Error in sfn_metrics: pattern must be a string, not NULL

[arthur-e]

Hello,

I'm getting an unexpected error, originating in stringr, associated with use of sfn_metrics() or daylight_metrics() when the tidy = TRUE argument is used.

library(dplyr, warn.conflicts = F)
library(sapfluxnetr)

SAPFLUXNET.ROOT <- '...'
SAPFLUXNET.DIR <- paste0(SAPFLUXNET.ROOT, '/Rdata/plant')

# Build the metadata tables
sfn.metadata <- read_sfn_metadata(
  folder = SAPFLUXNET.DIR, .write_cache = file.exists(paste0(SAPFLUXNET.DIR, '/.metadata_cache.RData')))

# Filter out sites that have been managed or treated with drought/irrigation
#   treatments or CO2 enrichment
sites.of.interest <- sfn_sites_in_folder(SAPFLUXNET.DIR) %>%
  filter_sites_by_md(
    si_igbp != 'WET', # Can't use these sites
    !(st_treatment %in% c('Irrigated', 'Post Irrigation', 'drought', 'Girdling early successional',
        'ELEVATED CO2 treatments maintained at 550 ppm', 'Elevated atmospheric CO2')),
    !grepl('a very high degree of heterogeneity', st_remarks),
    !grepl('Irrigation of the experimental grove', st_remarks),
    metadata = sfn.metadata)

This works just fine:

sites.data <- read_sfn_data(sites.of.interest[1], folder = SAPFLUXNET.DIR) %>%
  daylight_metrics(period = '1 day', probs = c(0.02, 0.5, 0.98))

[1] "Crunching data for ARG_MAZ. In large datasets this could take a while"
[1] "daylight data for ARG_MAZ"

But when I add tidy = TRUE, I get an error:

# ERROR
sites.data <- read_sfn_data(sites.of.interest[1], folder = SAPFLUXNET.DIR) %>%
  daylight_metrics(period = '1 day', probs = c(0.02, 0.5, 0.98), tidy = TRUE)

[1] "Crunching data for ARG_MAZ. In large datasets this could take a while"
[1] "daylight data for ARG_MAZ"
Error in `stringr::str_detect()`:
! `pattern` must be a string, not NULL.
Run `rlang::last_trace()` to see where the error occurred.
> traceback()
11: stop(fallback)
10: signal_abort(cnd, .file)
9: rlang::abort(message, ..., call = call, use_cli_format = TRUE, 
       .frame = .frame)
8: cli::cli_abort("`pattern` must be a string, not {.obj_type_friendly {x}}.", 
       call = error_call)
7: type.default(pattern)
6: type(pattern)
5: stringr::str_detect(names(sapf_data[["sapf"]])[2], raw_codes)
4: metrics_tidyfier(., metadata, interval = "daylight")
3: sfn_metrics(sfn_data, period = period, .funs = .funs, solar = solar, 
       interval = "daylight", int_start = int_start, int_end = int_end, 
       ...) %>% {
       if (tidy) {
           metrics_tidyfier(., metadata, interval = "daylight")
       }
       else {
           .
       }
   }
2: daylight_metrics(., period = "1 day", probs = c(0.02, 0.5, 0.98), 
       tidy = TRUE)
1: read_sfn_data(sites.of.interest[1], folder = SAPFLUXNET.DIR) %>% 
       daylight_metrics(period = "1 day", probs = c(0.02, 0.5, 0.98), 
           tidy = TRUE)

My sessionInfo():

> sessionInfo()
R version 4.4.0 (2024-04-24)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Running under: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS

Matrix products: default
BLAS:   /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/openblas-pthread/libblas.so.3 
LAPACK: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/openblas-pthread/libopenblasp-r0.3.20.so;  LAPACK version 3.10.0

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C               LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8       
 [4] LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8     LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8   
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                  LC_ADDRESS=C              
[10] LC_TELEPHONE=C             LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       

time zone: America/Denver
tzcode source: system (glibc)

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] sapfluxnetr_0.1.4 dplyr_1.1.4      

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] vctrs_0.6.5       knitr_1.46        cli_3.6.2         xfun_0.43        
 [5] rlang_1.1.3       stringi_1.8.3     pkgload_1.3.4     purrr_1.0.2      
 [9] generics_0.1.3    assertthat_0.2.1  glue_1.7.0        colorspace_2.1-0 
[13] htmltools_0.5.8.1 scales_1.3.0      fansi_1.0.6       rmarkdown_2.26   
[17] grid_4.4.0        munsell_0.5.1     evaluate_0.23     tibble_3.2.1     
[21] fastmap_1.1.1     yaml_2.3.8        lifecycle_1.0.4   stringr_1.5.1    
[25] compiler_4.4.0    timechange_0.3.0  pkgconfig_2.0.3   rstudioapi_0.16.0
[29] digest_0.6.35     R6_2.5.1          tidyselect_1.2.1  utf8_1.2.4       
[33] pillar_1.9.0      magrittr_2.0.3    withr_3.0.0       tools_4.4.0      
[37] gtable_0.3.5      lubridate_1.9.3   ggplot2_3.5.1    

[arthur-e]

I see that this arises when tidy = TRUE but the metadata argument is not provided. I think that a more helpful error message could be raised, instead of letting stringr catch the fault.

[MalditoBarbudo]

@arthur-e Thanks for the report.
You are right, this error should be catched with a more informative message.