R help - Jan 2004 - HTML help pages

I am having trouble getting the HTML help pages to work. When I try the 
search engine I get an error on page response and nothing happens. When 
I try to click on the listed topics nothing happens. I am using both 
Mozilla and IE6 on XP and the same thing happens on each. Is there 
something I'm missing?

Thanks
-Devin Johnson

Devin Johnson wrote:
> I am having trouble getting the HTML help pages to work. When I try
> the search engine I get an error on page response and nothing
> happens. When I try to click on the listed topics nothing happens. I
> am using both Mozilla and IE6 on XP and the same thing happens on
> each. Is there something I'm missing?
I have (almost exactly) the same problem.

If I start an R session, do help.start(), and then say, e.g.

	?plot

the help comes up in the Mozilla window as it should.  But if I
attempt a search using the search engine in the window provided by
help.start(), nothing happens.

I don't any error from clicking on a topic, just a total lack
of response.

I'm using Mozilla and R 1.8.1 under Linux:

===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+==      
_
platform i686-pc-linux-gnu
arch     i686             
os       linux-gnu        
system   i686, linux-gnu  
status                    
major    1                
minor    8.1              
year     2003             
month    11               
day      21               
language R                
===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+==
I've no idea what the solution is.  This is contributed just to point
out that the problem is not unique.

					cheers,

						Rolf Turner
						rolf at math.unb.ca

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004, Devin Johnson wrote:
> I am having trouble getting the HTML help pages to work. When I try the 
> search engine I get an error on page response and nothing happens. When 
> I try to click on the listed topics nothing happens. I am using both 
> Mozilla and IE6 on XP and the same thing happens on each. Is there 
> something I'm missing?
Did you check the rw-FAQ?  It says

 If the help search system does not work _at all_, this probably
 indicates that Java support is either not installed or not enabled in
 your browser.  Recent versions of browsers have made Java support
 optional: for example it is optional in Netscape 6/7 and in Opera, and
 may not be installed for IE6 on Windows XP.  You also need JavaScript
 enabled.

Marc Schwartz has already given a comprehensive Linux-oriented answer.  
In my recent experience on Windows (and I have set up XP boxes three times
recently) it will work provided

Java is installed and enabled
No one has altered the default security settings.

It is unlikely that Mozilla has Java enabled unless you took steps to
install a Sun Java JRE.  You can configure XP to use the Sun JRE, (in `set
Program Access and Defaults' on the start menu) but it will expect to use
the Microsoft Java VM.

As Marc says, Mozilla (and Netscape and Firebird) will show `Applet
SearchEngine started' in the bottom left corner.  I didn't see such a
message in IE6.  On the box I am writing this on I have just checked IE6
(fully patched), Netscape 7.1, Mozilla 1.6 and MozillaFirebird 0.7: they 
all work.


My experience with Linux and Solaris is that they are much harder to set 
up, and only some JRE versions work with some browsers.  (For example, I 
had Netscape 7.01 and Mozilla 1.4 working, but 7.1 and 1.6 required a JRE 
upgrade and that did not then work with 7.01 and 1.4.  Next thing the 
link to the required JRE on Sun's site got broken ....)

-- 
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