[Rd] help with eval()

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 11-04-18 5:51 PM, Terry Therneau wrote:
> I've narrowed my scope problems with predict.coxph further.
> Here is a condensed example:
>
> fcall3<- as.formula("time ~ age")
> dfun3<- function(dcall) {
>      fit<- lm(dcall, data=lung, model=FALSE)
>      model.frame(fit)
> }
> dfun3(fcall3)
>
> The final call fails: it can't find 'dcall'.
>
> The relevant code in model.frame.lm is:
>         env<- environment(formula$terms)
>         if (is.null(env))
>              env<- parent.frame()
> 	eval(fcall, env, parent.frame())
>
> If the environment of the formula is .Globalenv, as it is here, the
> contents of parent.frame() are ignored.  Adding a
>             print(ls(parent.frame()))
> statement just above the  final call shows that it isn't a scope issue:
> the variables we want are there.
>
>    I don't understand the logic behind looking for variables in the place
> the formula was first typed (this is not a complaint).  The inability to
> look elsewhere however has stymied my efforts to fix the scoping problem
> in predict.coxph, unless I drop the env(formula) argument alltogether.
> But I assume there must be good reasons for it's inclusion and am
> reluctant to do so.


The reason is that when a formula is created, the variables in it are 
assumed to have meaning in that context.  Where you work with the 
formula after that should not be relevant:  that's why formulas carry 
environments with them.  When you create the formula before the 
variables, things go wrong.

There's probably a way to associate the lung dataframe with the formula, 
or create the formula in such a way that things work, but I can't spot it.

Duncan Murdoch

> Terry Therneau
>
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.13.0 RC (2011-04-12 r55424)
> Platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (64-bit)
>
> locale:
>   [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C
>   [3] LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=C
>   [5] LC_MONETARY=C              LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
>   [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C
>   [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C
> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods
> base
>
> PS. This also fails
> dfun3<- function(dcall) {
>      fit<- lm(dcall, data=lung)
>      model.frame(fit, subset=1:10)
> }
> You just need to force model.frame.lm to recreate data.
>
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