R help - Mar 2000 - how to document user-defined packages for windows

After several hours of trial and error I've figured out how to create
packages for use by rw1000 ("Writing R Extensions" seems not to cover
this).

I haven't been able to figure out how to make help files work. I want plain
text only, via help(name) or ?name.

I create a 'help' subdirectory containing a 00Titles file and
function-specific help files in the package directory, but help() doesn't
see them, I get, e.g.,

     Error in help(get.source.data) : No documentation for
`get.source.data'

Could someone indicate briefly what must be done to make help() work for
user-defined packages under windows, or point me to pertinent documentation
if I've missed it? Thanks!

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On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, Griffith Feeney wrote:
> After several hours of trial and error I've figured out how to create
> packages for use by rw1000 ("Writing R Extensions" seems not to
cover
> this).
> 
> I haven't been able to figure out how to make help files work. I want
plain
> text only, via help(name) or ?name.
> 
> I create a 'help' subdirectory containing a 00Titles file and
> function-specific help files in the package directory, but help()
doesn't
> see them, I get, e.g.,
> 
>      Error in help(get.source.data) : No documentation for
> `get.source.data'
> 
> Could someone indicate briefly what must be done to make help() work for
> user-defined packages under windows, or point me to pertinent documentation
> if I've missed it? Thanks!
You write documentation axactly as described in `Writing R Extensions',
and you then install the package as descirbed in the rw-FAQ and in the file
`readme.packages' in rw1000sp.zip.


-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

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On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, Griffith Feeney wrote:
>> After several hours of trial and error I've figured out how to
create
>> packages for use by rw1000 ("Writing R Extensions" seems not
to cover
>> this).
[snip]

[Prof Brian D Ripley wrote]
>You write documentation axactly as described in `Writing R Extensions',
>and you then install the package as descirbed in the rw-FAQ and in the
file
>`readme.packages' in rw1000sp.zip.
Thanks, this clarifies my confusion. All I want to do is put a few dozen
simple R programs in a package that I can attach to the search path with
library(). This to keep them from cluttering up the current workspace.
Having always downloaded and installed binaries of R, and never having used
gcc or make, it didn't occur to me that such a package should be created
with these tools. I succeeded in getting my package recognized by manually
creating the necessary directories and files, but I couldn't get the help
files recognized.

After appropriate preparation (reading the FAQ and readme files, installing
the various tools, no problem here, I think) I tried out the procedure
described in the Simple Ports section of readme.packages by downloading and
attempting to install the chron package. 'tar zxvf chron_2_2-2_tar.gz'
creates c:\rw1000\src\library\chron okay, but 'make pkg-chron' gives

C:\rw1000\src\gnuwin32>make pkg-chron
Too many parameters - /..
Makefile:49: *** missing separator.  Stop.

At this point, I'm lost. The Simple Ports section of readme.packages
doesn't say anything about editing (any of the various) make files, and
in any case the other references to such editing in the R documentation
are too terse (e.g., from INSTALL for R-1.0.0, "edit MkRules to set the
appropriate paths as needed") to guide someone who has never used make.

If it is the only way to get R to see my help files, I will eventually
find time to learn about make, but if there's a more direct route
I could move forward more quickly. Thanks in advance for any help.

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