[R] Use of recordPlot
Prof Brian Ripley
ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Thu May 1 10:05:23 CEST 2008
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008, Greg Snow wrote:
> My impression of the plot recording in windows was that it was a quick
> tool to be useful, but not a high priority. Trying to keep track of 50
> plots (and using different plot windows) is pushing it beyond its
> original intention. I expect that he core people have higher
> priorities, so may not even want to look at it for a while.
It's worse than that. Plot recording in windows() was the brainchild of
Guido Masarotto, who has not worked on R for many years. Although other
core members have kept it working, they both feel that a reimplementation
would be needed to make any changes (since Guido's coding style is hard to
follow and is in the spirit of a device design which is no longer
supported).
> If you want to be able to scroll through 50 or so plots made by a
> script, I would suggest using the pdf device (or postscript) to write
> them all to a file, then open the file and use pgup/pgdn to scroll
> through the graphs. This is a couple of extra steps, but I think it
> will work better for you at this point.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Beck, Kenneth (STP) [mailto:Kenneth.Beck at bsci.com]
> Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 8:53 AM
> To: Greg Snow; r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: RE: [R] Use of recordPlot
>
>
>
> Thanks for the clarification, this helps a lot, expecially your comment
> about "source is real". I will stop my effort to save the graphs
> permanently, the scripts don't take long to generate.
>
> But the end of your response hits on the key issue: when I create
> several graphs, I would like to be able to use PgUp/PgDn or some other
> keystroke to easily scroll through them all in sequence. One of my
> scripts now creates 30+ graphs, and to view them I have to mouse to the
> list of graphics devices and pick off the list. Your last comment
> indicates you can set it up to quick page through lists of graphs.
> I just tried adding options(graphics.record=TRUE); to my code, and I now
> find the .SavedPlots variable in the work space, but I was hoping to use
> replayPlot(.SavedPlots) or something like that to be able to scroll
> through the plots, but it does not seem to work.
>
> Why do I not get anything when I ask for help (?.SavedPlots)?
>
> Does this variable contain only those plots for which I call recordPlot?
> At times it seems yes (e.g. only a few plots), but then later it seemed
> to contain all that were generated by the script (nearly 50). When I
> pick Previous/Next Plot or use PgUp/PgDn when viewing a graphcis Device,
> the title bar stays on the latest graphics Device number, though the
> graph itself may change. But then on further PgUp, I see only the
> layout, not the graph.
>
> When I use commands in the console to attempt to show graphs, I get a
> warning suggesting the graph was saved in an older format, but I have
> the latest R installed (2.6.2):
>
> .SavedPlots[2] or replayPlot(.SavedPlots[2])
> Warning message:
> In replayPlot(x) : loading snapshot from pre-2.0.0 R version
>
> Is there a simple command or series of commands to add to the script to
> enable scrolling through all plots generated by that script? Or maybe
> something at the beginning with something else at the end??
>
> Thanks for your help...
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
> On Behalf Of Greg Snow
> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:43 AM
> To: Beck, Kenneth (STP); r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] Use of recordPlot
>
> You seem to be confusing several issues.
>
> First, being object oriented does not mean that it matches C++ syntax or
> that every object is guarenteed to have specific methods. What lead you
> to think that a recordedplot would have a metafile method? Nothing else
> has that method, and the only function I find with metafile is the
> win.metafile graphics device.
>
> The difference between SavedPlots and recordedPlot is the same as the
> difference between "flock" and "sheep" when talking about a flock of
> sheep. A recordedPlot object is a single plot, a SavedPlots object is a
> group of recordedPlot objects (not the plural vs. singular).
>
> Look at the help for "objects" or "ls" (?ls) and look at the 'all.names'
> argument to see how to find .SavedPlots
>
> R does not use object.method for method dispatch, trying that is
> confusing the parser and that is why you get an error. Try
> method(object) instead.
>
> Also recognize that R follows the philosophy of "Source is Real". For
> what you are trying to do, it will probably work better to write a
> script or function that creates your plots, then rerun the code when you
> want the plots again. The current mechanism is useful for a quick
> paging through plots, but was not meant for much more.
>
>
> --
> Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
> Statistical Data Center
> Intermountain Healthcare
> greg.snow at imail.org
> (801) 408-8111
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org
>> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Beck, Kenneth (STP)
>> Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 4:10 PM
>> To: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: [R] Use of recordPlot
>>
>> I am trying to save plots that I create using calls to
>> windows() folowed by multiple calls to plot to place several plots on
>> a page. I want to store the plots as variables to be able to recall
>> them later.
>> The documentation states:
>> "Recorded plot histories are of class "SavedPlots". They have a print
>> method, and a subset method.
>> As the individual plots are of class "recordedplot" they can be
>> replayed by printing them: see recordPlot.
>> The active plot history is stored in variable .SavedPlots in the
>> workspace."
>>
>> But what does this mean "class SavedPlots"? Is class similar to a
>> class in C++?
>> Where are the plot() and metafile(), etc methods for this class?
>> And if it is saved as a SavedPlots class, then what is a
>> "recordedplot"
>> class?
>> Why the two names? Finally, the .SavedPlots does not appear in my
>> workspace at all.
>> Where did it go?
>>
>> Here is a code snippet, why does this not work:
>> windows();
>> nf1 <- layout(matrix(1), widths=lcm(6), heights=lcm(6))
>> par(mfrow=c(2,2)); par (mfg=c(1,1)); plot( ...some stuff...); par
>> (mfg=c(1,2); plot(....some more stuff...) par (mfg=c(2,1);
>> plot(....some more stuff...) par (mfg=c(2,2); plot(....some more
>> stuff...)
>>
>> plot_save=recordPlot();
>>
>> # now some more code, doing other stuff, maybe more plots # now try to
>
>> replay the saved plot:
>>
>> replayPlot(plot_save)
>>
>> This last line gives the following error:
>> Error in replayPlot(plot_save) :
>> A clipboard metafile can store only one figure.
>>
>> The documentation says that replayPlot() has a print method, so let's
>> try that: we get the following error:
>> Error: unexpected symbol in "replayPlot(lm_hr_plot).print"
>>
>> Can someone help me understand this, and get routines to save and
>> replay plots?
>>
>> Thanks in advance...
>>
>
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>
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
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