Enable e.g. x[...] = y[...]

[kevinushey]

Re: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31992883/in-rcpp-why-cant-i-assign-a-subsetted-vector-to-another-subsetted-vector

It's possible that this could be implemented with an appropriate operator= taking a SubsetProxy object: https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/blob/master/inst/include/Rcpp/vector/Subsetter.h

[fplazaonate]

Adding this operator solves the issue

    SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy& other) {
        if (other.indices_n == 1) {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other.lhs[other.indices[0]];
            }
        }
        else if (indices_n == other.indices_n) {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i)
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other.lhs[other.indices[i]];
            }
        else {
            stop("index error");
        }
        return *this;
    }

[fplazaonate]

By the way, I think that

    template <int OtherRTYPE, template <class> class OtherStoragePolicy>
    SubsetProxy& operator=(const Vector<OtherRTYPE, OtherStoragePolicy>& other) {
        int n = other.size();
        if (indices_n != n) stop("index error");
        if (n == 1) {
            for (int i=0; i < n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other[0];
            }
        } else if (n == indices_n) {
            for (int i=0; i < n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other[i];
            }
        } else {
            stop("index error");
        }
        return *this;
    }

is incorrect and should be replaced by

 template <int OtherRTYPE, template <class> class OtherStoragePolicy>
    SubsetProxy& operator=(const Vector<OtherRTYPE, OtherStoragePolicy>& other) {
        int n = other.size();

        if (n == 1) {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other[0];
            }
        } else if (n == indices_n) {
            for (int i=0; i < n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other[i];
            }
        } else {
            stop("index error");
        }
        return *this;
    }

[fplazaonate]

And the error message from "index error" to "number of items to replace is not a multiple of replacement length"

[fplazaonate]

However, this code doesn't produce the expected result

#include <Rcpp.h>
using namespace Rcpp;


// [[Rcpp::export]]
NumericVector valuesOverThree(NumericVector b){

  NumericVector a(b.size());

  NumericVector temp = b[b > 3];
  a[b <= 3] = temp;
  return a;
}

// [[Rcpp::export]]
NumericVector valuesOverThree2(NumericVector b){
  NumericVector a(b.size());

  a[b <= 3] = b[b > 3];
  return a;
}


/*** R
valuesOverThree(1:6)
valuesOverThree2(1:6)
*/

> valuesOverThree(1:6)
[1] 4 5 6 0 0 0

> valuesOverThree2(1:6)
[1] 1 1 1 0 0 0

After investigation, I discovered that "SubsetProxy& operator=(bool other)" is called instead of "SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy& other) "
I guess this is because the other "SubSetProxy" object as a different type.

[kevinushey]

You might need to add template parameters for the other SubsetProxy object used in the operator= method.

I think you might be right about the operator= method (the intention was to enable recycling when assigning an item of length one).

[fplazaonate]

Adding template parameters makes all the attributes of the other object private.

[thirdwing]

This is because the implicit converter, operator SEXP() const, will be called.

https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/blob/master/inst/include/Rcpp/vector/Subsetter.h#L104

[thirdwing]

I think in your test case b[b > 3] and a[b <= 3] are not the exactly same type, so SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy& other) will not be called.

https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/blob/master/inst/include/Rcpp/sugar/operators/logical_operators__Vector__primitive.h#L159-L163

https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/blob/master/inst/include/Rcpp/sugar/operators/logical_operators__Vector__primitive.h#L114-L118

[fplazaonate]

Good point.

After enabling debugging:
b<=3 is a "Rcpp::sugar::Comparator_With_One_Value<14, Rcpp::sugar::less_or_equal<14>, true, Rcpp::Vector<14, Rcpp::PreserveStorage> >"
b>3 is a "Rcpp::sugar::Comparator_With_One_Value<14, Rcpp::sugar::greater<14>, true, Rcpp::Vector<14, Rcpp::PreserveStorage> >"

[kevinushey]

Some pseudo-code:

    SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy& other)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < indices_n; ++i)
            lhs[indices[i]] = other.lhs[other.indices[i]];

        return *this;
    }

    template <typename T>
    typename Rcpp::traits::enable_if<
        Rcpp::traits::has_subset_proxy_type<T>::value, SubsetProxy&
    >::type 
    operator=(const T& other)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < indices_n; ++i)
            assign(lhs, other, i);
        return *this;
    }

This seems like a step in the right direction, but does require the appropriate has_subset_proxy_type trait as well as an assign definition (which will be tricky)

[fplazaonate]

I don't understand how the assign method will have an access to the other object attributes since it does not have the same type as 'this'.

[fplazaonate]

Here is a dirty solution which creates a temporary vector from 'other' before assigning its values to 'this'.

    template <int RTYPE_OTHER, template <class> class StoragePolicyOther,int RHS_RTYPE_OTHER, bool RHS_NA_OTHER, typename RHS_T_OTHER>
    SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy<RTYPE_OTHER, StoragePolicyOther, RHS_RTYPE_OTHER, RHS_NA_OTHER, RHS_T_OTHER>& other) {
        Vector<RTYPE_OTHER, StoragePolicyOther> other_vec = other;
        if (other_vec.length() == 1) {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other_vec[0];
            }
        }
        else if (indices_n == other_vec.length()) 
        {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i)
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = other_vec[i];
        }
        else {
            stop("index error");
        }
        return *this;
    }

[kevinushey]

Is there any reason why this wouldn't work?

template <int RTYPE_OTHER, template <class> class StoragePolicyOther,int RHS_RTYPE_OTHER, bool RHS_NA_OTHER, typename RHS_T_OTHER>
    SubsetProxy& operator=(const SubsetProxy<RTYPE_OTHER, StoragePolicyOther, RHS_RTYPE_OTHER, RHS_NA_OTHER, RHS_T_OTHER>& other) {
        if (other.length() == 1) {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i) {
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = get(other, 0);
            }
        }
        else if (indices_n == other.length()) 
        {
            for (int i=0; i < indices_n; ++i)
                lhs[ indices[i] ] = get(other, i);
        }
        else {
            stop("index error");
        }
        return *this;
    }

It seems like this would be fine, given appropriate definitions of .length() and get(). (Figuring out the signature of get will be tough without return type deduction though. The ultimate goal is to have the underlying operator= decide whether the assignment really does conform, though)