Summary: Trapping loess errors in a loop

[Madeline Bauer <mbauer@usc.edu>]

Using try, my function returns an object (say my.model) regardless of
error. class(my.model) reports "loess" or "Error" so
I can take the needed actions.

Again thanks to Samer Mouksassi who suggested using try (loess (... ))
and Steve Wofsy who suggested on.error.

And a big Thank You to Bill Dunlap for the following explanation of
on.exit, on.error and try. Now I can stop feeling guilty about not trying
to figure out how to use on.error.

> on.exit or on.error would not be helpful here.  They
> allow you to evaluate an _expression_ when the main
> function runs into an error, but they don't allow you
> to stop the normal error processing -- the main function
> will not return a value to its caller.  try(), via its call to
> restart(), stops the normal error processing and lets
> the function return a value.  (Calling restart() directly
> is tricky and often leads to infinite loops, but try()
> avoids the pitfalls.)
>
> Bill Dunlap
> TIBCO Software Inc - Spotfire Division
> wdunlap tibco.com

===
Madeline Bauer, Ph.D.        University of Southern California
Keck School of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
IRD Room 620 (MC9520), 2020 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles 90033
(323) 226-2775 [Voice] (FAX by appointment ;-)
mbauer@usc.edu  [Fastest communication method]