[ESS] launch help.start() in EWW browser

[Colin Baxter]

>>>>> Naresh Gurbuxani via ESS-help <ess-help using r-project.org> writes:

    > Begin forwarded message:

    > From: <naresh_gurbuxani using hotmail.com> Subject: Fwd: [ESS] launch
    > help.start() in EWW browser Date: September 9, 2025 at 12:34:34 PM
    > EDT To: Naresh Gurbuxani <ngurbuxani using cftc.gov>


    > Sent from my iPhone

    > Begin forwarded message:

    > From: Tyler Smith via ESS-help <ess-help using r-project.org> Date:
    > September 8, 2025 at 10:05:20 PM EDT To: ESS-help
    > <ess-help using r-project.org> Subject: [ESS] launch help.start() in EWW
    > browser Reply-To: Tyler Smith <tyler using plantarum.ca>

    > On Fri, Sep 5, 2025, at 6:17 AM, Naresh Gurbuxani via ESS-help wrote:
    > When running R in terminal emacs, what options are needed so that
    > help.start() opens EWW browser?

    > The following elisp code opens the R html docs in EWW, when called
    > via `M-x ess-eww`.

    > It seems to work fine for me on Ubuntu Linux. If it works
    > generally, I'd be happy to clean it up for inclusion in ESS.

    > Alternatively, if we accept running Emacs in daemon mode as a
    > pre-requisite (i.e., meaning emacsclient is available), it's
    > probably not too hard to find the proper syntax for the `browser`
    > argument of `help.start()`. I looked at that too, but then this
    > approach presented itself. It has the advantage of not needing the
    > emacsclient server.

    > Let me know if this looks useful!

    > - tyler

    > ``` (defun ess-eww () (interactive) (let ((BUF
    > (generate-new-buffer "URL")) (PORT)) (ess-command
    > "print(tools::startDynamicHelp(NA))" BUF) (with-current-buffer BUF
    > (setq PORT (buffer-substring 5 (point-max)))) (kill-buffer BUF)
    > (eww (concat "http://127.0.0.1:" PORT "/doc/html/index.html"))))
    > ```

This works for me in debian.