NEWS

srppp 2025-07-07

Example code and vignettes: To satisfy CRAN policy, fall back to use the register version distributed as test data with the package (see below) in case downloading or reading from the standard URL fails, instead of throwing an error. This makes the check process on CRAN robust against server outage or a changed URL.
Include information on the completeness of the effect against each target organism in the column type of the pests table of the srppp_dm object. Possible types are PEST_FULL_EFFECT, PEST_PARTIAL_EFFECT and PEST_SIDE_EFFECT. In the obligations table, include a column varying_effect, that contains TRUE in case the obligation text indicates that a full effect has not been demonstrated in all cases.
R/resolve_cultures.R: Function to expand a dataframe with culture names at the lowest level (leafs) of a culture tree constructed by srppp_dm.
Add a culture tree as a Node object from the data.tree package as attribute to srppp_dm objects and show it in the main vignette.
Remove the vignette intended for JOSS, as it was rejected there
Remove duplicate ingredient entries for the same substance in the same product (issue #6)
inst/testdata/: Add the zipped XML from 16 December 2024 for testing purposes and test the resulting srppp_dm object for referential integrity
srppp_dm(): Add argument verbose with default TRUE.

Trim leading and trailing whitespace from descriptions that are read in using the internal function get_descriptions(), addressing an issue Elisabeth raised in srppphist
Remove html documentation built with pkgdown from the git repository, the online documentation is built using the github workflow
Address issues found by the package review on CRAN as follows:
Rename the package to make it clear that its purpose is to read in data from the Swiss Register of Plant Protection Products
Wrap example code in \donttest{} to avoid CRAN notes for checks >5s. The code is still tested in the testthat tests.
Document return values of all exported functions

Add function product_rates to obtain application rates in kg product / ha or l product / ha. This function is now internally used by application_rate_g_per_ha.
Add corrections of dosage and rate information for Rhodofix and Fruitone in older XML files.
Remove application rate information for Dirigol-N and Frufix, to avoid erroneous interpretation as product rate.
Suggest srppphist for testing these corner cases. Skip the tests if version 2.0.2 is not available, which is needed for these cases.

Avoid a duplication of uses that was introduced with version 2.0.0 and that surfaced when reading in the 2015 register for srppphist.

Do not download current register from the URL on CRAN, in order to reduce testing time and reduce the probability of errors due to download problems
Avoid length one LHS argument for case_when in R/use-rates.R, as this is deprecated in dplyr 1.2.0

Include the latest XML file published the registration authorities instead of the file from December 2025, because in the current version the information to correctly read the culture tree is included again.
resolve_cultures(): The warning that was issued when the function was used with the new format was removed, as everything seems to be working fine again.

Get the substance type (i.e. ACTIVE_INGREDIENT, ADDITIVE_TO_DECLARE, SAFENER, SYNERGIST) of ingredients also from XML files in the new format. Thanks to Alexandre Gurba (FOEN) for reporting the problem.

Adapt to the new format of the XML file. The changes are explained at https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/de/home/zulassung-pflanzenschutzmittel/zugelassene-pflanzenschutzmittel/pflanzenschutzmittelverzeichnis.html
Due to UUIDs being used for cross-referencing instead of integer identifiers, the corresponding identifier columns in several tables in the srppp_dm objects have changed their type from integer to character.
The culture tree constructed from the new version of the XML has changed, among other changes the cultures allg. Obstbau, allg. Feldbau, allg. Gemüsebau and similar are not defined any more as parent cultures of any of the cultures listed. The functionality of resolve_cultures() and alternative_products() is not yet adapted to this new situation and will give a warning when working with a register read in from the new format.

Risk mitigation measures sw_drift_dist, sw_runoff_dist, sw_runoff_points and biotope_drift_dist are now stored as integers in the obligations table.
In the table cultures, the primary keys of up to two parent cultures are now included.
Fix the use rate calculations for liquid products for the case that only a dosage in percent is given.

R/srppp-xml.R: Revise the structure of the srppp_dm object, after verifying that the product sections of different products with the same P-Number are identical, with the exception of the permission holder. Therefore, all tables describing the products, including the use definitions, are now tied to the pNbrs table with the pNbr as the primary key, instead of the products table which has the wNbr as a primary key. Functions, example code, vignettes and tests were adapted accordingly.

vignettes/srppp.rmd: Add an overview vignette which is displayed with the link 'Get started' in the online documentation

Remove redundant information from the ingredients table by removing all W-Numbers containing a dash. P-Numbers were added to the ingredient table as well, so product compositions can more easily be obtained using the ingredients table. Finally remove W-Numbers from the ingredients table. As a consequence, products and ingredients must now be joined by 'pNbr', and the relationship is 'many-to-many', as a 'pNbr' can occur more than once in the products table.
The grouping of the products table by P-Numbers was removed, as it seemed not to be used anywhere and created spurious messages during constraint checking.