[BioC] Gviz plot dimensions

[Murat Tasan]

hi all -- i've been using the Gviz package for plotting annotation tracks, and i've recently run into issues where the device i set up for plotting is too small (along the height dimension) for the eventual plot, thus causing errors.

the quick fix is to make the device height much larger in anticipation of tall tracks being plotted, but when the tracks are not tall (or missing, in some cases), Gviz defaults to try to fill the device, leading to vertically stretched out tracks that look rather unsightly.

does anyone know of any existing tricks to pre-compute the minimum dimension size(s) required for a plotTracks() call?
what i'm thinking of is something similar in spirit to calling the hist() function with the "plot = FALSE" option set, where the values needed to set up ones own plot dimensions are returned, and then the final plot can be executed.
(i.e. something like a dry run at a plot.)

in the end, what i'm really looking for is a way to automatically estimate the size of the device, such that the features of the plot (e.g. the ideogram track, or the axis track) are always the same vertical size, and the rest of the device is re-sized to handle the amount of data in the annotation/genome/data tracks.

cheers!

-murat