[R] shell.exec() on Windows, unexpected behavior

[Gabor Grothendieck]

Just a guess but perhaps it opens the file with the association that
existed when R was installed and that association was different from
the current association?  Try re-installing R and see if that changes it.

On 5/11/07, Richard M. Heiberger <rmh at temple.edu> wrote:
> I have Windows XP machines with different software configurations.
> My laptop has Adobe Reader 8 and Adobe Acrobat 6.
> My desktop has Adobe Reader 8 and does not have Adobe Acrobat.
>
> On both machines, PDF extensions are registered to Adobe Reader 8.0,
> and double-clicking a pdf file in Windows Explorer opens Adobe Reader
> 8.0.
>
> In R-2.5.0, with all Adobe windows closed, the command
>  shell.exec('c:/Program Files/R/R-2.5.0/doc/manual/R-admin.pdf')
> opens an Adobe window.
> On the laptop, it opens Adobe Acrobat 6.0.
> On the desktop, it opens Adobe Reader 8.0.
>
> When an Adobe window is aleady open, shell.exec() uses the already
> open Adobe window.
>
> Neither machine has any Adobe directories in the shell("PATH").
>
> I am puzzled by shell.exec() opening "Adobe Acrobat" when the file
> extension is registered to "Acrobat Reader".  The documentation in
> ?shell.exec says "Opens the specified file or URL using the
> application specified in the Windows file associations."
>
>
> thanks
> Rich
>
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