[ESS] help files with R

[Stephen Eglen]

Sundar Dorai-Raj writes:
 > Hi,
 > 
 > This one has got me stumped, but I believe it's an ESS issue. Try the 
 > following:
 > 
 > 1. Start R
 > M-x R
 > 2. create the following function
 > consolidateHelp <- function(package = NULL) { package }
 > 3. execute the function
 >     > consolidateHelp("lm")
 >     This opens a new frame with the help file for ?lm.
 > 4. Now change the name to
 > helpConsolidate <- function(package = NULL) { package }
 > 5. execute the function
 >     > consolidateHelp("lm")
 >     [1] "lm"
 > 
 > The consildateHelp function creates the following two lines in the ESS 
 > buffer:
 > 
 > (ess-setq-vars-LOCAL): language=S, dialect=R, buf=nil, 
 > comint..echoes=nil, comint..sender=comint-simple-send
 > (ess-help-bogus-buffer-p *help[R](lm)*) |--> nil [searching t]
 > 
 > Any clues?
 > 
 > version info:
 > R-2.1.1pat
 > Windows XP
 > ess 5.2.8
 > Xemacs 21.4 (patch 13)
 > 
 > I also tested this on Linux using ess 5.2.4 (haven't upgraded yet) with 
 > the same problem. Also, this is not an issue in either rterm or rgui.
 > 
 > BTW, for now, I'll just change the name of the function.

I think what you are seeing is a side effect of our efforts to catch

?lm

so that if a user types that at the command line within an *R* buffer,
the help frame is shown.


;;> <PD writes>:
;;> Also, invoking help() from the command line may lead to confusing
;;> output, somewhat worse with R than with S. You're not really supposed
;;> to do that (use C-c C-v to invoke ess-display-help-on-object), but it's
;;> an obvious newcomer's mistake.
;;>
;;> (I wonder: could the elisp-code not quite easily recognize help
;;> calls (at least in the ?xxx form) and do the right thing automagically?)
;;>
;;> As promised, here is a quick hack:
;;  ___hack much improved by MM___ , both help(.) and ?... now work
;; FIXME: Note that  '??' nicely works in *R*, but
;;        'type ? topic' doesn't use ess-help {but display in *R*}
(defconst inferior-R-1-input-help (format "help *(%s)" ess-help-arg-regexp))
(defconst inferior-R-2-input-help (format "^ *\\? *%s" ess-help-arg-regexp))
(defconst inferior-R-page         (format "^ *page *(%s)" ess-help-arg-regexp))


So, maybe the first regexp could be tightened to match help only at a
start boundary (Martin - is that something like \bhelp ?)

Stephen