Read datasets and relevant meta information from a spreadsheet file

- - -

This function imports one dataset from each sheet of a spreadsheet file. -These sheets are selected based on the contents of a sheet 'Datasets', with -a column called 'Dataset Number', containing numbers identifying the dataset -sheets to be read in. In the second column there must be a grouping -variable, which will often be named 'Soil'. Optionally, time normalization -factors can be given in columns named 'Temperature' and 'Moisture'.

- -

read_spreadsheet(
-  path,
-  valid_datasets = "all",
-  parent_only = FALSE,
-  normalize = TRUE
-)

- -

Arguments

path: Absolute or relative path to the spreadsheet file
valid_datasets: Optional numeric index of the valid datasets, default is -to use all datasets
parent_only: Should only the parent data be used?
normalize: Should the time scale be normalized using temperature -and moisture normalisation factors in the sheet 'Datasets'?

Details

There must be a sheet 'Compounds', with columns 'Name' and 'Acronym'. -The first row read after the header read in from this sheet is assumed -to contain name and acronym of the parent compound.

The dataset sheets should be named using the dataset numbers read in from -the 'Datasets' sheet, i.e. '1', '2', ... . In each dataset sheet, name -of the observed variable (e.g. the acronym of the parent compound or -one of its transformation products) should be in the first column, -the time values should be in the second colum, and the observed value -in the third column.

In case relevant covariate data are available, they should be given -in a sheet 'Covariates', containing one line for each value of the grouping -variable specified in 'Datasets'. These values should be in the first -column and the column must have the same name as the second column in -'Datasets'. Covariates will be read in from columns four and higher. -Their names should preferably not contain special characters like spaces, -so they can be easily used for specifying covariate models.

An similar data structure is defined as the R6 class mkindsg, but -is probably more complicated to use.

- -