The R Project SVN R

% File src/library/methods/man/NextMethod.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2007 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{callNextMethod}
\alias{callNextMethod}
\title{Call an Inherited Method}
\description{
  A call to \code{callNextMethod} can only appear inside a method
  definition.  It then results in a call to the first inherited method
  after the current method, with the arguments to the current method
  passed down to the next method.  The value of that method call is the
  value of \code{callNextMethod}.
}
\usage{
callNextMethod(...)
}
\arguments{
  \item{\dots}{
    Optionally, the arguments to the function in its next call
    (but note that the dispatch is as in the detailed description below;
    the arguments have no effect on selecting the next method.)

    If no arguments are included in the call to \code{callNextMethod}, the
    effect is to call the method with the current arguments.
    See the detailed description for what this really means.

    Calling with no arguments is often the natural way to use
    \code{callNextMethod}; see the examples.
    }
}
\details{
  The \sQuote{next} method (i.e., the first inherited method) is defined
  to be that method which \emph{would} have been called if the current
  method did not exist. This is more-or-less literally what happens: The
  current method (to be precise, the method with signature given by the
  \code{defined} slot of the method from which \code{callNextMethod} is
  called) is deleted from a copy of the methods for the current generic,
  and \code{\link{selectMethod}} is called to find the next method (the
  result is cached in a special object, so the search only typically
  happens once per session per combination of argument classes).

  Note that the preceding definition means that the next method is
  defined uniquely when \code{setMethod} inserts the method containing
  the \code{callNextMethod} call, given the definitions of the classes
  in the signature. The choice does not depend on the path that gets us
  to that method (for example, through inheritance or from another
  \code{callNextMethod} call). This definition was not enforced in
  versions of \R prior to 2.3.0, where the method was selected based on
  the target signature, and so could vary depending on the actual
  arguments.

  It is also legal, and often useful, for the method called by
  \code{callNextMethod} to itself have a call to
  \code{callNextMethod}. This generally works as you would expect, but
  for completeness be aware that it is possible to have ambiguous
  inheritance in the S structure, in the sense that the same two
  classes can appear as superclasses \emph{in the opposite order} in
  two other class definitions.  In this case the effect of a nested
  instance of \code{callNextMethod} is not well defined.  Such
  inconsistent class hierarchies are both rare and nearly always the
  result of bad design, but they are possible, and currently undetected.

  The statement that the method is called with the current arguments is
  more precisely as follows.  Arguments that were missing in the current
  call are still missing (remember that \code{"missing"} is a valid
  class in a method signature).  For a formal argument, say \code{x}, that
  appears in the original call, there is a corresponding argument in the
  next method call equivalent to \code{x = x}.  In effect, this
  means that the next method sees the same actual arguments, but
  arguments are evaluated only once.
}
\value{
  The value returned by the selected method.
}
\references{
 Chambers, John M. (2008)
 \emph{Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R}
  Springer.  (For the R version.)

 Chambers, John M. (1998)
 \emph{Programming with Data}
 Springer (For the original S4 version.) 
}
\seealso{\code{\link{callGeneric}} to call the generic function with the current
  dispatch rules (typically for a group generic function); \link{Methods} for the general behavior of method dispatch}

\examples{

## some class definitions with simple inheritance
setClass("B0" , representation(b0 = "numeric"))

setClass("B1", representation(b1 = "character"), contains = "B0")

setClass("B2", representation(b2 = "logical"), contains = "B1")

## and a rather silly function to illustrate callNextMethod

f <- function(x) class(x)

setMethod("f", "B0", function(x) c(x@b0^2, callNextMethod()))
setMethod("f", "B1", function(x) c(paste(x@b1,":"), callNextMethod()))
setMethod("f", "B2", function(x) c(x@b2, callNextMethod()))

b1 <- new("B1", b0 = 2, b1 = "Testing")

b2 <- new("B2", b2 = FALSE, b1 = "More testing", b0 = 10)

f(b2)
stopifnot(identical(f(b2), c(b2@b2, paste(b2@b1,":"), b2@b0^2, "B2")))

f(b1)

## a sneakier method: the *changed* x is used:
setMethod("f", "B2", function(x) {x@b0 <- 111; c(x@b2, callNextMethod())})
f(b2)
stopifnot(identical(f(b2), c(b2@b2, paste(b2@b1,":"), 111^2, "B2")))

\dontshow{
## a version of the example with 1 more layer of nesting

## next methods calling next methods, with arguments; using group generics
setMethod("Ops", "B2",
    function(e1, e2) callNextMethod())
setMethod("Ops", c("B0"),
    function(e1, e2) callNextMethod(e1@b0, e2))

b2 + 1 # 11

b1 == 2 # TRUE

removeClass("B2"); removeClass("B1"); removeClass("B0")

removeGeneric("f")

removeMethods("Ops")

## tests of multiple callNextMethod
setClass("m1", representation(count = "numeric"), contains = "matrix",
         prototype = prototype(count = 0))
mm1 <- new("m1", matrix(1:12, 3,4))
setMethod("[", "m1", function(x, i, j, ..., drop) callNextMethod())

setClass("m2", representation(sum = "numeric"), contains = "m1")

setMethod("Ops", c("m1", "m1"), function(e1, e2) {
    as(e1, "matrix") <- callNextMethod()
    e1@count <- max(e1@count, e2@count)+1
    e1})

mm2 <- new("m2", matrix(1:12, 3, 4), sum = sum(1:12))

stopifnot(identical(mm2[,2], 4:6))

setClass("m3", representation(rowtags = "character"),contains = "m2")

setMethod("[", signature(x="m3", i = "character", j = "missing", drop = "missing"),
          function(x, i,j, ..., drop) {
              xx <- callNextMethod(x, match(i, x@rowtags),)
              x@.Data <- xx
              x@rowtags <- x@rowtags[match(i, x@rowtags)]
              x})

tm = matrix(1:12, 4, 3)

mm3 = new("m3", tm, rowtags = letters[1:4])

mmm = mm3[c("b", "d")]

stopifnot(identical(mmm, new("m3", tm[c(2, 4),], rowtags = c("b", "d"))))

removeClass("m3")
removeClass("m2")
removeClass("m1")

removeMethods("[")

}

}
\keyword{programming}
\keyword{classes}
\keyword{methods}