Add reference from within function, based on input

[valentinsulzer]

Functionality to allow references to be added based on inputs would be useful. The use case is for setting parameters within PyBaMM. For example, in the following case, I would like to reference a different citation based on which parameter dictionary is used:

def set_parameters(parameters):
    do_the_parameter_setting
    r2t2.reference("Parameters used for simulation", parameters["citation"])

set_parameters({"a": 1, "b": 2, "citation": "some2018paper"}) # the first dictionary
set_parameters({"a": 4, "b": 3, "citation": "another2017paper"}) # the second dictionary

[rgaiacs]

This adds complexity to the code. I would recommend that users have two wrappers:

from r2t2 import add_reference

@add_reference("old_paper")
def my_great_function(a, b):
    pass

@add_reference("some2018paper")
def my_great_function2018():
    my_great_function(1, 2)

@add_reference("another2017paper")
def my_great_function2017():
    my_great_function(4, 3)

[dalonsoa]

@rgaiacs I think this is unfeasible when you have many functions acceping different sets of parameters. I would say that the reference in this case should be added when loading/setting the parameters to start with (just once), not in every function that can potentially accept different parameters.

@tinosulzer, was this the use case you were refering to?

[rgaiacs]

@dalonsoa The user case that I was considering was: Alice implements a new new algorithm and the package that Alice publishes has

from r2t2 import add_reference

@add_reference("alice")
def my_great_function(a, b):
    pass

Bob uses Alice's implementation when searching for the "optimal" parameters a and b. Bob publishes the code that search for the "optimal" parameters a and b where Bob uses

from r2t2 import add_reference
import alice

@add_reference("bob")
def my_great_function_optimal_parameters():
    alice.my_great_function(1, 2)

When Eve will use Bob's parameters, Eve can import Bob's package (if it exists) or create a function like Bob did.

[valentinsulzer]

The use case I was thinking is if the citation key is passed as an argument (e.g. a dictionary key), so the citation is for some "information" (e.g. a set of parameters) rather than code