ess-create-object-name-db on Unix

[gerald.jean at dgag.ca]

Hello,

I have been using ESS for quite a while, thanks to the core team for such a
usefull tool, and I always thought that completion would be very usefull
but I never was successfull at getting it to work?

Emacs version 20.7, ESS 5.1.21, I know all this is old, but I have no
control over this, I am not admin. of the Unix machine, only a user.

Following Andy Liaw's reply to the "delayed response on terminal" posting I
tried again this morning to get completion to work but to no avail.  Here
is what I did:

    I ran `ess-create-object-name-db' from *S+6" running through ESS.
    Moved the resulting file: "ess-sp6-namedb.el" to a directory in the
   load-path --- I couldn't move it to the ESS/lisp directory since I have
   no write permission in this directory.
   Shut down S+ and Emacs.
   Resarted Emacs and S+6.
   Checking the *Messages* buffer I see that "ess-sp6-namedb.el" has been
   loaded and completions formed:
Loading ess-sp6-namedb.el (source)...
Loading ess-sp6-namedb.el (source)...done
Type C-h m for help on ESS version 5.1.21
Forming completions for /home/jeg002/MySwork...
Forming completions for /home/jeg002/MySwork...done
Forming completions for MyFuncs...
Forming completions for MyFuncs...done
Forming completions for splus...
Forming completions for splus...done
Forming completions for stat...
Forming completions for stat...done
Forming completions for data...
Forming completions for data...done
Forming completions for trellis...
Forming completions for trellis...done
Forming completions for nlme3...
Forming completions for nlme3...done
Forming completions for main...
Forming completions for main...done
6.    Then moving to the *S+6* buffer I tried a few completions and every
time I get the same message: No completions for blablabla.  If I check the
variable "ess-object-name-db" I see:

ess-object-name-db's value is shown below.

Documentation:
Alist of lists of object names, with directory names as keys.
The file ess-namedb.el is loaded (if it exists) to define this variable.
See also function `ess-create-object-name-db'.

Defined in `ess-cust'.

Value:
(("main")
 ("nlme3")
 ("trellis" "%in%" "%nin%" ".First.lib" ".Last.value" ".R." ".SV4." "Cbind"
"Cs" "Dotplot" "Function" "Function.areg.boot" "Function.transcan"
"Gompertz2" "Label" "Label.data.frame" ...
.
.
.
... "trigamma" "trunc.rnorm" "tweedie" "unname" "varchkdglm" "varchkglm"
"varfun.digamma" "vec.to.str" "weighted.summary" "wheremax" "zerodiv"))

Local in buffer *S+6*; global value is
nil


What is wrong?  Why isn't working?

Another little point, most user groups --- NT Emacs, S-news, R, ... ---
have the name of the list as an identifier in the "Object" line of the
messages, why doesn't ESS-Help do the same thing?  It would be easier to
sort the "good stuff" through the zillions of spams.

Thanks for your support,

Gérald Jean
Analyste-conseil (statistiques), Actuariat
télephone            : (418) 835-4900 poste (7639)
télecopieur          : (418) 835-6657
courrier électronique: gerald.jean at dgag.ca

"In God we trust all others must bring data"  W. Edwards Deming