[skip vbump] Prepare crane 0.4.0 release candidate

[Melkiades]

What changes are proposed in this pull request?

• Released crane 0.4.0. ([Release]: 0.4.0 #319)

Release candidate for 0.4.0, covering the "Prepare the release" steps of #319.

• NEWS.md: consolidated the 0.3.3.9017 and 0.3.3.9020 development sections under a single # crane 0.4.0 heading. Every bullet is unchanged, only the headings moved.
• DESCRIPTION: Version: 0.4.0, removed Remotes: pharmaverse/cards, and raised the floor to cards (>= 0.9.0). cards 0.9.0 reached CRAN on 2026-08-21, which is above the previous >= 0.8.1.9001 development pin, so the remote is no longer needed.

No other dependency floors were touched.

On #316: 0.3.3 was only autovalidated, from 7c42e3c (0.3.2 plus a DESCRIPTION typo fix), and was never tagged or merged back to main. The typo fix is already on main, so NEWS.md goes straight from 0.3.2 to 0.4.0 and everything since the 0.3.2 heading belongs to this release. That settles #316.

Not done here, flagging rather than assuming: #271 and #318 are still open against the release checklist, and I could not run the test suite locally because cards and gtsummary are not installed in this environment, so CI is the first real check on the dependency change.

This is the release-candidate branch only. Tagging, validation and post-release steps stay on #319.

Reference GitHub issue associated with pull request. Refs #319. Deliberately not closes, since #319 tracks the whole release including tagging and post-release.

---

Pre-review Checklist (if item does not apply, mark is as complete)

• All GitHub Action workflows pass with a ✅
• PR branch has pulled the most recent updates from master branch: usethis::pr_merge_main()
• If a bug was fixed, a unit test was added.
• Code coverage is suitable for any new functions/features (generally, 100% coverage for new code): devtools::test_coverage()
• Request a reviewer

[github-actions]

Code Coverage Summary

Filename                                 Stmts    Miss  Cover    Missing
-------------------------------------  -------  ------  -------  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R/add_blank_rows.R                          63       0  100.00%
R/add_difference_row.R                     101       0  100.00%
R/add_forest_utils.R                        97      10  89.69%   76-79, 94-100
R/add_forest.R                             139       0  100.00%
R/add_hierarchical_count_row.R              33       0  100.00%
R/add_label_column.R                        26       0  100.00%
R/add_proportion_difference.R              150       1  99.33%   245
R/add_proportion_odds_ratio.R               57       0  100.00%
R/adjust_stat_columns_wrap.R                29       1  96.55%   59
R/annotate_gg_km.R                         141       0  100.00%
R/annotate_gg_pkc.R                        100       0  100.00%
R/annotate_gg.R                             94       0  100.00%
R/ard_tabulate_abnormal_by_baseline.R       65       0  100.00%
R/crane-package.R                            2       2  0.00%    26-27
R/deprecated.R                              21      21  0.00%    18-54
R/df_add_poolings.R                         41       0  100.00%
R/get_cox_pairwise_df.R                    163       0  100.00%
R/gg_km_utils.R                             39      14  64.10%   20-37
R/gg_km.R                                  143      37  74.13%   55-58, 75, 102, 176-181, 184-187, 197-199, 204-205, 239-241, 248-251, 255, 266-270, 283, 285-287
R/gg_lineplot.R                            121       0  100.00%
R/gg_mmrm_lineplot.R                       102       1  99.02%   106
R/gg_pkc_lineplot.R                         98       0  100.00%
R/gg_utils.R                               222       0  100.00%
R/label_roche.R                             72       0  100.00%
R/modify_header_rm_md.R                     18       2  88.89%   35-36
R/modify_split_caption.R                    37       0  100.00%
R/modify_zero_recode.R                      20       1  95.00%   64
R/pk_helper.R                              499       0  100.00%
R/reverse_difference_ci.R                   33       0  100.00%
R/tbl_baseline_chg.R                       188       0  100.00%
R/tbl_coxph.R                               90       1  98.89%   229
R/tbl_hierarchical_incidence_rate.R        291       4  98.63%   430-433
R/tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count.R        339      13  96.17%   343, 425, 446-456
R/tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade.R         317       3  99.05%   169-171
R/tbl_listing.R                             36       0  100.00%
R/tbl_mmrm.R                               344       6  98.26%   452-456, 548
R/tbl_null_report.R                         10       0  100.00%
R/tbl_proportion.R                         141      13  90.78%   100-103, 107-111, 114-117
R/tbl_rmpt.R                               157      12  92.36%   299-304, 316-321
R/tbl_roche_subgroups.R                    157       0  100.00%
R/tbl_roche_summary.R                       64       0  100.00%
R/tbl_shift.R                              111       0  100.00%
R/tbl_survfit_quantiles.R                  154       0  100.00%
R/tbl_survfit_times.R                       92       0  100.00%
R/tbl_with_pools.R                          79       1  98.73%   317
R/theme_gtsummary_roche.R                   87       1  98.85%   61
R/utils.R                                   42       0  100.00%
TOTAL                                     5425     144  97.35%

Diff against main

Filename      Stmts    Miss  Cover
----------  -------  ------  --------
TOTAL             0       0  +100.00%

Results for commit: 3c66d4a

Minimum allowed coverage is 80%

♻️ This comment has been updated with latest results

[github-actions]

Unit Tests Summary

  1 files  270 suites   1m 14s ⏱️
271 tests 249 ✅ 22 💤 0 ❌
754 runs  701 ✅ 53 💤 0 ❌

Results for commit 3c66d4a.

