This helper function retrieves content from a given URL using httr. It ensures that common issues (e.g. no internet, timeouts, HTTP errors, or parsing errors) are handled gracefully with clear, informative error messages.
safe_get_content(url, ..., timeout_sec = 10)Character string. The URL of the resource to download.
Additional arguments passed to GET.
Numeric. Timeout in seconds for the request (default = 10).
A character string containing the parsed content of the response (UTF-8 encoded). On failure, an error is raised with a clear message.
This function is intended for use inside package functions.
For examples, vignettes, or tests, wrap calls in a connectivity check
(e.g. using http_error(HEAD(url))) to avoid CRAN failures
when the resource is temporarily unavailable.
if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Retrieve the latest BioGRID release page
result <- safe_get_content("https://downloads.thebiogrid.org/BioGRID/Latest-Release/")
} # }