[ESS] When the R window opens, sometimes it is side-by-side with my .Rnw file. I want them one above the other. It seems unpredictable

[Christopher W. Ryan]

That's an interesting idea about monitor width, Stephen. I had not
thought about that as a factor and had not been paying it any attention.

I will give your suggestions a try.

Thanks.

--Chris

Stephen Eglen wrote:
>> I'm using Vince Goulet's modified version of emacs 26.2 (build 1,
>> x86_64-w64-mingw32)  of 2019-04-13 with ESS, on Windows 10. I use Sweave
>> and LaTeX, so I have my R code in .Rnw files. When I execute my first
>> line of R code, an R buffer opens of course. I prefer it to be below my
>> Rnw buffer. Sometimes it is. But other times the R buffer opens to the
>> side. It's unpredictable, which is disconcerting; I have not been able
>> to discern a pattern.  How can I ensure that every time emacs/ESS opens
>> an R buffer, the emacs window is split top-and-bottom, rather than
>> side-by-side.
> 
> hi Chris,
> 
> I'm afraid that even after using Emacs for 30 years, I still find it
> unpredictable where buffers will appear.  It has got much worse in
> recent years with widescreen monitors (on old terminals the splits used
> to be primarily above/below, rather than left/right).
> 
> There are some variables you can investigate to help give Emacs some
> clues:
> 
> ;; (setq split-height-threshold nil)
> ;; (setq split-width-threshold 75)
> 
> and display-buffer-alist
> 
> (info "(elisp)Window Parameters")
> 
> In Emacs 28 there are a couple of new keybindings that help a bit:
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> *** The key prefix 'C-x 4 1' displays next command buffer in the same window.
> It's bound to the command 'same-window-prefix' that requests the buffer
> of the next command to be displayed in the same window.
> 
> *** The key prefix 'C-x 4 4' displays next command buffer in a new window.
> It's bound to the command 'other-window-prefix' that requests the buffer
> of the next command to be displayed in a new window.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> but still that does not help exactly with the direction of split.
> 
> I've taken the view instead that Emacs is a bit like LaTeX -- where you
> can't always control where it will put figures/tables.
> 
> Stephen
>