chore(devcontainer.json): add packages required for R tests

[Bai-Li-NOAA]

What is the feature?

• Makes sure required R packages for tests are installed automatically, so developers don’t have to reinstall them every time they open a new Codespace.

How have you implemented the solution?

• Added the R packages to .devcontainer/devcontainer.json

Does the PR impact any other area of the project, maybe another repo?

• No

[github-actions]

Instructions for code reviewer

Hello reviewer, thanks for taking the time to review this PR!

• Please use this checklist during your review, checking off items that you have verified are complete!
• For PRs that don't make changes to code (e.g., changes to README.md or Github actions workflows), feel free to skip over items on the checklist that are not relevant. Remember it is still important to do a thorough review.
• Then, comment on the pull request with your review indicating where you have questions or changes need to be made before merging.
• Remember to review every line of code you’ve been asked to review, look at the context, make sure you’re improving code health, and compliment developers on good things that they do.
• PR reviews are a great way to learn, so feel free to share your tips and tricks. However, for optional changes (i.e., not required for merging), please include nit: (for nitpicking) before making the suggestion. For example, nit: I prefer using a data.frame() instead of a matrix because...
• Engage with the developer when they respond to comments and check off additional boxes as they become complete so the PR can be merged in when all the tasks are fulfilled. Make it clear when this has been reached by commenting on the PR with something like This PR is now ready to be merged, no changes needed.

Checklist

• The PR is requested to be merged into the appropriate branch (typically main)
• The code is well-designed.
• The functionality is good for the users of the code.
• Any User Interface changes are sensible and look good.
• The code isn’t more complex than it needs to be.
• Code coverage remains high, indicating the new code is tested.
• The developer used clear names for everything.
• Comments are clear and useful, and mostly explain why instead of what.
• Code is appropriately documented (doxygen and roxygen).

[kellijohnson-NOAA]

How hard would it be to add a GitHub action that reminds us this container should be updated every time the DESCRIPTION file is updated?

[codecov]

Codecov Report

All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests ✅

Project coverage is 66.14%. Comparing base (d21d2e9) to head (d6da39c).
Report is 1 commits behind head on dev.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##              dev     #734      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   68.71%   66.14%   -2.57%     
==========================================
  Files          44       44              
  Lines        4714     4673      -41     
  Branches      197        0     -197     
==========================================
- Hits         3239     3091     -148     
- Misses       1428     1582     +154     
+ Partials       47        0      -47     

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

[MOshima-PIFSC]

How hard would it be to add a GitHub action that reminds us this container should be updated every time the DESCRIPTION file is updated?

@kellijohnson-NOAA One option that might be of interest is the renv package. It can automatically detect what packages are used in the DESCRIPTION file and create a project library based on that. Then you can just install renv in the container and after the codespace is built, call a setup.r script that will restore the r environment. You can also use it in a GHA workflow to set up an r environment based on the project library it creates (like for tests and rendering websites). Nicholas and I recently used this in a project we were working on and it worked pretty smoothly. I think it also helps speed up the set up time as well. Here's an article about how to use if for package development and I'm happy to talk more about it with you.

[Bai-Li-NOAA]

@kellijohnson-NOAA, @MOshima-PIFSC's suggestion sounds promising! I’ve copied the conversation over to Discussions so it doesn’t get lost in the PR.