methodsNetwork: An R package to easily plot a network of methods for a given class

[joshwlambert]

Description

Recently, I've been wanting to add a diagram to the {epiparameter} R package on the different S3 methods that are available for the <epiparameter> class. I had an image that I've been updating for use in presentations but thought it would be nice to programmatically do it so it can be easily updated when a new methods gets added (or conversely if a method gets removed).

I used {visNetwork} to plot an interactive network with the S3 methods and categorised them in this PR: epiverse-trace/epiparameter#383. In writing this code I thought it might be useful for other packages to produce something similar either for interactive use or for documentation (as is the case in {epiparameter}). Therefore, I'm posting this discussion to gather feedback as to whether this would be a useful package with the single aim of plotting a network of S3 methods for a given S3 class.

From searching I did not see any other packages that offer this functionality. Similar packages like {pkggraph} do not offer graph plotting for S3 methods. I think this could be especially useful for packages where the S3 class one of the primary advantages (e.g. {incidence2}, {socialcontactmatrix}).

Typical end-users

Package user that wants to know what the class can do, or package developer wanting to show what methods their class has

Potential contributors

General open-source contributors

Key collaborators

NA

Inputs

Name of S3 class, name of package if class is not in base R

Outputs

A plotted network

Imports

Potential dependencies:

• {visNetwork}
• {igraph}

Used by

• <first package it could export data to>
• <second package it could export data to>
• ...

Related projects

• {pkggraph} (although does not offer this functionality)

Usage

methodsNetwork(class = "epiparameter", pkg = "epiparameter)

Additional comments

No response