[R-gui] further on the Rcmdr package

[John Fox]

Dear Phillipe,

I tried the Rcmdr package with Sci Views 0.1.104, which is what I have 
installed on my machine. The Commander window and dialog boxes appear to 
work fine. The only problem that I noted -- which is significant, of course 
-- is that printed output doesn't appear in the R window.

By the way, I think that it's OK at this point to add a link on the R GUI 
Project page to the Rcmdr page on my web site.

Thanks for this,
  John

At 02:50 AM 5/20/2003 -0400, Philippe Grosjean wrote:
>I am away in a symposium, so, I could not check your issues myself. 
>However, I also experience the problem of Tcl/Tk dialog boxes appearing 
>behind RGui. Apparently, RGui and Tcl run in separate processes and 
>Windows consider they are two unrelated applications.
>
>I would like to support your various dialog boxes in SciViews. It will 
>require very minor adjustments, and you will got a MDI with better 
>behaviour of TclTk dialog boxes under Windows.
>
>Best,
>
>Philippe Grosjean
>
>
>---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>From: John Fox <jfox at mcmaster.ca>
>Date:  Mon, 19 May 2003 21:05:47 -0400
>
> >Dear R-Gui list members,
> >
> >I've posted another version of the Rcmdr package to my web site, at
> ><http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Misc/Rcmdr/>.
> >
> >Changes include many more input-error checks and improvements to a number
> >of dialogs, including e.g. the ability to specify a subsetting expression
> >for models.
> >
> >A partly unresolved issue is the problem raised by Dirk Eddelbuettel on
> >Sunday: Dirk found that both the R session and the Commander windows locked
> >up after the Rcmdr package was loaded on his Debian Linux system. Following
> >Dirk's suggestion, I've added an option to Rcmdr to call tkwait until the
> >Commander window is closed. Apparently this solves the problem that Dirk
> >experienced, but an unfortunate consequence is that the command prompt in
> >the R session is disabled until the Commander window is closed. Although
> >this isn't a fatal problem -- commands can still be entered through the
> >GUI, including via the log/script window -- it would be nice to be able to
> >enter commands directly at the command prompt as well. I can do this when
> >the call to tkwait is bypassed on Windows systems and on my Red Hat Linux
> >system. Since no one else reported the problem, I assume that the package
> >also works without the call to tkwait on a number of other systems.
> >
> >I'd appreciate some information and advice from those more experienced with
> >Tcl/Tk than I. In particular, why does the call to tkwait appear necessary
> >on at least one system but not on others? Is there a better way to resolve
> >the issue than to provide an option?
> >
> >Another, though smaller, unresolved issue has to do with my inability to
> >use the Rcmdr package (or any tcltk-based code) with R under the MDI in
> >Windows. Can anyone tell me what the source of the problem is (that is, why
> >dialog boxes won't stay in front of the R-GUI window)? Is it likely that
> >the problem will be fixed? I actually prefer the SDI, but notice that most
> >of my students like the MDI, which is the default when the Windows
> >distribution of R is installed.
> >
> >As usual, comments and suggestions are appreciated. I expect that I'll
> >submit a version of the Rcmdr package to CRAN soon.
> >
> >Thanks for your help,
> >  John
> >-----------------------------------------------------
> >John Fox
> >Department of Sociology
> >McMaster University
> >Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4
> >email: jfox at mcmaster.ca
> >phone: 905-525-9140x23604
> >web: www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >R-SIG-GUI mailing list
> >R-SIG-GUI at stat.math.ethz.ch
> >https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-gui
> >
>
>--
>..............................................................
>  ) ) ) ) )
>( ( ( ( (       Philippe Grosjean
>( ( ( ( (       Marine Biol. Lab., ULB, Belgium
>  ) ) ) ) )      Mariculture & Biostatistic
>( ( ( ( (
>  ) ) ) ) )      SciViews project coordinator
>( ( ( ( (       (http://www.sciviews.org)
>  ) ) ) ) )      email:phgrosje at ulb.ac.be
>( ( ( ( (
>..............................................................
>
>
>--

-----------------------------------------------------
John Fox
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4
email: jfox at mcmaster.ca
phone: 905-525-9140x23604
web: www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox