[R] Porting existing Java GUI to R

[Roy Mendelssohn]

Hi All:

we have an existing GUI written in Java that allows users to access a slew of remote satellite and other environmental data.  The GUI allows the use to browse the source, select the dataset, time and spatial extent of the data, and then obtain that subset.  There is a standalone version, a version that maps to ArcGIS, and in the works a version that maps into Matlab.

We are looking at trying to port this to R, and there appears to be several options and I am hoping for suggestions as to which would be the best given what we are trying to achieve.  For example, incorporating java code into Matlab is straightforward, so we can create a function that calls up the GUI, and then on "close", maps the retrieved data  into Matlab data structures.  The user is still in their usual Matlab workspace - that is what we prefer - we do not want if possible a standalone analysis environment, just an extension to the "Open" statement as it were.

One option appears to be using rjava to make the call to open the GUI  (I believe this would work but I am not certain) and then use jri to write the data structures into the present R workspace.  Another option is to do something like Bio7 does, where there is an R "window" inside the java application, but if I understand the code of that correctly this is done by starting up and calling an RServer.  We would prefer just getting the data into the R workspace and then getting out of the way, rather than running RServer or something similar.

So I guess my questions are:

1.  Can rjava and jri do the types of things we are contemplating.

2.  Are there any other options besides RServer?

3.  Any existing examples of doing something similar that we might be able to look at the code?

Thanks,

-Roy M.




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"The contents of this message do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or NOAA."
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Roy Mendelssohn
Supervisory Operations Research Analyst
NOAA/NMFS
Environmental Research Division
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
1352 Lighthouse Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950-2097

e-mail: Roy.Mendelssohn at noaa.gov (Note new e-mail address)
voice: (831)-648-9029
fax: (831)-648-8440
www: http://www.pfeg.noaa.gov/

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