Start developments

As a developer who is not coordinating the development of the package your work really starts here. You clone the package repository using the SSH link to your local computer, from GitHub, organise your development folder/directory, write your functions, check/test them and 'push' them into your GitHub branch. The package we develop in this tutorial will contains four functions: Two functions that return some summary statistics to the analyst (aggregate functions) and two other functions that store their output on the server site (assign functions) and return nothing to the analyst. The concept of aggregate and server site functions is central to the DataSHIELD approach, you can read a brief explanation of it here.

Make you are on your branch!

From here on and always when you open your Rstudio for some development the first task is to ensure you are on your branch. This is of paramount importance to ensure organised distributed development and avoid potential havoc. Follow the instructions below to ensure you are on your branch.

After launching your Rstudio load your project as explained at the top of this page. Look at the top right of the Rstudio windows (see image below) and if you see anything else than your branch name (for example master or else) then click on the tab Git and then on Shell... and finally click on More this will open up a terminal. In the terminal type in the below command (illustrated in the terminal image at the bottom of this page) and press enter. Now if you go back you will see your branch name displayed - if the coordinator did really create a branch for you!

git checkout branchName