# Documenting other objects

## Datasets

Datasets are stored in `data/`, not as regular R objects in the package. This means you need to document them in a slightly different way: instead of documenting the data directly, you quote the dataset’s name.

    #' Prices of over 50,000 round cut diamonds
    #'
    #' A dataset containing the prices and other attributes of almost 54,000
    #'  diamonds. The variables are as follows:
    #'
    #' @format A data frame with 53940 rows and 10 variables:
    #' \describe{
    #'   \item{price}{price in US dollars ($326--$18,823)}
    #'   \item{carat}{weight of the diamond (0.2--5.01)}
    #'   \item{cut}{quality of the cut (Fair, Good, Very Good, Premium, Ideal)}
    #'   \item{color}{diamond colour, from D (best) to J (worst)}
    #'   \item{clarity}{a measurement of how clear the diamond is (I1 (worst), SI2,
    #'     SI1, VS2, VS1, VVS2, VVS1, IF (best))}
    #'   \item{x}{length in mm (0--10.74)}
    #'   \item{y}{width in mm (0--58.9)}
    #'   \item{z}{depth in mm (0--31.8)}
    #'   \item{depth}{total depth percentage = z / mean(x, y) = 2 * z / (x + y) (43--79)}
    #'   \item{table}{width of top of diamond relative to widest point (43--95)}
    #' }

Note the use of two additional tags that are particularly useful for documenting data:

- `@format`, which gives an overview of the structure of the dataset. This should include a definition list that describes each variable. There’s currently no way to generate this with Markdown, so this is one of the few places you’ll need to Rd markup directly.

- `@source` where you got the data form, often a URL.

## Packages

As well as documenting every object inside the package, you can also document the package itself by documenting the special sentinel `"_PACKAGE"`. This automatically include information parsed from the `DESCRIPTION`, including title, description, list of authors, and useful URLs.

We recommend placing package documentation in `{pkgname}-package.R`, and have `@keywords internal`. Use `usethis::use_package_doc()` to set up automatically.

Here’s an example:

    #' @keywords internal
    "_PACKAGE"

Package documentation is a good place to put `# Package options` that documents options used by the package.

Some notes:

- By default, aliases will be added so that both `?pkgname` and `package?pkgname` will find the package help. If there’s an existing function called `pkgname`, use `@aliases {pkgname}-package NULL` to override the default.

- Use `@references` to point to published material about the package that users might find helpful.

## S3

- S3 generics are regular functions, so document them as such. If necessary, include a section that provides additional details for developers implementing methods.

- S3 classes have no formal definition, so document the constructor.

- It is your choice whether or not to document S3 methods. Generally, it’s not necessary to document straightforward methods for common generics like `print()`. (You should, however, always `@export` S3 methods).

  If your method is more complicated, you should document it by setting `@rdname` or `@describeIn`. For complicated methods, you might document in their own file (i.e. `@rdname generic.class`; for simpler methods you might document with the generic (i.e. `@describeIn generic)`. Learn more about these tags in `vignette("reuse")`.

- Generally, roxygen2 will automatically figure out the generic that the method belongs to, and you should only need to use `@method` if there is ambiguity. For example, is `all.equal.data.frame()` the `equal.data.frame` method for `all()`, or the `data.frame` method for `all.equal()`?. If this happens to you, disambiguate with (e.g.) `@method all.equal data.frame`.

## S4

S4 generics are also functions, so document them as such.

Document S4 classes by adding a roxygen block before `setClass()`. Use `@slot` to document the slots of the class. Here’s a simple example:

    #' An S4 class to represent a bank account
    #'
    #' @slot balance A length-one numeric vector
    Account <- setClass("Account",
      slots = list(balance = "numeric")
    )

S4 methods are a little more complicated. Unlike S3 methods, all S4 methods must be documented. You can document them in three places:

- In the class. Most appropriate if the corresponding generic uses single dispatch and you created the class.

- In the generic. Most appropriate if the generic uses multiple dispatches and you control it.

- In its own file. Most appropriate if the method is complex. or the either two options don’t apply.

Use either `@rdname` or `@describeIn` to control where method documentation goes. See the next section for more details.

## R6

- R6 methods can be documented in-line, i.e. the method’s documentation comments come right before the definition of the method.

- Method documentation can use the `@description`, `@details`, `@param`, `@return` and `@examples` tags. These are used to create a subsection for the method, within a separate ‘Methods’ section. All roxygen comment lines of a method documentation must appear after a tag.

- `@param` tags that appear before the class definition are automatically inherited by all methods, if needed.

- R6 fields and active bindings can make use of the `@field` tag. Their documentation should also be in-line.

- roxygen2 checks that all public methods, public fields, active bindings and all method arguments are documented, and issues warnings otherwise.

- To turn off the special handling of R6 classes and go back to the roxygen2 6.x.x behavior, use the `r6 = FALSE` option in `DESCRIPTION`, in the `Roxygen` entry: `Roxygen: list(r6 = FALSE)`.

roxygen2 automatically generates additional sections for an R6 class:

- A section with information about the superclass(es) of the class, with links. In HTML this includes a list of all inherited methods, with links.

- An ‘Examples’ section that contains all class and method examples. This section is run by `R CMD check`, so method examples must work without errors.

An example from the R6 tutorial:

    #' R6 Class Representing a Person
    #'
    #' @description
    #' A person has a name and a hair color.
    #'
    #' @details
    #' A person can also greet you.

    Person <- R6::R6Class("Person",
    public = list(

        #' @field name First or full name of the person.
        name = NULL,

        #' @field hair Hair color of the person.
        hair = NULL,

        #' @description
        #' Create a new person object.
        #' @param name Name.
        #' @param hair Hair color.
        #' @return A new `Person` object.
        initialize = function(name = NA, hair = NA) {
          self$name <- name
          self$hair <- hair
          self$greet()
        },

        #' @description
        #' Change hair color.
        #' @param val New hair color.
        #' @examples
        #' P <- Person("Ann", "black")
        #' P$hair
        #' P$set_hair("red")
        #' P$hair
        set_hair = function(val) {
          self$hair <- val
        },

        #' @description
        #' Say hi.
        greet = function() {
          cat(paste0("Hello, my name is ", self$name, ".\n"))
        }
      )
    )