Loading existing AGEPRO input files to ageproR user experience (compared to AGEPRO-GUI)

[efletcherPIFSC]

Issue

There are a couple of issues that ageproR that will need to handle with "Loading AGEPRO input file to program" workload

1. Inconsistent User-experience compared with AGEPRO-GUI's method of loading a AGEPRO input files:
   a. AGEPRO-GUI is straightforward with menu + file-dialog.
   b. ageproR requires a new instance of agepro_inp_model, before loading a AGEPRO input file
2. Using R6Class nomenclature (agepro_model$initialize()) to create or create to load Agepro Models classes may be a usability road block.
3. Initializing agepro_inp_model with user-specified values for keyword parameters will be overwritten by the imported AGEPRO input file.
   a. If the intention to use agepro_inp_model load from and save to AGEPRO Input Files, Should agepro_inp_model be used for creating new AGEPRO model cases since it will be needed to be saved to file?

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Detail

Creating new agepro models in agerproR is similar to AGEPRO-GUI's workflow. But loading AGEPRO input files to ageproR is different to AGEPRO GUI.

AGEPRO-GUI

AGEPRO-GUI is tied with GUI data and "inputFile" Class Data via AGEPRO-CoreLib.

Creating a new AGEPRO model

1. Set valid values for First Year of Projection, Last Year In Projection, First Age Class, Last Age Class, Number of Population Simulations, Number of Fleets, Number Of Recruitment Models, and Random Number Seed. If your model has discards, check the Discards are Present checkbox
2. Click the "SET" Button

Loading an existing AGEPRO model from AGEPRO input file

1. File > "Open a Existing AGEPRO Input Data File"
2. Select *.inp file from file dialog to AGEPRO-GUI

inputFile

A new instance of "inputFile" class is created when "Open File Dialog" is shown, if its a valid AGEPRO input file path then it will attempt to import the data to that inputFile class. After a successful, run, it will flag the GUI to allow the user to set that model parameters. In addition to this, the input filename path/format will be on the general params panel. Data on the GUI objects get saved to "inputFile" object class.

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ageproR

Make sure ageproR is loaded in your R workspace

Creating a new AGEPRO model

1. Instantiate a new agepro_model.
   a. For agepro_model, set the parameters yr_start, yr_end, age_begin, age_end, num_pop_sims, num_fleets, num_rec_models. Optionally you can set seed and set discards_present if your model has discards.

require(ageproR)
test <- ageproR::agepro_model$new(2004, 2009, 1, 26, 100, 2, 1)

2. Set the Recruit model

Loading an existing AGEPRO model from AGEPRO input file

1. Instantiate a new agepro_inp_model.
   a. The parameters for agepro_inp_model have default values. You have the option to set these values. However the loading input data file will overwrite these.

require(ageproR)
testINP <- ageproR::agepro_inp_model_$new()

2. Use your instance to call its class function read_inp to read AGEPRO Input Files

testINP$read_inp()

3. ageproR will verify that the Bootstrap File exists. If will also verify relative bootstrap filepath is in the same location with the input file being read. If not found, it will send a warning message.

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Resolution

Helper functions create_agepro_model and import_agepro_model will ease users to create agepro_model classes without requiring the knowledge of R6Class Initialization.

• Created helper function create_agepro_model to create a new instance of a agepro_inp_model or agepro_json_model R6class. Helper Function import_agepro_model returns a new agepro_inp_model R6class instance with data imported from an AGEPRO input file.
• Update documentation (and code examples) to use helper function create_agepro_model and import_agepro_model

[dendroica]

I'm wondering if the current error I'm experiencing falls under this; namely I'm creating a new agepro_inp_model and then using read_inp to read in an old AGEPRO input file. However, what I want to be able to do is use this file as a template, and then modify values of interest. currently, this line: test$general$yr_start <- 2025
...fails with the following error: "Error: active binding is read only"

It appears to be because of its R6Class nature, but I can't find the method to update yr_start and yr_end after reading in an input file