Add c, seq, mean methods so ITime retains class

NAMESPACE

@@ -149,16 +149,17 @@ S3method(as.POSIXct, IDate)
 S3method(as.POSIXct, ITime)
 S3method(as.POSIXlt, ITime)
 S3method(c, IDate)
-S3method(cut, IDate)
+S3method(c, ITime)
 S3method(format, ITime)
 S3method(IDateTime, default)
 S3method(mean, IDate)
+S3method(mean, ITime)
 S3method(print, ITime)
 S3method(rep, IDate)
 S3method(rep, ITime)
 S3method(round, IDate)
 S3method(seq, IDate)
-S3method(split, IDate)
+S3method(seq, ITime)
 S3method(unique, IDate)
 S3method(unique, ITime)
 S3method('[<-', IDate)

NEWS.md

@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@
 
 19. `merge.data,table` now retains any custom classes of the first argument, [#1378](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/1378). Thanks to @michaelquinn32 for reopening.
 
+20. `c`, `seq` and `mean` of `ITime` objects now retain the `ITime` class via new `ITime` methods, [#3628](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/3628). Thanks @UweBlock for reporting. The `cut` and `split` methods for `ITime` have been removed since the default methods work, [#3630](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/pull/3630).
+
 #### NOTES
 
 1. `rbindlist`'s `use.names="check"` now emits its message for automatic column names (`"V[0-9]+"`) too, [#3484](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/pull/3484). See news item 5 of v1.12.2 below.

R/IDateTime.R

@@ -49,11 +49,9 @@ as.Date.IDate = function(x, ...) {
 }
 
 mean.IDate =
-cut.IDate =
 seq.IDate =
 c.IDate =
 rep.IDate =
-split.IDate =
 unique.IDate =
   function(x, ...) {
     as.IDate(NextMethod())
@@ -258,6 +256,10 @@ unique.ITime = function(x, ...) {
   ans
 }
 
+# various methods to ensure ITime class is retained, #3628
+mean.ITime = seq.ITime = c.ITime = function(x, ...) as.ITime(NextMethod())
+
+
 # create a data.table with IDate and ITime columns
 #   should work for most date/time formats like POSIXct
 

inst/tests/tests.Rraw

@@ -14977,6 +14977,10 @@ DT = data.table(
 test(2054, DT[order(C)[1:5], B, verbose=TRUE], c('b', 'b', 'c', 'c', 'a'),
            output = 'order optimisation is on')
 
+# ITime class should be retained for same methods as IDate, #3628
+test(2055.1, seq(from = as.ITime('00:00:00'), to = as.ITime('00:00:05'), by = 5L), as.ITime(c(0, 5L)))
+test(2055.2, c(as.ITime(0L), as.ITime(1L)), as.ITime(c(0L, 1L)))
+test(2055.3, mean(as.ITime(c(0L, 0L))), as.ITime(0L))
 
 ###################################
 #  Add new tests above this line  #

man/IDateTime.Rd

@@ -17,16 +17,17 @@
 \alias{as.POSIXct.ITime}
 \alias{as.POSIXlt.ITime}
 \alias{c.IDate}
-\alias{cut.IDate}
+\alias{c.ITime}
 \alias{format.ITime}
 \alias{IDateTime.default}
 \alias{mean.IDate}
+\alias{mean.ITime}
 \alias{print.ITime}
 \alias{rep.IDate}
 \alias{rep.ITime}
 \alias{round.IDate}
 \alias{seq.IDate}
-\alias{split.IDate}
+\alias{seq.ITime}
 \alias{second}
 \alias{minute}
 \alias{hour}