[R-SIG-Mac] R.app help viewer blank

[Ben Tupper]

Hi David,

Thank you for the ideas.

> ?data.frame
starting httpd help server ... done
> getOption("help_type")
[1] "html"
> tools:::startDynamicHelp(start = TRUE)
Error in tools:::startDynamicHelp(start = TRUE) : server already running

So I tried to shut it down and then restarted it.

> tools:::startDynamicHelp(start = FALSE)
> tools:::startDynamicHelp(start = TRUE)
starting httpd help server ... done
> ?data.frame

The help viewer content is still blank.

I have no startup file and no .Rhistory or Rdata files in my home directory which is assigned as R.app's inital working directory (Preferences > Startup > Directory ["Always apply" = yes])  I created an empty directory '~/foo' and assigned that as the initial working directory.  The behavior is the same as for my home directory.

Ben

> On Sep 19, 2017, at 4:42 PM, David Winsemius <dwinsemius at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Sep 19, 2017, at 10:23 AM, Ben Tupper <btupper at bigelow.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I just updated to R 3.4.1 [R.app GUI 1.70 (7375) x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0] from http://mirror.its.dal.ca/cran/ but have encountered a puzzler.  When I lunch the help viewer like this...
>> 
>> ?data.frame 
>> 
>> the viewer launches but the page content is blank.  I have also tried he search box in the help viewer as well as the menu selection 'Help > R Help' with the same result.  I have restarted both R.app and the computer without joy. The startup message and output of sessionInfo() are pasted in below.
>> 
>> I can get help successfully from a R session in Terminal.app.  I poked around in the list archives but don't see anything recent on this issue.  
>> 
>> What should I do to enable the help viewer?
> 
> 
> What's in your startup files?
> 
> Have you deleted or moved aside any .Rprofile and .Rdata files?
> 
> I think you would also look at:
> 
> getOption("help_type")
> 
> Looking at other options settings I see a reference to startDynamicHelp so perhaps try:
> 
> tools:::startDynamicHelp(start = TRUE)
> 
> -- 
> David.
> 
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Ben
>> 
>> 
>> R version 3.4.1 (2017-06-30) -- "Single Candle"
>> Copyright (C) 2017 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
>> Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0 (64-bit)
>> 
>> R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
>> You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.
>> Type 'license()' or 'licence()' for distribution details.
>> 
>> Natural language support but running in an English locale
>> 
>> R is a collaborative project with many contributors.
>> Type 'contributors()' for more information and
>> 'citation()' on how to cite R or R packages in publications.
>> 
>> Type 'demo()' for some demos, 'help()' for on-line help, or
>> 'help.start()' for an HTML browser interface to help.
>> Type 'q()' to quit R.
>> 
>> [R.app GUI 1.70 (7375) x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0]
>> 
>>> ?data.frame
>> starting httpd help server ... done
>> 
>>> sessionInfo()
>> R version 3.4.1 (2017-06-30)
>> Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0 (64-bit)
>> Running under: OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
>> 
>> Matrix products: default
>> BLAS: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.4/Resources/lib/libRblas.0.dylib
>> LAPACK: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.4/Resources/lib/libRlapack.dylib
>> 
>> locale:
>> [1] en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8
>> 
>> attached base packages:
>> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     
>> 
>> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
>> [1] compiler_3.4.1 tools_3.4.1 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Ben Tupper
>> Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
>> 60 Bigelow Drive, P.O. Box 380
>> East Boothbay, Maine 04544
>> http://www.bigelow.org
>> 
>> Ecocast Reports: http://seascapemodeling.org/ecocast.html
>> Tick Reports: https://report.bigelow.org/tick/
>> Jellyfish Reports: https://jellyfish.bigelow.org/jellyfish/
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> R-SIG-Mac mailing list
>> R-SIG-Mac at r-project.org
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
> 
> David Winsemius
> Alameda, CA, USA
> 
> 'Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.'   -Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law

Ben Tupper
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
60 Bigelow Drive, P.O. Box 380
East Boothbay, Maine 04544
http://www.bigelow.org

Ecocast Reports: http://seascapemodeling.org/ecocast.html
Tick Reports: https://report.bigelow.org/tick/
Jellyfish Reports: https://jellyfish.bigelow.org/jellyfish/