--- title: "Using Staninside" output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{Using Staninside} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8} --- ```{r, include = FALSE} knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>" ) ``` ```{r setup} library(staninside) ``` # Motivation 'Stan' is a powerful language and using R (and specifically 'rstan') as glue to allow R users to easily interface existing models. Sometimes a user might wish to use a different backend ('CmdStanR') or examine and modify the written 'Stan' code directly. This package seeks to allow users the ability to: * Build R packages that are not pre-compiled by 'rstan' * Allow users to use 'CmdStanR' in their R packages * Allow users to easily see the 'Stan' code within packages ## Building a Stan Package ### Package Infrastructure If a package developer were to build a package with 'staninside', they first could create the package directory in the usual ways. Next, to build the appropriate structure the author could call ```r temp_dir <- tempdir() setup_stan_package(loc = temp_dir) ``` This function will create the following directory tree: ``` . ├── inst │ ├── stan │ │ ├── base.stan │ │ ├── data │ │ ├── functions │ │ ├── parameters ``` This provides the user with a structure to use when building their 'Stan' programs. For complicated programs, it is sometimes useful to break up the 'Stan' code blocks into separate files stored in sub-directories. These separate `.stan` files can then be accessed within the 'Stan' code with the following syntax: ```stan # include functions/my_functions.stan ``` ### Model Fitting Generally speaking, there will be some function in an R package that will fit the data to a model. In order to facilitate this fitting with a 'CmdStanR' backend, a process like that below could be used. Note that this model assumes that 'cmdstanr' is installed, though this could be replaced with other ways of calling 'Stan' (e.g., 'rstan'). ```r fit_my_data <- function(my_data){ requireNamespace("mypackage") local_location <- rappdirs::user_cache_dir(appname = "my_package") if (length(list.files(local_location, pattern = ".stan")) > 1) { cli::cli_alert_info("Using cached Stan models") cli::cli_alert_info( "Use `staninside::clear_stan_cache('mypackage')` if you need to refresh") } else { cli::cli_alert_info("Copying Stan models to cache") staninside::copy_models(pkgname = "mypackage", local_location = local_location) cli::cli_alert_success("Models copied!") } model_file_path <- file.path(local_location, paste0("base", ".stan")) mod <- cmdstanr::cmdstan_model(model_file_path) fit <- mod$sample(data = my_data) return(fit) } ``` You now can call `fit_my_data` to fit your model. The underlying 'Stan' code is stored in the user cache directory and will be compiled on the first model fitting operation.