[Bug]: Quality Control tab fails in RNA-seq app when `testthat` package is not installed

[vedhav]

What happened?

Both the stable and dev deployments of RNA-seq app show an error when testthat package is not available.

It originates from the expect_proportion call from the hermes package

Before running the reprex please make sure that testthat is not installed.

library(checkmate)

check_proportion <- function(x, null.ok = FALSE) {
  ok <- test_number(x, lower = 0, upper = 1)
  if (!ok) {
    return("Must be a 'proportion': number between 0 and 1")
  }
  return(TRUE)
}

expect_proportion <- makeExpectationFunction(check_proportion)
expect_proportion(0.25)
#> Loading required namespace: testthat
#> Error in makeExpectation(x, res, info, label): Package 'testthat' is required for checkmate's 'expect_*' extensions with backend 'testthat'

^{Created on 2024-08-12 with reprex v2.1.0}

Relevant log output

No response

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[averissimo]

It's strange that hermes has an expect_* call in the app as that should only be done during tests.

If that's the case, then controlo_quality function body should use assertions and not expectations

[llrs-roche]

I was checking the apps, and realized this also happens in other tabs like the Volcanoplot: select SEX as grouping variable and should see a similar message.
I think an issue on hermes should be opened to tackle this. This also makes it a potential problem when released as CRAN checks packages without the suggested packages from time to time.