Validate a theory object

Built-in validation. The default (full = FALSE) checks required fields and enum membership. With full = TRUE it additionally checks referential integrity: that every id is unique within its collection and that every cross-reference (proposition endpoints, prediction derivations and diagnostics, and assumption, evidence and test-outcome targets) points to a declared id, and that every prediction severity is a number within [0, 1]. The full checks are deterministic.

Usage

tf_validate(theory, full = FALSE)

Arguments

theory

A theory object (named list), e.g. from tf_read().

full

When TRUE, also run the referential-integrity checks.

Value

TRUE (invisibly) on success; otherwise stops with a message listing every problem found.

Examples

theory <- tf_read(system.file("fixtures", "panic-network.theory.yaml",
                              package = "theoryforge"))
isTRUE(tf_validate(theory))              # required fields and enums
#> [1] TRUE
isTRUE(tf_validate(theory, full = TRUE)) # also ids and cross-references
#> [1] TRUE

# The failure path is the more informative one. Point a prediction at a
# proposition that was never declared.
broken <- theory
broken$predictions[[1]]$derives_from <- "p_missing"
tryCatch(tf_validate(broken, full = TRUE), error = conditionMessage)
#> [1] "invalid theory object: prediction[0] derives_from 'p_missing' is not a known proposition"