Checks for an sets several options like paths to data locations; and provides instructions for the .Rprofile entries needed to persist the settings.
setup_icews(data_dir, use_db = TRUE, keep_files = FALSE, r_profile = TRUE)
unset_icews_opts()
get_icews_opts()Where should the raw TSV data be kept?
Store events in a SQLite database?
keep_files If using a database, retain raw data TSV files?
If TRUE, this will write config parameters to a .Renviron file.
unset_icews_opts silently returns a list of prior option values to
make it possible reset the values if needed. See get_icews_opts() and
set_icews_opts().
get_icews_opts returns on object of class "icews_opts". Essentially a list
containing the option values but with format and print methods.
Generally, the most flexible option is to keep both a database and the raw event files. As of late 2018, the database takes up about 8GB of space and the raw event files 5GB. The database contains several pre-built indices, which account for the extra space. Reading the raw data from files into memory takes about 2 minutes but from then on is more convenient and quicker for exploratory, interactive work. Queries on the database take longer, but don't require the initial loading into memory overhead. And with the right indices, it is possible to further cut down the time for specific queries.
Either way, I heavily recommend adding the option values to .Rprofile, to take away the trouble of having to deal with paths manually.
if (FALSE) {
# This works:
opts <- unset_icews_opts()
# do some stuff without the path options
set_icews_opts(opts)
}