[R-SIG-Mac] Applescript plans

[Rob Goedman]

Hi,

On Feb 11, 2008, at 6:07 AM, Simon Urbanek wrote:

> On Feb 10, 2008, at 2:26 PM, Erich Neuwirth wrote:
>
>> Are there any plans to extend the Applescript facilities in R?
>
> Yes, we plan a new AS interface for the GUI 2.0. Right now we are in
> the process of collecting ideas as of what could be useful, so it's
> the perfect time to ask :).

In private emails between Simon and myself I suggested to include the  
capability to send 'invisible commands' to R.app, e.g. to show  
function arguments in the R console.

A further improvement would allow access to 'GUI' functionality if  
that is not available through a simple 'cmd'.

>> If one  could transfer R matrices  as nested lists to and from
>> Applescript, I  could build another version of RExcel on Macs.
>
> What would you need exactly? It is not quite clear to me how to
> transport matrices - do you mean in textual or binary form? I'm not
> sure how much support we have on the AS side for such kind of a
> thing ... Please feel free to outline any ideas you have concerning
> the interface ...

The return path is more complicated. AS has limitations, the length of  
a single line comes to mind, I have been thinking more about using a  
file (e.g. R-script/coda-like and/or tab/csv based) based approach.

Byron also suggested some ideas on his blog ( http://statcomp.blogspot.com/ 
  ), also in relation to Numbers.

Nevertheless, a 'single line' return from R.app to an AS-ed  
application, as a string, might also be useful in some cases, e.g.  
package load/updates or R CMD build results.

On Feb 11, 2008, at 12:49 AM, stefano iacus wrote:

...
> No one has yet proposed himself to take over on that.
>
> stefano

I committed to work on this once Simon's initial approach for the GUI  
2.0 is in place.

Rob