tib_id() to create id columns

[krlmlr]

Generates a column of type pillar::char(min_width = Inf) .

[mgirlich]

Supporting some kind of id columns sounds great to me. But sometimes one also has integer ids. So it might make sense to have something similar for integers. Does pillar also support something like this for integers?

In case you haven't seen it you can also simulate new vectors with lcol_vec():

library(tibblify)

df <- tibblify(
  list(
    list(x = "asdfasdfadsfadsfadsfasdf"),
    list(x = "moinboenoibnoiegbn")
  ),
  lcols(
    lcol_vec(path = "x", ptype = pillar::char("a", min_chars = Inf)),
    x2 = lcol_chr(path = "x")
  )
)

df
#> # A tibble: 2 × 2
#>   x                        x2                      
#>   <char>                   <chr>                   
#> 1 asdfasdfadsfadsfadsfasdf asdfasdfadsfadsfadsfasdf
#> 2 moinboenoibnoiegbn       moinboenoibnoiegbn

dplyr::glimpse(df)
#> Rows: 2
#> Columns: 2
#> $ x  <char> "asdfasdfadsfadsfadsfasdf", "moinboenoibnoiegbn"
#> $ x2 <chr> "asdfasdfadsfadsfadsfasdf", "moinboenoibnoiegbn"

^{Created on 2021-10-18 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)}

[mgirlich]

@krlmlr pillar also supports some kind of focus columns, right? It might make sense to set tib_id() as focus columns. What do you think?

[mgirlich]

I think IDs are usually integer (resp. big int) or character. It would make sense to support both, e.g. tib_id(format = c("character", "integer"))

[krlmlr]

ID columns are often key columns too. In dm there will be a data structure for tibble-like things with keys, these keys would become focus columns. Would that work for a start?