Using the R trackdown package for multiple pages and multiple authors

Extending_Trackdown.md

OVERVIEW

I have found that the trackdown package is incredibly useful for collaboration with non-R users. It's design suggests that the main use case was a group of researchers all working on one paper -- a big .Rmd file. The package documentation has a very clear workflow description.

I've put some wrappers and additional code around the package to make working with a couple dozen Distill pages.

This set of functions is handy for synchronizing more than a dozen .Rmd files by simplifying the following:

1. Detecting local files that have never been uploaded by trackdown to the Google Drive directory
2. Detecting local files that have been modified and need to be updated (overwritten in the corresponding Google Doc)
3. Detecting edits of Google Docs by others that need to be downloaded to the corresponding .Rmd file

WORKFLOW FOR DISTILL

1. Synchronize Google and local files (resolve conflicts, etc.)
2. Rebuild the site
3. Commit and push to GitHub
4. Check on Netilfy or wherever

NOTE

The date and authorship comparisons don't detect MY updates in the Google Doc versions, so I've resorted to using a different Google ID for edits on the Google side.

EXAMPLE

In the following example, the compare_drive function has returned R code that can be copy-pasted into the R session. The functions perform the following:

• update - local .Rmd files that have been edited and need to be updated in Google Docs
• upload - new files that are found locally and need to be uploaded to Google Docs (none found in this example)
• download - Google Docs that have been edited, so have text that needs to be merged with the local .Rmd file

> all_files <- compare_drive()
 

  update these ".Rmd" files:

update('registration-activity.Rmd', force = TRUE)
update('definitions-and-terms.Rmd', force = TRUE)
update('index.Rmd', force = TRUE)


  upload these ".Rmd" files:



  DOWNLOAD these ".Rmd" files:

download('membership.Rmd', force = TRUE)
> 

John David Smith https://twitter.com/smithjd and https://learningalliances.net

my_trackdown.R

# library(googledrive) # to update permissions / google identity
# trackdown documentation: https://claudiozandonella.github.io/trackdown/
library(here)

google_path <- "your/directory" # Point to a Google folder with a local parameter, specific to this project

list_rmd <- function() {
# list all local .Rmd files

  library(tidyverse)
  library(fs)
  library(here)

  rmd_list <- dir_info(here(), recurse = FALSE) %>%
  filter(type == "file") %>%
  arrange(desc(modification_time)) %>%
  filter(str_detect(path, "Rmd$")) %>%
  select(path, size, modification_time) %>%
  mutate(fname = str_extract(path,  '[^//]*\\.Rmd'),
         fname = str_remove(fname, "\\.Rmd")) %>%
  select(fname, modification_time, size)

  rmd_list
}

list_drive_files <- function() {
  # list all Google Drive files in a directory
  
  library(tidyverse)
  library(lubridate)
  library(googledrive)
  google_drive_files <- drive_ls(path = google_path)  # path is defined globally
  dr <- google_drive_files$drive_resource
  google_drive_files <- tibble(
    g_name = map_chr(dr, ~.x$name),
    file_id = map_chr(dr, ~.x$id),
    last_g_editor_id = map_chr(dr, ~.x$lastModifyingUser$emailAddress),
    g_created_time = ymd_hms(map_chr(dr, ~.x$createdTime)),
    g_modified_time = ymd_hms(map_chr(dr, ~.x$modifiedTime))
    ) %>% 
    mutate(file_id = paste0("https://docs.google.com/document/d/", file_id)) %>% 
    arrange(desc(g_modified_time)) %>% 
    filter(g_name != "Meta")
    
  google_drive_files
}

compare_drive <- function() {
  library(glue)
  library(tidyverse)
  local_files <- list_rmd()
  drive_files <- list_drive_files()
  combined_project_files <- full_join(local_files, drive_files, 
                                       by = c("fname" = "g_name"))
  
  update_files <- combined_project_files %>% 
    filter(g_modified_time < modification_time) %>% 
    mutate(message_text = glue("update('{fname}.Rmd', force = TRUE)")) 

  update_files <- update_files %>% 
    select(message_text) %>% unlist()
    cat('\n\n  update these ".Rmd" files:\n', update_files, sep = "\n")

  upload_files <- combined_project_files %>%
    filter(is.na(g_modified_time)) %>%
    mutate(message_text = 
             glue::glue('upload("{fname}.Rmd")')) %>% 
    select(message_text) %>% unlist()
    cat('\n\n  upload these ".Rmd" files:\n', upload_files, sep = "\n")
  
  download_files <- combined_project_files %>% 
    filter(last_g_editor_id != "jd8.smith@gmail.com" | 
      (g_created_time > g_modified_time)) %>% 
    mutate(message_text = 
             glue("download('{fname}.Rmd', force = TRUE)")) %>% 
    arrange(desc(g_modified_time))
    cat('\n\n  DOWNLOAD these ".Rmd" files:\n',
        download_files$message_text, sep = "\n")
  
  return(combined_project_files)
}

# Google Upload / download functions

upload <- function(file_name) {  
  library(googledrive)
  library(trackdown)
  # for first time use
  upload_file(file_name, 
    gpath = google_path, # a local parameter for each project
    hide_code = TRUE
  )
}

update <- function(file_name, ...) {
  library(googledrive)
  library(trackdown)
  update_file(file_name, 
              gpath = google_path,
              hide_code = TRUE, ...
  )
}

download <- function(file_name, ...) {
  library(googledrive)
  library(trackdown)
  download_file(file_name, gpath = google_path, ...)
}

## 

# all_files <- compare_drive()
# update("index.Rmd", force = TRUE)              # frequent
# upload("map-center-size.Rmd")    # first-time-only
# download("index.Rmd", force = TRUE)