1\name{getHdata} 2\alias{getHdata} 3\title{ 4 Download and Install Datasets for \pkg{Hmisc}, \pkg{rms}, and Statistical 5 Modeling 6} 7\description{ 8 This function downloads and makes ready to use datasets from the main 9 web site for the \pkg{Hmisc} and \pkg{rms} libraries. For \R, the 10 datasets were stored in compressed \code{\link{save}} format and 11 \code{getHdata} makes them available by running \code{\link{load}} 12 after download. For S-Plus, the datasets were stored in 13 \code{data.dump} format and are made available by running 14 \code{data.restore} after import. The dataset is run through the 15 \code{\link{cleanup.import}} function to reduce multiple inheritance 16 problems for SV4 (S-Plus 5 or later). Calling \code{getHdata} with no 17 \code{file} argument provides a character vector of names of available 18 datasets that are currently on the web site. For \R, \R's default 19 browser can optionally be launched to view \verb{html} files that were 20 already prepared using the \pkg{Hmisc} command 21 \code{html(contents())} or to view \file{.txt} or \file{.html} data 22 description files when available. 23} 24\usage{ 25getHdata(file, what = c("data", "contents", "description", "all"), 26 where="http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/twiki/pub/Main/DataSets") 27} 28\arguments{ 29 \item{file}{ 30 an unquoted name of a dataset on the web site, e.g. \samp{prostate}. 31 Omit \code{file} to obtain a list of available datasets. 32 } 33 \item{what}{ 34 specify \code{what="contents"} to browse the contents (metadata) for 35 the dataset rather than fetching the data themselves. Specify 36 \code{what="description"} to browse a data description file if 37 available. Specify \code{what="all"} to retrieve the data and see 38 the metadataand description. 39 } 40 \item{where}{ 41 \acronym{URL} containing the data and metadata files 42 } 43} 44\details{ 45 For S-Plus, Hmisc defines a function \code{download.file} that is used 46 by \code{getHdata}. This is a stripped-down version of the \R 47 \code{\link{download.file}} function that uses the system 48 \command{wget} executable for fetching files from the Internet. For 49 Unix and Linux systems, \command{wget} will be pre-installed usually. 50 For windows S-Plus systems, get \command{wget} from 51 \url{ftp://sunsite.dk/projects/wget/windows}. Once you unzip the file 52 from there, move \command{wget.exe} to the same Windows directory that 53 contains \command{ftp.exe}. 54} 55\value{ 56 \code{getHdata()} without a \code{file} argument returns a character 57 vector of dataset base names. When a dataset is downloaded, the data 58 frame is placed in search position one and is not returned as value of 59 \code{getHdata}. 60} 61\author{Frank Harrell} 62\seealso{ 63 \code{\link{download.file}}, \code{\link{cleanup.import}}, 64 \code{\link[foreign:read.S]{data.restore}}, \code{\link{load}} 65} 66\examples{ 67\dontrun{ 68getHdata() # download list of available datasets 69getHdata(prostate) # downloads, load( ) or data.restore( ) 70 # runs cleanup.import for S-Plus 6 71getHdata(valung, "contents") # open browser (options(browser="whatever")) 72 # after downloading valung.html 73 # (result of html(contents())) 74getHdata(support, "all") # download and open one browser window 75datadensity(support) 76attach(support) # make individual variables available 77getHdata(plasma, "all") # download and open two browser windows 78 # (description file is available for plasma) 79} 80} 81\keyword{interface} 82\keyword{data} 83