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More helpful error when trying to write out data frames with list columns #938

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jimjam-slam opened this issue Dec 6, 2018 · 2 comments · Fixed by #1009
Closed

More helpful error when trying to write out data frames with list columns #938

jimjam-slam opened this issue Dec 6, 2018 · 2 comments · Fixed by #1009
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feature a feature request or enhancement tidy-dev-day 🤓 Tidyverse Developer Day rstd.io/tidy-dev-day

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@jimjam-slam
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library(tidyverse)
#> Warning: package 'ggplot2' was built under R version 3.5.1
#> Warning: package 'dplyr' was built under R version 3.5.1
diamonds %>% nest(-cut) %>% write_csv('test.csv')
#> Error in stream_delim_(df, path, ...): Don't know how to handle vector of type list.

Created on 2018-12-06 by the reprex package (v0.2.0).

It would be more useful (especially in non-interactive use) if the write_ functions reported which column it was unable to handle. My feeling is this error either happens because:

  • Someone forgot to drop an intermediate list column (eg. nested source data or a list of models) before exporting;
  • They accidentally used regular map() instead of a type-coercive variety like map_dbl to extract a parameter; or
  • They don't understand that flat files can't store more complex list columns.

I understand that there's some discussion in #303 about potentially handling simple list columns, but given the variety of objects that end up in list columns accidentally, I imagine this problem will still exist even if that issue gets resolved. Actually implementing a PR for this might be a little out of my depth, but I'm willing to give it a go over Xmas.

@jimhester jimhester added the feature a feature request or enhancement label Dec 20, 2018
@lambdamoses
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I'm working on this

@lock
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lock bot commented Jan 4, 2020

This old issue has been automatically locked. If you believe you have found a related problem, please file a new issue (with reprex) and link to this issue. https://reprex.tidyverse.org/

@lock lock bot locked and limited conversation to collaborators Jan 4, 2020
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3 participants