better error message for matrix-valued responses

lme4 · Oct 8, 2023 · 53b54e6 · 53b54e6
1 parent 1544665
commit 53b54e6
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Showing 4 changed files with 26 additions and 7 deletions.
diff --git a/R/modular.R b/R/modular.R
@@ -378,6 +378,9 @@ lFormula <- function(formula, data=NULL, REML = TRUE,
     }
     mf$formula <- fr.form
     fr <- eval(mf, parent.frame())
+    if (is.matrix(y <- model.response(fr)) && ncol(y) > 1) {
+        stop("can't handle matrix-valued responses: consider using refit()")
+    }
     if (nrow(fr) == 0L) stop("0 (non-NA) cases")
     ## convert character vectors to factor (defensive)
     fr <- factorize(fr.form, fr, char.only=TRUE)

diff --git a/inst/NEWS.Rd b/inst/NEWS.Rd
@@ -4,15 +4,24 @@
 \title{lme4 News}
 \encoding{UTF-8}
 
-\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 1.1-35 (2023-07-04}{
+\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 1.1-35}{
   \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
-    \item \code{predict.merMod} now has a \code{se.fit} method, which
-    computes the standard errors of the predictions, conditional on the
-    estimated \code{theta} (variance-covariance) parameters
-  }
+    \itemize{
+      \item \code{predict.merMod} now has a \code{se.fit} method, which
+      computes the standard errors of the predictions, conditional on the
+      estimated \code{theta} (variance-covariance) parameters
+    }
+  } % new features
+  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
+    \itemize{
+      \item using \code{lmer} with a matrix-valued response now throws
+      a more informative error message, directing the user to
+      \code{?refit}
+    }
+  } % user-visible changes
 } % 1.1-35
 
-\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 1.1-34 (2023-07-04}{
+\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 1.1-34 (2023-07-04)}{
   \subsection{BUG FIXES}{
     \itemize{
       \item \code{summary(<merMod>)} now records if \code{correlation} was

diff --git a/man/refit.Rd b/man/refit.Rd
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ fit1 <- lmer(y ~ x+(1|f), data = d,
              control= lmerControl(check.conv.grad="ignore",
                                   check.conv.hess="ignore"))
 ## combine fit to first response with fits to remaining responses
-res <- c(fit1,lapply(as.data.frame(Y[,-1]), refit, object=fit1))
+res <- c(fit1, lapply(as.data.frame(Y[,-1]), refit, object=fit1))
 
 ## Ex. 2: refitting simulated data using data that contain NA values ------
 sleepstudyNA <- sleepstudy

diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-lmer.R b/tests/testthat/test-lmer.R
@@ -361,3 +361,10 @@ test_that("test for zero non-NA cases", {
     expect_error(lmer(Reaction ~ Days + (1| Subject), data_bad),
                  "0 \\(non-NA\\) cases")
 })
+
+##
+test_that("catch matrix-valued responses", {
+    dd <- data.frame(x = rnorm(1000), batch = factor(rep(1:20, each=50)))
+    dd$y <- matrix(rnorm(1e4), ncol = 10)
+    expect_error(lmer(y ~ x + (1|batch), dd), "matrix-valued")
+})