R help - Dec 2003 - R GUI dies using postcript() in Windows XP Pro

Dear List,

My colleague has been having a problem with the following data and 
plotting commands. The example below is part of a larger set of plots, 
but I've isolated the problem to this example using this small dataset 
(below), which kills rgui consistently. My version info

 > version
          _
platform i386-pc-mingw32
arch     i386
os       mingw32
system   i386, mingw32
status
major    1
minor    8.0
year     2003
month    10
day      08
language R

But this also happens in 1.8.1 on Windows XP Pro

The code seems to stop at the call to plot() in the code below, and then 
MS's error reporting window pops up and informs us that rgui has been 
closed.

Note that the same code, but without the postcript() and dev.off() 
commands works as expected to produce the plot on a windows device.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

All the best,

Gav

#code to run to reproduce the problem
year <- c(1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)

avgMsr <- c(10.800000, 7.000000, 6.200000, 9.571429, 10.800000, 
11.600000, 10.200000, 11.400000, 7.200000, 9.400000, 11.200000, 
11.600000, 11.600000, 8.000000, 7.600000)

totMsr <- c(19, 17, 13, 24, 17, 17, 21, 18, 13, 15, 19, 18, 21, 15, 11)

postscript(file="invert.eps", onefile=FALSE, horizontal = FALSE, 
pointsize = 8)

op <- par(mar = c(3,4,1.5,1)+0.1,font.main=16,tcl=-0.2)
plot(x = year, y = avgMsr, ylab = "Species richness", main =
"Loch Coire
nan Arr", axes = FALSE, ylim = c(0,25), xlim = c(1988,2002))
axis(2, las=1)
axis(1)
lines(x = year, y = avgMsr)
points(x = year, y = totMsr , col = "black", pch = 19, type =
"o")
lines(x = year, y = totMsr)
box()
par(op)
dev.off()
-- 
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Gavin Simpson                     [T] +44 (0)20 7679 5522
ENSIS Research Fellow             [F] +44 (0)20 7679 7565
ENSIS Ltd. & ECRC                 [E] gavin.simpson at ucl.ac.uk
UCL Department of Geography       [W] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/cv/
26 Bedford Way                    [W] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/
London.  WC1H 0AP.
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%

The font.main = 16  in par() is having problems cooperating with
pointsize = 8 in postscript().

One of them has to go and then the code is happy. This is probably a
feature.

HTH, Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
[mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Gavin Simpson
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 11:02 AM
To: R-Help
Subject: [R] R GUI dies using postcript() in Windows XP Pro


Dear List,

My colleague has been having a problem with the following data and 
plotting commands. The example below is part of a larger set of plots, 
but I've isolated the problem to this example using this small dataset 
(below), which kills rgui consistently. My version info

 > version
          _
platform i386-pc-mingw32
arch     i386
os       mingw32
system   i386, mingw32
status
major    1
minor    8.0
year     2003
month    10
day      08
language R

But this also happens in 1.8.1 on Windows XP Pro

The code seems to stop at the call to plot() in the code below, and then

MS's error reporting window pops up and informs us that rgui has been 
closed.

Note that the same code, but without the postcript() and dev.off() 
commands works as expected to produce the plot on a windows device.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

All the best,

Gav

#code to run to reproduce the problem
year <- c(1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)

avgMsr <- c(10.800000, 7.000000, 6.200000, 9.571429, 10.800000, 
11.600000, 10.200000, 11.400000, 7.200000, 9.400000, 11.200000, 
11.600000, 11.600000, 8.000000, 7.600000)

totMsr <- c(19, 17, 13, 24, 17, 17, 21, 18, 13, 15, 19, 18, 21, 15, 11)

postscript(file="invert.eps", onefile=FALSE, horizontal = FALSE, 
pointsize = 8)

op <- par(mar = c(3,4,1.5,1)+0.1,font.main=16,tcl=-0.2)
plot(x = year, y = avgMsr, ylab = "Species richness", main =
"Loch Coire

nan Arr", axes = FALSE, ylim = c(0,25), xlim = c(1988,2002)) axis(2,
las=1)
axis(1)
lines(x = year, y = avgMsr)
points(x = year, y = totMsr , col = "black", pch = 19, type =
"o")
lines(x = year, y = totMsr)
box()
par(op)
dev.off()
-- 
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Gavin Simpson                     [T] +44 (0)20 7679 5522
ENSIS Research Fellow             [F] +44 (0)20 7679 7565
ENSIS Ltd. & ECRC                 [E] gavin.simpson at ucl.ac.uk
UCL Department of Geography       [W] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/cv/
26 Bedford Way                    [W] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/
London.  WC1H 0AP.
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%