♻️ This comment has been updated with latest results.

[github-actions]

Unit Test Performance Difference

Test Suite	$Status$	Time on main	$±Time$	$±Tests$	$±Skipped$	$±Failures$	$±Errors$
add_forest	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-5$	$0$	$0$	$0$
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-3$	$0$	$0$	$0$
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-5$	$0$	$0$	$0$
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-2$	$0$	$0$	$0$
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-4$	$0$	$0$	$0$
tbl_roche_subgroups	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-2$	$0$	$0$	$0$
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	$-1$	$0$	$0$	$0$

Additional test case details

Test Suite	$Status$	Time on main	$±Time$	Test Case
add_blank_rows	👶		$+0.18$	unnamed
add_difference_row	💚	$2.66$	$-2.11$	add_difference_row.tbl_survfit_times_works
add_forest	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_forest_handles_extreme_limits_and_character_NA_p_values_safely
add_forest	💀	$4.16$	$-4.16$	add_forest_table_engine_flextable_works
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_blanks_stats_for_SOC_label_rows
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_errors_on_non_gtsummary_input
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_errors_when_custom_info_is_missing
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_extracts_custom_info_from_merged_tables
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_is_idempotent_when_called_twice
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_recodes_zero_statistics
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_sets_correct_header_labels
add_grade_column	💀	$7.34$	$-7.34$	add_grade_column_works_on_a_standalone_tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade
add_grade_column	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	add_grade_column_works_without_grade_groups
add_label_column	💚	$1.83$	$-1.75$	add_label_column_inserts_label0_before_label
annotate_gg_km	💔	$0.01$	$+3.85$	annotate_riskdf_handles_all_branches_and_inputs
check_formula_for_namespace	👶		$+0.04$	unnamed
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_accurately_subsets_when_keep_original_FALSE
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_correctly_stacks_original_and_pooled_rows
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_creates_a_total_dataset_when_all_is_passed
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_only_modifies_datasets_containing_the_arm_variable
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_processes_rlang_expr_correctly_across_datasets
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_safely_ignores_rlang_expr_evaluating_to_0_rows
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	df_add_poolings_triggers_appropriate_warnings
df_add_poolings	💀	$0.52$	$-0.52$	df_add_poolings_validates_inputs_and_throws_correct_cli_errors
gg_km	💚	$3.11$	$-2.44$	gg_km_works_and_handles_annotations_correctly
tbl_baseline_chg	👶		$+0.11$	unnamed
tbl_hierarchical_incidence_rate	💚	$9.46$	$-4.84$	tbl_hierarchical_incidence_rate_runs_with_minimum_arguments
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_digits_styling_defaults_to_gtsummary
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.01$	$-0.01$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_emits_zero_rows_for_unobserved_factor_levels
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_handles_0_row_data_with_factor_levels
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_ignores_non_factor_variables
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_sort_
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$9.29$	$-9.29$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_works_only_with_2_or_3_variables
tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_and_count_zero_rows_work_with_by_NULL
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_appends_missing_grade_group_levels_to_character_grade
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_error_messaging_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_filter_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_grade_groups_works_with_some_grades_not_in_groups
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_grade_groups_works_with_some_grades_not_in_groups_and_missing_grades
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_grades_exclude_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_include_overall_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_keep_zero_rows_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_sort_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$10.42$	$-10.42$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_works
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_works_with_add_overall_
tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_hierarchical_rate_by_grade_works_with_non_factor_grade_variables
tbl_mmrm	💔	$2.17$	$+10.59$	se_calculates_standard_error_correctly
tbl_proportion	👶		$+0.05$	unnamed
tbl_proportion	💚	$3.44$	$-2.81$	tbl_proportion_binary_summary_works
tbl_rmpt	💚	$5.18$	$-1.34$	tbl_rmpt_works_with_default_parameters_Example_1_
tbl_roche_subgroups	💀	$7.20$	$-7.20$	tbl_roche_subgroups_time_to_event_NULL_works
tbl_roche_subgroups	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_roche_subgroups_time_to_event_works
tbl_shift	👶		$+0.06$	unnamed
tbl_survfit_quantiles	💔	$1.50$	$+2.40$	tbl_survfit_quantiles_works
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_add_grade_column_pipeline_does_not_duplicate_rows_226_
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_keep_original_FALSE_returns_only_the_pools
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_keeps_spanning_headers_set_by_the_inner_.tbl_fun_297_
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_passes_the_denominator_correctly_for_custom_functions
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_processes_rlang_expr_correctly_with_a_denominator
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_processes_rlang_expr_correctly_without_a_denominator
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_safely_handles_factor_columns_without_generating_NAs
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_skips_empty_data_pools_when_denominator_is_NULL
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_skips_if_an_rlang_expr_evaluates_to_0_rows
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_skips_pools_with_0_events_to_prevent_cards_engine_crash
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_skips_when_denominator_has_0_patients_but_data_has_0
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_suppresses_tidyselect_warnings_via_rlang_inject
tbl_with_pools	💀	$6.99$	$-6.99$	tbl_with_pools_validates_inputs_correctly
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.00$	$-0.00$	tbl_with_pools_warns_and_skips_empty_pools_properly
tbl_with_pools	💀	$0.01$	$-0.01$	tbl_with_pools_works_with_standard_functions_like_tbl_summary

Results for commit bb49512

♻️ This comment has been updated with latest results.

[mhallal1]

LGTM