Type conversion error in rec_with_table() during categorical to continuous variable processing

[DougManuel]

Description

recodeflow::rec_with_table() fails with a type conversion error when processing CCHS categorical-to-continuous variables (e.g., height conversion from categorical codes to meters).

Error Message

Error in `[<-`:
! Assigned data `else_value` must be compatible with existing data.
ℹ Error occurred for column `value_to`.
Caused by error in `vec_assign()`:
! Can't convert <double> to <character>.

To Reproduce

Reproducible Example

library(cchsflow)  
load('data/variable_details.RData')

# Test data with categorical height codes (CCHS 2001 format)
test_data <- data.frame(
  ID = 1:2,
  HWTAGHT = c(26, 22)  # Code 26=5'9" (1.753m), Code 22=5'5" (1.651m)
)

# This works with cchsflow::rec_with_table()
result_cchsflow <- cchsflow::rec_with_table(
  data = test_data,
  variables = "HWTGHTM",
  database_name = "cchs2001_p",
  variable_details = variable_details
)
# Returns: 1.753, 1.651

# This fails with recodeflow::rec_with_table()
result_recodeflow <- recodeflow::rec_with_table(
  data = test_data,
  variables = "HWTGHTM", 
  database_name = "cchs2001_p",
  variable_details = variable_details
)
# Error: Can't convert <double> to <character>

Expected Behavior

recodeflow::rec_with_table() should work identically to cchsflow::rec_with_table() and successfully convert categorical codes to continuous values.

System Info

• R version: 4.4.3
• recodeflow version: 0.1.1
• cchsflow version: 2.2.0

Additional Context

Technical Details

The error occurs in the internal recode_columns() function when trying to assign a numeric else_value (NA_real_) to a character column value_to in the log table. This suggests a type initialization issue in the logging mechanism during categorical-to-continuous variable processing.

Impact

This prevents migration from cchsflow::rec_with_table() to recodeflow::rec_with_table() for CCHS categorical variables, blocking the planned parallel processing strategy for v3.0.0 variables.

Workaround

Currently using cchsflow::rec_with_table() for all variables until this bug is resolved.

[yulric]

@DougManuel Looks like this issue is fixed on main. Is it OK to temporarily use that branch while we push a new version to CRAN.