[ESS] ESS in Windows: Unable to run editor "gnuclient.exe"

[Joshua Wiley]

Hi Paul,

I could be way off target of what was meant, but I think this from
within Emacs will produce similar results to fix (at least, it is how
I tinker with functions, I'm absolutely open to learning):

C-c C-d [name of object] <RET>
## make whatever edits you want
C-c C-l <RET> ## to load the file

In my opinion this works quite nicely when you have the screen split.
It just opens a new buffer in whatever is opposite the R one, you can
see everything, make changes, load it, make more changes, (re)load it,
etc.  I am pretty sure it is always assigned in the global environment
(which might sometimes cause problems??), but I think fix() does the
same thing.

Cheers,

Josh

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 10:40 PM, Paul Johnson <pauljohn32 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, Rich:
>
> I'm very happy to get such a quick answer.
>
> On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 10:45 PM, Richard M. Heiberger <rmh at temple.edu> wrote:
>> Paul,
>>
>> you hit two issues.
>>
>> 1. ESS by default finds R automatically when R is installed in the standard
>> places
>> defined by R-Core which are (in English locales, it also does the right
>> thing in other languages)
>> c:/Program Files/R/R-*/
>> When you place R in a non-standard place such as c:/Program Files/R/, a
>> workaround
>> like the one that you used is necessary.  It would be better to put that
>> statement
>>   (setq-default inferior-R-program-name "c:/Program
>> Files/R/bin/i386/rterm.exe")
>> in your .emacs, rather than make changes to ess-site.el.  This type of
>> workaround is
>> illustrated in ess-site.el.
>>
>
> OK, well at least I know I inflicted it on myself.  On this one, I
> think I'm right and the world is wrong.
>
> R Core doesn't ask for version specific installation folders on Unix
> or Mac.   Why Windows? With the most elementary users being clustered
> in Windows systems, the accumulation of multiple editions of R is a
> support hassle. Only experts want multiple versions, and they could
> get that for themselves at install time if they wanted it.
>
> But I've lost that argument a lot of times.
>>
>> 2. The gnuclient issue.  We have gnuclient hardwired in the code for
>> Windows.
>> The newer emacs distributes with emacsclient.
>>
>> You can manually issue the command to R,
>>
>>    options(STERM='iESS', editor='emacsclientw.exe')
>>
>> I don't like emacsclient as much as I liked gnuclient.  If you still have an
>> old gnuclient
>> on your machine you can use it by starting it in your .emacs file.
>>
>
> I never heard of "gnuclient" before, don't know what its for, but I'm
> sorry I don't have it :)
>
>> ESS intercepts R page() commands at the command line and open them in emacs.
>> That is somewhat easier since the pager doesn't have a return value.
>>
>> It is not obvious to me why you would want to use the R fix() or edit()
>> command when you
>> are working in the emacs environment.
>>
>
>
> Insert "browser()"!  You already knew, I'm sure, but I just learned
> this.  To me it is quite fantastic. In R Extensions manual, it
> describes ability to insert "browser()" into code for existing
> functions.  To test, I did it to famous ones
>
>> fix (lm)
>
> and, sure enough, I can edit the *actual code* of the lm function, put
> browser() in, close the editor, run the function, and then *really
> learn* something. But now, it seems quite awesome to me. Its like gdb
> on super steriods.  Its about the most obvious benefit of "R is an
> interpreted language" that I've ever seen.  To stop a function from a
> famous package, and then interact with its variables?  Too cool.
>
> I need this to "just work" in the Windows lab.  It does in Linux. But
> in Windows, well, frustrating. I don't mind having to use windows
> notepad to do the editing, I just need this to work without users
> having to run
>
>> options (editor="whatever")
>
> That's a deal killer.
>
> Couldn't you change from 'gnuclient' to 'notepad'?  we are sure that
> exists everywhere.
>
> Couldn't you set it to "runemacs.exe". I don't mind if another
> instance gets spawned.  I don't mind starting the server, if
> necessary, as long as I can configure it so users never see it.
>
> Anyway,
>
> I figured, "Why not edit Rprofile.site?".  Users will never have to
> worry about it.   But Emacs/ESS ignores Rprofile.site?   If I set the
> editor "notepad" in there, that will fix it.  But no! When I'm in
> ordinary R (not via ESS), then options("editor") shows notepad and it
> uses it for functions.  But when I start Emacs/Ess, options("editor")
> still says "gnuclient.exe".
>
>
> Until now, I couldn't understand why there's so much push for Windows
> people to use "Tinn-R".
>
> Check out the R for beginners by Zuur from Springer publications, or
> Maindonald's notes "Installation of R, of R packages, and Editor
> Environments"  http://maths.anu.edu.au/~johnm/r-book/xtras/setup.pdf.
>
> I don't want Windows people to get "stuck" to their OS by Windows-only
> solutions, that's why I make them all try to use Emacs, even though
> the've never edited a file before :)
>
>> Question for other ESS-core members:  would it make sense to intercept the
>> edit()
>> and fix() commands?  See defun inferior-R-input-sender in ess-inf.el for
>> details.
>>
>>
>> Rich
>>
>
>
> --
> Paul E. Johnson
> Professor, Political Science
> 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
> University of Kansas
>
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>



-- 
Joshua Wiley
Ph.D. Student, Health Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
http://www.joshuawiley.com/