Reference Classes with same function: Namespace conflict

[Micha1]

I have encountered some rather strange behavior from R. I tested it on Windows and Ubuntu with the same results.

So let's assume I have a package called QS1API with the following substructure:

.
├── DESCRIPTION
├── man
├── NAMESPACE
├── QS1API.Rproj
├── R
│   ├── class-API.R
│   └── QS1API.R

The class-API.R includes the definition of a class called API:

.API <-  methods::setRefClass(
  Class = ".API"
)

#' @export
API <- function(...) {
  tmpObj <- methods::new(".API", ...)
  return(tmpObj)
}

.API$methods(
  print_name = function() {
    cat("Hey it is QS1")
  }
)

Now I have a package called QS2API with the following substructure:

.
├── DESCRIPTION
├── man
├── NAMESPACE
├── QS2API.Rproj
├── R
│   ├── class-API.R
│   └── QS2API.R

This package also exports a class with the name, i.e. API, however, its print_name function is different:

.API <-  methods::setRefClass(
  Class = ".API"
)

#' @export
API <- function(...) {
  tmpObj <- methods::new(".API", ...)
  return(tmpObj)
}

.API$methods(
  print_name = function() {
    cat("Hey it is QS2")
  }
)

Here comes the strange part! If I access the print_name function in different sessions, all good:

QS1API::API()$print_name
Class method definition for method print_name()
function () 
{
    cat("Hey it is QS1")
}
<environment: 0x55c369046158>

New Session:

QS2API::API()$print_name
Class method definition for method print_name()
function () 
{
    cat("Hey it is QS2")
}
<environment: 0x559ab67de3e8>

But when I use the same session, the namespace of the class seems to be totally ignored:

QS1API::API()$print_name
Class method definition for method print_name()
function () 
{
    cat("Hey it is QS1")
}
<environment: 0x558badba26c0>

QS2API::API()$print_name
Class method definition for method print_name()
function () 
{
    cat("Hey it is QS1")
}
<environment: 0x558bae0858a8>

> api <- QS1API::API()
> class(api)
[1] ".API"
attr(,"package")
[1] "QS1API"
> api2 <- QS2API::API()
> class(api2)
[1] ".API"
attr(,"package")
[1] "QS1API"

This is so confusing...
Actually, isn't that exactly why the namespace should be written in front of functions/classes? What is going on here?

[Micha1]

If you can reproduce this error, I would appreciate it if you can share it here. This would show that there is nothing wrong with my setup at least.