Write BayesACT input files

This function takes information in three dataframes (a nodelist created by blank_nodelist() and add_actor(), an edgelist created by blank_edgelist() and add_interaction(), and an eventslist created by basic_event_df()) and writes properly formatted input files that are needed to run the BayesACT C code.

Usage

write_input_from_df(
  nodelist,
  edgelist,
  eventslist,
  simfilename,
  eventfilename,
  bayesact_dir,
  input_dir = "bayesact_input"
)

Arguments

nodelist

a dataframe giving dictionary information for each actor such as that constructed using blank_nodelist() and add_actor().

edgelist

a dataframe delineating starting parameters (actor identity vector, object identity vector, probabilities) for each dyad. Constructed using blank_edgelist() and add_interaction().

eventslist

a dataframe containing an ordered list of actions to perform. Created using basic_event_df().

simfilename

file name under which to save the sim file. Should have the extension ".txt". This same name should be passed to the simfilename argument of run_bayesact() in order to run the simulation.

eventfilename

file name by which to save the events file. Should have the extension ".events".

bayesact_dir

the path to the top level directory at which the BayesACT C code is located. Generally this is a folder called "bayesact."

input_dir

the directory in which to save the sim and events files. If the directory does not already exist, it is created. This same path should be passed to the input_dir argument of run_bayesact() to run the simulation.

Details

The information in these dataframes is used to write the following files. Generally, users need not open or edit these files and can simply pass the required filepaths and filenames to run_bayesact(), but the information is provided here for debugging purposes. Examples of these files can be found in the BayesACT C code directory under the "examples" subdirectory. - a .txt file providing information on actors and relationships between them (from the nodelist and edgelist). Users set the name of this file using the "simfilename" argument. This same file name must also be passed to run_bayesact() in order to run the simulation. This is saved to input_dir. - a file with the extension ".events" that contains specifications for the events that happen in the simulation (from the eventslist). This is saved to input_dir. - Four to eight files with ".dat" or ".csv" extensions that provide EPA rating information for the identities, behaviors, and modifiers that can occur in simulations. These are written to the "data" folder under the BayesACT C code top directory.

From information in three dataframes (agents, interactions, events), write out a .txt sim file and a .events file in the format required by BayesACT. These contain information on actors, interactions/dyads, and events/actions.

The data format expected for agents and interactions is similar to that used in social network analysis. Information on individual actors (including name, dictionaries, equations, etc) is stored in a node list (one line per actor). Information specific to ties between actors (called interactions here), such as identity distributions, is stored in an edgelist-like format (one line per directed tie).

The function also requires an events file, which is simply a dataframe containing information on the actions to be simulated (one line per action)

Examples

if (FALSE) {
write_input_from_df(some_nodelist, some_edgelist, some_eventslist,
    simfilename = "mysimfile.txt", eventfilename = "myeventfile.events",
    bayesactdir = "path/to/my/C/code/bayesact",
    input_dir = "path/to/directory/to/save/inputfiles")
}