ci_query error 'list cannot be coerced to double'

[Hlynur-taekjavordur]

example query from webchem manual
y1 <- ci_query(c('Formaldehyde', 'Triclosan'), from = 'name')

Query is successful (HTTP 200), but returns the following error:

Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...) :
'list' object cannot be coerced to type 'double'

[Aariq]

@stitam, @andschar: I was able to reproduce this locally and the relevant test is also failing on CI. My guess is something changed about the API.

[stitam]

Hi All, I've looked into the code, ci_query() should only work with CAS registry numbers ("rn") or InChI keys ("inchikey"). The examples in the function's help page seem to work (although the match argument is no longer used). Thanks @Hlynur-taekjavordur for raising this issue, can you please point me to this example in the webchem manual? I couldn't find it within the function description (https://docs.ropensci.org/webchem/reference/ci_query.html) or the vignette (https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/webchem/vignettes/webchem.html). This seems to be an old example and should be removed I think.

[Hlynur-taekjavordur]

example was from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/webchem/webchem.pdf page 12
I had been running ci_query successfully a few weeks ago, but then queries stopped working showing this error.

I can confirm now I can in some cases query cas numbers using rn and names successfully. All of the following queries are successful:

ci_query("D-Fructose-6-phosphate", c(from="name")
ci_query("D-Fructose-6-phosphate")
ci_query('26177-86-6', from = 'rn', match = 'first')

However, for some CAS numbers or names I get no results. For example querying for methanol (cas number 67-56-1 according to sigmaaldrich.com)

1. query by name returns:

> ci_query('Methanol', from="name")
Querying Methanol. OK (HTTP 200).
 More then one Link found.  Multiple found. Returning first.
Querying 60-12-8. OK (HTTP 200).
Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...) : 
  'list' object cannot be coerced to type 'double'

2. query by name match = "best" returns a result though not the expected one. Match ="ask" or "first" result in error

> ci_query('Methanol', from="name", match="best")

3. query by cas (rn) returns error

> ci_query('67-56-1', from = 'rn', match = "first")
Querying 67-56-1. OK (HTTP 200).
Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...) : 
  'list' object cannot be coerced to type 'double'

[Aariq]

library(webchem)
#examples from ?ci_query()
y1 <- ci_query('50-00-0', from = 'rn', match = 'first')
#> Error in ci_query("50-00-0", from = "rn", match = "first"): unused argument (match = "first")
y2 <- ci_query('WSFSSNUMVMOOMR-UHFFFAOYSA-N', from = 'inchikey')
#> Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...): 'list' object cannot be coerced to type 'double'

comps <- c("50-00-0", "64-17-5")
y3 <- ci_query(comps, from = "rn")
#> Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...): 'list' object cannot be coerced to type 'double'

^{Created on 2021-11-08 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)}

[Aariq]

This can be closed now that ci_query() no longer can query by name. The reprex above no longer fails.