______________________________________________
R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 18:02:07 +0000, Gavin Simpson
<gavin.simpson at ucl.ac.uk> wrote :
>Dear List,
>
>My colleague has been having a problem with the following data and 
>plotting commands. The example below is part of a larger set of plots, 
>but I've isolated the problem to this example using this small dataset 
>(below), which kills rgui consistently. My version info
>
> > version
>          _
>platform i386-pc-mingw32
>arch     i386
>os       mingw32
>system   i386, mingw32
>status
>major    1
>minor    8.0
>year     2003
>month    10
>day      08
>language R
>
>But this also happens in 1.8.1 on Windows XP Pro
I just tried it in 1.8.1, Win XP Pro, with no error, then tried in a
relatively recent build of r-patched and saw the crash.  I'll see if I
can track it down.

Duncan Murdoch
>
>The code seems to stop at the call to plot() in the code below, and then 
>MS's error reporting window pops up and informs us that rgui has been 
>closed.
>
>Note that the same code, but without the postcript() and dev.off() 
>commands works as expected to produce the plot on a windows device.
>
>Any ideas as to what is going on?
>
>All the best,
>
>Gav
>
>#code to run to reproduce the problem
>year <- c(1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 
>1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
>
>avgMsr <- c(10.800000, 7.000000, 6.200000, 9.571429, 10.800000, 
>11.600000, 10.200000, 11.400000, 7.200000, 9.400000, 11.200000, 
>11.600000, 11.600000, 8.000000, 7.600000)
>
>totMsr <- c(19, 17, 13, 24, 17, 17, 21, 18, 13, 15, 19, 18, 21, 15, 11)
>
>postscript(file="invert.eps", onefile=FALSE, horizontal = FALSE, 
>pointsize = 8)
>
>op <- par(mar = c(3,4,1.5,1)+0.1,font.main=16,tcl=-0.2)
>plot(x = year, y = avgMsr, ylab = "Species richness", main =
"Loch Coire
>nan Arr", axes = FALSE, ylim = c(0,25), xlim = c(1988,2002))
>axis(2, las=1)
>axis(1)
>lines(x = year, y = avgMsr)
>points(x = year, y = totMsr , col = "black", pch = 19, type =
"o")
>lines(x = year, y = totMsr)
>box()
>par(op)
>dev.off()

What do you think font.main=16 does?  postscript() only has 5 fonts.

Fortunately your example also crashes on Linux so was fairly easy to track 
down.

The windows devices do have more fonts (19 by default).

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, Gavin Simpson wrote:
> Dear List,
> 
> My colleague has been having a problem with the following data and 
> plotting commands. The example below is part of a larger set of plots, 
> but I've isolated the problem to this example using this small dataset 
> (below), which kills rgui consistently. My version info
> 
>  > version
>           _
> platform i386-pc-mingw32
> arch     i386
> os       mingw32
> system   i386, mingw32
> status
> major    1
> minor    8.0
> year     2003
> month    10
> day      08
> language R
> 
> But this also happens in 1.8.1 on Windows XP Pro
> 
> The code seems to stop at the call to plot() in the code below, and then 
> MS's error reporting window pops up and informs us that rgui has been 
> closed.
> 
> Note that the same code, but without the postcript() and dev.off() 
> commands works as expected to produce the plot on a windows device.
> 
> Any ideas as to what is going on?
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Gav
> 
> #code to run to reproduce the problem
> year <- c(1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 
> 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
> 
> avgMsr <- c(10.800000, 7.000000, 6.200000, 9.571429, 10.800000, 
> 11.600000, 10.200000, 11.400000, 7.200000, 9.400000, 11.200000, 
> 11.600000, 11.600000, 8.000000, 7.600000)
> 
> totMsr <- c(19, 17, 13, 24, 17, 17, 21, 18, 13, 15, 19, 18, 21, 15, 11)
> 
> postscript(file="invert.eps", onefile=FALSE, horizontal = FALSE, 
> pointsize = 8)
> 
> op <- par(mar = c(3,4,1.5,1)+0.1,font.main=16,tcl=-0.2)
> plot(x = year, y = avgMsr, ylab = "Species richness", main =
"Loch Coire
> nan Arr", axes = FALSE, ylim = c(0,25), xlim = c(1988,2002))
> axis(2, las=1)
> axis(1)
> lines(x = year, y = avgMsr)
> points(x = year, y = totMsr , col = "black", pch = 19, type =
"o")
> lines(x = year, y = totMsr)
> box()
> par(op)
> dev.off()
> 
-- 
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 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595