library(nlmixr2targets)

The rxode2 event bus

rxode2 has a small publish/subscribe event bus (see ?rxode2::rxEventListen). Packages in the nlmixr2 ecosystem emit an event when a user-facing operation finishes (a fit, a simulation, a result), and any package can register a listener to be told about it. The main listener is nlmixr2log, which records each fit as a run, but you can write your own.

Events are delivered only from the outermost operation: while any operation is running (an rxode2 “scope” is open), nested work emits nothing. The scope depth is mirrored in the RXODE2_EVENT_DEPTH environment variable, so worker processes started inside an operation stay silent too.

nlmixr2targets emits events only when rxode2 has the bus; with an older rxode2, and when nobody listens, nothing changes.

What a `tar_nlmixr()` pipeline emits

tar_nlmixr(name = <name>, ...) generates four targets (see vignette("caching")). Two of them produce events:

Target	Event	Emitted by
`<name>_fit_simple`	`fitComplete`	nlmixr2est, from the `nlmixr2()` call that estimates the simplified model
`<name>`	`fitUpdate`, then `assign`	nlmixr2targets, after restoring the labels and the original data

The fitComplete event comes from nlmixr2est itself (when its version has the event hooks); nlmixr2targets only makes sure that a logger is running in the process that estimates the model (see below). The final <name> target then reports the finished fit.

`fitUpdate`

The final target restores parameter labels and the original data onto the estimated fit in place. It reports that change as a new version of the same run:

Field	Value
`fit`	the final fit (labels and original data restored)
`original`	the same fit (`original = fit`), so a logger treats it as the same run
`name`	`NULL`
`what`	`"ui"`
`inPlace`	`TRUE`

`assign`

Right after fitUpdate, the final target reports the name the fit is known by, which is the target name:

Field	Value
`name`	`targets::tar_name()`, i.e. `"<name>"`
`value`	the final fit
`call`	`NULL`
`envir`	`NULL`
`cached`	`FALSE`

One run per model

Taken together, a logger such as nlmixr2log sees, for each tar_nlmixr() model:

fitComplete when <name>_fit_simple estimates the model (a new run),
fitUpdate with inPlace = TRUE and original = fit (a new version of that same run, not a new run), and
assign with the target name (the run is named <name>).

So each tar_nlmixr() model is stored as one run, named after its target, rather than as one run for the simplified fit and another for the final fit. For tar_nlmixr_multimodel(), each model’s final target is named <name>_<hash>, and that is the name the assign event carries.

What is not emitted

Nothing from the other targets. <name>_object_simple and <name>_data_simple do no fitting and emit nothing.
No assign outside a pipeline. assign is emitted only while a target is running (targets::tar_active()). Calling nlmixr_object_complicate() by hand emits only fitUpdate.
Nothing for failed fits. With error = "continue", a failed estimation stores an nlmixr2targetsError object instead of a fit, and the final target emits nothing for it.
No fitComplete for a cached fit. When only cosmetic parts of the model change (such as parameter labels), <name>_fit_simple is not rerun (see vignette("caching")), so only the final target’s fitUpdate and assign are emitted. When nothing changes, tar_make() runs no target and emits nothing.
Nothing nested. Work done inside the fit (solves, inner fits) is silenced by the bus depth rule.

Logging on target workers

The commands that tar_nlmixr() generates load only nlmixr2targets and nlmixr2est, so a fresh worker (for example with tar_make() running targets in a callr process, or with crew workers) would never load a logger, and its fits would go unrecorded.

To handle this, the estimating target and the final target load nlmixr2log when the project has an nlmixr2log configuration, that is when either

the NLMIXR2LOG_CONFIG environment variable is set, or
a _nlmixr2log.rds file exists in the project directory (the working directory of the target).

Save that configuration once with nlmixr2log::nlmixr2logSaveConfig(); loading nlmixr2log on a worker then starts the configured loggers before the fit, so it is logged on any worker. Without a configuration, or when nlmixr2log is not installed, nothing is loaded and nothing happens. nlmixr2log is not a dependency of nlmixr2targets.

# once, in the project directory
library(nlmixr2log)
# ... configure the loggers you want, then:
nlmixr2logSaveConfig()   # writes _nlmixr2log.rds

# afterwards, every tar_make() logs each tar_nlmixr() model as one run
targets::tar_make()

Listening yourself

A listener is a function function(event, ...) that receives the event name and the payload fields as named arguments. This listener records what it is told:

recorded <- list()
rxode2::rxEventListen("demo", function(event, ...) {
  p <- list(...)
  recorded[[length(recorded) + 1L]] <<- list(
    event = event,
    name = p$name,
    what = p$what,
    inPlace = p$inPlace
  )
})

Run a small pipeline in a temporary directory. callr_function = NULL runs the targets in this R session, so the listener above hears them (a separate worker process would need its own listener, which is what the nlmixr2log configuration above provides).

targets::tar_dir({
  targets::tar_script({
    library(nlmixr2targets)
    pheno <- function() {
      ini({
        lcl <- log(0.008); label("Typical value of clearance")
        lvc <- log(0.6); label("Typical value of volume of distribution")
        etalcl ~ 1
        cpaddSd <- 0.1
      })
      model({
        cl <- exp(lcl + etalcl)
        vc <- exp(lvc)
        kel <- cl / vc
        d / dt(central) <- -kel * central
        cp <- central / vc
        cp ~ add(cpaddSd)
      })
    }
    list(
      tar_nlmixr(
        name = pheno_model,
        object = pheno,
        data = nlmixr2data::pheno_sd,
        est = "posthoc"
      )
    )
  }, ask = FALSE)
  targets::tar_make(callr_function = NULL, reporter = "silent")
})

str(recorded)
#> List of 3
#>  $ :List of 4
#>   ..$ event  : chr "fitComplete"
#>   ..$ name   : NULL
#>   ..$ what   : NULL
#>   ..$ inPlace: NULL
#>  $ :List of 4
#>   ..$ event  : chr "fitUpdate"
#>   ..$ name   : NULL
#>   ..$ what   : chr "ui"
#>   ..$ inPlace: logi TRUE
#>  $ :List of 4
#>   ..$ event  : chr "assign"
#>   ..$ name   : chr "pheno_model"
#>   ..$ what   : NULL
#>   ..$ inPlace: NULL

With an nlmixr2est that has the event hooks, the list starts with a fitComplete event from the pheno_model_fit_simple target; it always ends with the fitUpdate (what = "ui", inPlace = TRUE) and assign (name = "pheno_model") events from the final target.

Remove the listener when you are done:

rxode2::rxEventUnlisten("demo")

For full logging (run storage, versions, names, and the files a run produces), use nlmixr2log instead of writing your own listener.

Events for loggers