[R] read.csv fails to read a CSV file from google docs

[William Dunlap]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of David Winsemius
> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 10:36 AM
> To: Tal Galili
> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] read.csv fails to read a CSV file from google docs
> 
> 
> On Apr 29, 2011, at 11:19 AM, Tal Galili wrote:
> 
> > Hello all,
> > I wish to use read.csv to read a google doc spreadsheet.
> >
> > I try using the following code:
> >
> > data_url <- "
> > 
> http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&ke
> y=0AgMhDTVek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid
> =0&output=csv
> > "
> > read.csv(data_url)
> >
> > Which results in the following error:
> >
> > Error in file(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection

With S+ I get:
 S+>
download.file("http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=
en&key=0AgMhDTVek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid=0&ou
tput=csv", destfile="e:/temp/splus")
 Problem in
download.file("http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pu..: Could
not get url: un
 supported protocol, libcurl was built with SSL disabled, https: not
supported!
and with cygwin's wget I get
 E:\temp\jnk>wget
"http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AgMhDT
Vek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid=0&outpu
t=csv"
 --2011-04-29 11:00:10--
http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AgMhDTV
ek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid=
0&output=csv
 Resolving spreadsheets0.google.com... 74.125.224.73, 74.125.224.71,
74.125.224.64, ...
 Connecting to spreadsheets0.google.com|74.125.224.73|:80... connected.
 HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
 Location:
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AgMhDT
Vek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid=0&output=csv [
following]
 --2011-04-29 11:00:11--
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AgMhDT
Vek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=true&gid
=0&output=csv
 Connecting to spreadsheets0.google.com|74.125.224.73|:443... connected.
 ERROR: cannot verify spreadsheets0.google.com's certificate, issued by
`/C=US/O=Google Inc/CN=Google Internet Authority':
   Unable to locally verify the issuer's authority.
 To connect to spreadsheets0.google.com insecurely, use
`--no-check-certificate'.
 Unable to establish SSL connection.

so I suspect that the SLL/certifcate business may also be the problem
when
using R to get the document.  The R error message is not very
illuminating.

Bill Dunlap
Spotfire, TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com 

> >
> >
> > I'm on windows 7.  And the code was tried on R 2.12 and 2.13
> >
> > I remember trying this a few months ago and it worked fine.
> 
> I am always amused at such claims. Occasionally they are 
> correct, but  
> more often a crucial step has been omitted. In this case you 
> have at a  
> minimum embedded line-feeds in your URL string and have not  
> established a connection, so it could not possibly have succeeded as  
> presented.
> 
> But now it's time to admit I do not know why it is not 
> succeeding when  
> I correct those flaws.
> 
>  > closeAllConnections()
>  > data_url <- 
> url("http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=
> en&key=0AgMhDTVek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=tru
> e&gid=0&output=csv 
> ")
>  > read.csv(data_url)
> Error in open.connection(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection
> 
>  > closeAllConnections()
>  > dd <- read.csv(con <-  
> url("http://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=
> en&key=0AgMhDTVek_sDdGI2YzY2R1ZESDlmZS1VYUxvblQ0REE&single=tru
> e&gid=0&output=csv 
> "))
> Error in open.connection(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection
> 
> 
> So, I guess I'm not reading the help pages for `url` and 
> `read.csv` as  
> well I thought I was.
> 
> 
> > Any suggestion what might be causing this or how to solve it?
> 
> 
> -- 
> David Winsemius, MD
> West Hartford, CT
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at 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.
>