Re: Distribute "data files" with a package

[Sergei Steshenko]

----- Original Message -----
> From: Daniel Kraft <address@hidden>
> To: Octave User <address@hidden>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 2:41 PM
> Subject: Distribute "data files" with a package
> 
> Hi!
> 
> I'm currently working on an Octave package, and want to distribute
> certain "data files" with it.  (In my particular case, it is an image
> file to be used by one of the package's "demo" functions.)
> 
> When I include the file in the package's "inst/" directory, it 
> gets
> installed correctly to the package installation folder.  However, now
> I'm wondering how I can access it from within a demo function.  I tried
> without an explicit directory specification, but that fails (since it
> looks in the current working directory as opposed to the .m file's
> directory).
> 
> This must be something others have already stumbled upon -- how can one
> access such "data files" distributed with a package?  Is there a
> function that can be called from within an .m file and that returns the
> directory that contains the .m file?
> 
> The best I could find so far is "pkg list", and then sifting through 
> the
> list of packages looking for my package's name and then using the
> installation directory.  But that seems to be too complicated for such a
> "seemingly easy" task.  Is there no better way to query for the
> installation directory of a particular package, for instance?  Or even
> of "this package" from within a package's functions?
> 
> Thanks!  Yours,
> Daniel
> 
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Well, Octave packaging needs to redefined and redone from scratch.

Anyway, since functions work, and since in functional paradigm everything, 
including constants, is a function, you can probably solve your problem 
wrapping your data in a function.

I.e. something like this:

my_data = function get_my_data()
  my_data = [1, 2, 3 ...]; # this line should be autogenerated based on real 
data
endfunction
.

Then you can call get_my_data(), created a file in CWD and use the file for 
your demo.

Regards,
  Sergei.