st: -project- command and "inverse" table of file dependencies

[Roberto Ferrer <refp16@gmail.com>]

I'm very enthusiastic about the user-written package -project- by
Robert Picard and installed using:

 net from http://robertpicard.com/stata

Reproducibility of work and simple organization are my main concerns.
I believe this package aids the process wonderfully.

I've been playing around with the example provided with the package
(ex12 project) and  I ask if it is capable of producing an "inverse"
table of file dependencies. The command:

project ex12, list(concordance)

produces file_created/used --> do-file:

|separate.smcl             7,923   714867776            20jul2013
10:40:48  data-management                      |
| -->  separate.do            610  1479884638   creates  20jul2013
10:40:46  data-management                     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| separate_example1.png    61,465  3032149987            20jul2013
10:40:48  data-management                     |
| -->  separate.do            610  1479884638   creates  20jul2013
10:40:46  data-management                     |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd like to see an "inverted" table that shows do-file --> file_created/used:

|separate.do                 7,923   714867776            20jul2013
10:40:48  data-management                    |
| -->  separate.smcl            610  1479884638   creates  20jul2013
10:40:46  data-management                   |
| -->  separate_example1.png    610  1479884638   creates  20jul2013
10:40:46  data-management                   |
| -->  result_data.dta          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   creates  20jul2013
10:40:46  YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY                 |
| -->  proc _data.dta          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   uses      20jul2013
10:40:46  YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY                 |
| -->  raw_data.dta            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   original  20jul2013
10:40:46  YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY                 |
| -->  some_name.do          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx     uses      20jul2013
10:40:46  YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

In its current state I think the naming convention using stubs:

local dofile "`r(dofile)'"        // do-file's stub name
graph export "`dofile'_example1.png", width(1200) replace

may be of aid, but it forces the user to name every single file with
the do-file stub name, which may prove inconvenient at some point. It
also shows unnecessary duplicate entries in the table and forces
"backward visualization".

Is this possible right now?

To the author: If not, what are the odds of including this feature in
the near future?

A related point is the dependence of do-files on other do-files. I
think it would be nice if -project, do(file_name)- recorded the
dependency between file_name within the command and the do-file that
contains the command (at least as an option). In the inverted table
the last dependency corresponds to such a case. For example, the ex12
example project does not show the dependency of d_examples.do on all
the do-files it runs. One of the things I'd like to see when given
some unknown zipped project is precisely this dependency. Is there any
reason for this not being implemented?

Finally, there's a small typo in the ex12 example project file
ex12/base/r_examples.do. the author might want to correct. Line 4
reads:

Run examples from the Data-Management reference manual

and should read:

Run examples from the Base reference manual.

Thanks.

Roberto
Stata 12.1 (64-bit)
Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE)
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