\name{getMetadata}
\alias{getMetadata}
\title{Fetches Run metadata from a StatShop database.}
\description{
  StatShop databases store information about the run (date, model used,
  parameters, user supplied notes) in a special table.  This function
  fetches those metadata elements.
}
\usage{
  getMetadata(keys = c("date", "version", "config", "run\_family",
                       "amdf", "tmdf", "pdf", "database",
                       "recordEveryCycle", "stepSize", "interseptSize",
                       "slopeStep", "stdStep", "diffIncrementStep", 
                       "anchorMultiplier", "notes")) 
}
\arguments{
  \item{keys}{Names of keys to database table.  Should be one of the
    values listed above.}
}
\details{
  The StatShop meta date table contains the following information:
  \describe{
    \item{date}{Date of the run (or last save of the metadata).}
    \item{verison}{Version of StatShop used for the run.}
    \item{run\_family}{User specified field for marking related runs.}
    \item{amdf}{Pathname for Assessment Model Description File.}
    \item{tmdf}{Pathname for Task Model Description File.}
    \item{pdf}{Pathname for Pretest Data File.}
    \item{database}{Name of the database.}
    \item{burnInCycles}{Number of cycles discarded as burn-in before
      recording starts.  (Note:  This is almost always 0, also, can be
      termined from data table.)}
    \item{recordingCycles}{Number of cycles selected to be recorded.
      Note that this value is also available from cycle tables which
      should considered definitive.}
    \item{recordEveryCycle}{Spacing (in number of cycles) between
      successive recordings.  1 means every cycle is recorded.}
    \item{chains}{Number of chains requested.  Note this value is
      available from cycle table which should be regarded as definitive.}
    \item{stepSize}{Default step size for proposal distribution.}
    \item{interseptSize}{Step size for intercept parameter proposal
      distributions. (Note funky spelling of \dQuote{intersept}.)}
    \item{slopeStep}{Step size for slope parameter proposal distributions.}
    \item{stdStep}{Step size for standard deviation parameter proposal
      distributions.} 
    \item{diffIncrementStep}{Step size for difficulty increment
      parameter proposal distributions.}
    \item{anchorMultiplier}{Multiplier applied to step size if the
      observable is involved in an anchor set.}
    \item{notes}{A set of analyst supplied notes about the run.}
  }

  This function fetches the values with the corresponding keys from the
  database and returns it as a list.

  Note:  After first run, these values are not updated unless the update
  is specificially requested by the analyst.

  A connection to the database must be open before this function can
  be run.
}
\value{
  A list of the specified values with names corresponding to the
  \code{keys}. 
}
\references{
  http://research.ets.org/~ralmond/StatShop/
}
\author{Russell Almond}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{asp.dbConnect}}
}
\examples{
### This example will only run if you have the StatShop test databases
### installed on your machine.
StatShop <- Sys.getenv("STATSHOP")
if (StatShop == "") {
  warn("StatShop not installed, skipping test.")
} else {
  asp.dbConnect("parameter_recovery_test","junit")
  ## Get metadata for the student model variables
  getMetadata(c("date","notes"))
  asp.dbDisconnect()
}
}
\keyword{database}