[R-pkgs] WriteXLS: New version 1.6.0 - Binary CRAN packages available and other changes

[Marc Schwartz]

Hi all,

A new version of the WriteXLS package, 1.6.0, is making its way around  
the CRAN mirrors and should be generally available in the next 24-48  
hours.

The WriteXLS package provides a cross-platform perl based R function  
to create Excel (XLS) files from one or more data frames. Each data  
frame will be written to a separate named worksheet in the Excel  
spreadsheet. The worksheet name will be the name of the data frame it  
contains.

Key changes from version 1.5.0:

1. Thanks to work by Uwe Ligges and changes to the examples being  
used, Windows and OSX binary versions of the package will become  
available to enable their easier installation using install.packages()  
within an R session.

2. A new function called testPerl() has been added to enable the self- 
checking of the user's system to ensure that Perl and all required  
Perl modules are available to use the WriteXLS() function. The package  
will return either success or error messages indicating missing  
requirements. If you are unsure as to whether or not you have all  
requirements, you can run this function prior to using the WriteXLS()  
function.

3. A new INSTALL file has been created and is in the main package  
installation directory. An online copy is also available from CRAN at:

   http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/WriteXLS/INSTALL

The INSTALL file contains additional information on the package  
requirements and recommendations for meeting them. Details are  
provided for Windows, OSX and Linux relative to options for installing  
Perl and any missing modules.

The WriteXLS package is being maintained on R-Forge at:

   https://r-forge.r-project.org/projects/writexls/

Regards,

Marc Schwartz