily for human use, i.e., to tell a module user what values the module expects.
desc	Text string providing a brief description of the parameter.

Value

data.frame

Note

Be sure to use the correct NA type: logical (NA), integer (NA_integer_), real (NA_real_), complex (NA_complex_), or character (NA_character_). See NA.

See also

P, params for accessing these parameters in a module.

Author

Alex Chubaty

Examples

parameters = rbind(
  defineParameter("lambda", "numeric", 1.23, desc = "intrinsic rate of increase"),
  defineParameter("P", "numeric", 0.2, 0, 1, "probability of attack")
)

if (FALSE) {
# Create a new module, then access parameters using \code{P}
tmpdir <- file.path(tempdir(), "test")
checkPath(tmpdir, create = TRUE)

# creates a  new, "empty" module -- it has defaults for everything that is required
newModule("testModule", tmpdir, open = FALSE)

# Look at new module code -- see defineParameter
if (interactive()) file.edit(file.path(tmpdir, "testModule", "testModule.R"))

# initialize the simList
mySim <- simInit(modules = "testModule",
                 paths = list(modulePath = tmpdir))

# Access one of the parameters -- because this line is not inside a module
#  function, we must specify the module name. If used within a module,
#  we can omit the module name
P(mySim, "testModule")$.useCache
}