Hi Christophe -- This is a variant of the problem that Jim Regetz is having in a thread in R-devel. Here's where the trouble is
> as(c, "A") Error in .local(.Object, ...) : argument "value" is missing, with no default By default, 'as(c, "A")' will create a new instance of it's second argument using new("A"), and then fill the slots of A with appropriate values from "C". We can see that creating a new "A" without any additional arguments causes the same error: > new("A") Error in .local(.Object, ...) : argument "value" is missing, with no default Jim has gone down the path of creating coercion methods ('setAs') for his classes. A different solution is to ensure that 'new' works with no additional arguments (typically requiring that a prototype, if present, prodcues valid objects). So for instance setMethod("initialize","A",function(.Object, value=numeric(0)){ [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- value return(.Object) }) and then > new("A") A I find it easier to keep track of prototype and initialize methods, rather than setAs, so I use a solution like the above. But a couple of other quick points. I would have written setMethod("initialize", "A", function(.Object, ..., xValue=numeric(0)){ callNextMethod(.Object, ..., x=xValue) }) Why? this allows the built-in object creation methods to create .Object, so there's less code for me to maintain (even if it's just object assignment [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- value here). Importantly, when I create a derived class, the derived class does not have to know in detail about what the initilalize method for "A" does, e.g., setMethod("initialize","B", function(.Object, ..., yValue=numeric(0)){ callNextMethod(.Object, ..., y=yValue) }) Here 'initialize' for B just deals with it's slots, and doesn't have to worry about what to do with A's slots. Also [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- value makes a copy of .Object, which can be expensive if .Object is large. There is some hope that the default method (eventually reached by callNextMethod) does things relatively efficiently in terms of copies. Note that each initialize method only deals with its own slots. And finally, the position of 'xValue' and 'yValue' means that the arugment has to be named, e.g., new("B", yValue=12). This seems a little awkward at first, but seems like a best practice when creating objects with complicated inheritance -- not quite so much need to follow the method dispatch / argument assignment rules through a complicated inheritance hierarchy. And finally, in Jim's thread I mention using a constructor. So in practice for a case like the above I would not define any initialize methods, and instead write B <- function(xValue=numeric(0), yValue=numeric(0)) { new("B", x=xValue, y=yValue) } All my slot coercion is in the constructor. The user can figure out from the signature of the constructor what the appropriate arguments and their types are, and does not have to know about the details of the class definition. I can catch common errors and provide user-friendly messages, rather than getting cryptic messages from the internals of S4. Hope that helps. Martin Christophe Genolini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Thanks Martin > > Well it works except that "as" seems to not like the "initialize" > method : the following code (that is the same than yours with some > initialize for A B and C) does not compile. It seems that as(c,"A") > does not work if we definie a initialize for A... > > --- 8< -------------- > setClass("A", representation(x="numeric")) > setMethod("initialize","A",function(.Object,value)[EMAIL PROTECTED] <- > value;return(.Object)}) > a <- new("A",4) > > setClass("B", representation(y="numeric")) > setMethod("initialize","B",function(.Object,value)[EMAIL PROTECTED] <- > value;return(.Object)}) > b <- new("B",5) > > setClass("C", contains=c("A", "B")) > setMethod("initialize","C",function(.Object,valueA, valueB){ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- valueA > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- valueB > return(.Object) > }) > c <- new("C",valueA=10,valueB=12) > > setMethod("show", "A", function(object) cat("A\n")) > setMethod("show", "B", function(object) cat("B\n")) > setMethod("show", "C", function(object) { > callGeneric(as(object, "A")) > callGeneric(as(object, "B")) > cat("C\n") > }) > c > --- 8< -------------------- > > Is there something wrong with the use of 'as' between class and father > class? > > Christophe >> Hi Christophe -- >> >> I don't know whether there's a particularly elegant way. This works >> >> setClass("A", representation(x="numeric")) >> setClass("B", representation(y="numeric")) >> setClass("C", contains=c("A", "B")) >> >> setMethod("show", "A", function(object) cat("A\n")) >> setMethod("show", "B", function(object) cat("B\n")) >> setMethod("show", "C", function(object) { >> callGeneric(as(object, "A")) >> callGeneric(as(object, "B")) >> cat("C\n") >> }) >> >> >>> new("C") >>> >> A >> B >> C >> >> but obviously involves the developer in making explicit decisions >> about method dispatch when there is multiple inheritance. >> >> Martin >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >> >> >>> Hi the list >>> >>> I define a class A (slot a and b), a class C (slot c and d) and a >>> class E that inherit from A and B. >>> I define print(A) and print(B). For print(C), I would like to use >>> both of them, but I do not see how... >>> >>> Thanks for your help... >>> >>> Christophe >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Ce message a ete envoye par IMP, grace a l'Universite Paris 10 Nanterre >>> >>> ______________________________________________ >>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >>> >> >> > -- Martin Morgan Computational Biology / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N. PO Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109 Location: Arnold Building M2 B169 Phone: (206) 667-2793 ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.