[help] Functions used in an Rmd that's rendered with tar_render() appear unused in tar_visnetwork() graph

[brndngrhm]

Help

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Description

I'll preface this with the fact that i'm relatively new to using targets. In my workflow one of the functions I use is called get_totals() and is defined in an R script called helpers.R which is sourced in my _targets.R file using the tar_source().

That function, get_totals(), is only used in an Rmd called explore.Rmd which is rendered as part of my pipeline using tar_render(). While I can see the get_totals() function in the interactive plot generated by tar_visnetwork(), it does not connect to anything and thus appears unused despite being used in explore.Rmd.

Is it possible for the plot created by tar_visnetwork() show functions used in documents rendered with tar_render()?

[wlandau]

For a tar_render() report, the only tracked dependencies are the upstream targets marked with tar_load() and/or tar_read(). If you find yourself using custom functions, it's usually better to create a few targets with those functions and then load them into the report, or if they are not used in any other targets, maybe include those functions in the report inline.

I don't have plans to change how tar_render() registers dependencies. One reason is to keep things consistent with tar_quarto(). Since Quarto runs in a separate process outside R, it does not automatically know about the global functions in a pipeline.