mariner

The mariner package simplifies and automates the process of creating and zipping reports for Dr. Seaman's Class. It provides a cohesive workflow to first generate multiple R Markdown source files from a single parameterized template, and then zips the source files and all rendered outputs into easily shareable zip archives.

Installation

You can install the development version of mariner from GitHub with:

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("thomasqmd/mariner")

Workflow

The typical workflow involves two main steps: using generate_reports() to create parameterized .Rmd files, and then using process_files() to render and bundle them.

Generate Reports

Use generate_reports to create multiple report files base on a template.

library(mariner)
library(tidyr)

# --- 1. Setup: Create a temporary directory for the output ---
temp_dir <- tempfile("mariner-example-")
dir.create(temp_dir)

# --- 2. Define the parameters for each report ---
# Each row in the data frame corresponds to one report.
report_params <- expand_grid(
  chapter = 1, 
  problem_numbers = 1:2, 
  author = "Firstname Lastname"
)

# --- 3. Generate the .Rmd source files ---
rmd_files <- generate_reports(
  params_df = report_params,
  template_name = "simple_report",
  output_dir = temp_dir
)
#> Generating 2 Rmd files...
#> Rmd file generation complete.

Proccess Reports

Then you will have two Rmd files in your temporary directory, named Report-1_1.Rmd and Report-1_2.Rmd, each containing the parameters specified. After editing the reports as needed, you can proceed to render and zip them with process_file or process_files as shown below.

# --- 4. Render the reports and bundle them into zip archives ---
# This can be run in parallel by setting a future plan.
process_files(rmd_files)
#> Starting bundling process...
#> Progress: ────────────────────────────────── 100%
#> Successfully created bundle: Report-1_1.zip
#> Successfully created bundle: Report-1_2.zip
#> Bundling complete. Success: 2, Failures: 0.

# --- 5. View the final output ---
# The directory now contains the source Rmd files and their zip archives.
list.files(temp_dir)
#> [1] "Report-1_1.Rmd" "Report-1_1.zip" "Report-1_2.Rmd" "Report-1_2.zip"

# --- Cleanup ---
unlink(temp_dir, recursive = TRUE)