S4 dispatch for .DollarNames (utils)

Dear all,

thank your for this discussion - I had been wondering how to get the completion 
with my S4 class, but it didn't bother me enough to dig into things.

The workaround/hack that *does* work now, I believe, is to insert a 
dummy S3 class into the mix and define the S3 .DollarNames method for it.

Example:

 > setOldClass("foo3")
 > .DollarNames.foo3 <- function(x, pattern)"bar"

My question here is: what is the dummy class needed for?

I have a few S3 methods for my S4 class (rbind.hyperSpec, cbind.hyperSpec, and 
now .DollarNames.hyperSpec). They seem to work just fine without first setting 
up a dummy S3 class that is then used in the contains of the S4 definition.
Any pitfalls with that?

Claudia

Claudia Beleites
Dipartimento dei Materiali e delle Risorse Naturali
Universit? degli Studi di Trieste
Via Alfonso Valerio 6/a
I-34127 Trieste

phone: +39 0 40 5 58-37 68
email: cbeleites at units.it