R help - Feb 2004 - how to get the GUI directory chooser on Windows?

Dear R-help,

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to call up the "directory
chooser" (the
one you get when you click on "File" -> "Change Dir...")
in Rgui from the R
command line?  Seems like file.choose() can't be used to choose a directory.

This is in R-1.8.1 on WinXPPro.

Any help much appreciated!

Andy



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Liaw, Andy wrote:
> Dear R-help,
> 
> Can anyone tell me if it's possible to call up the "directory
chooser" (the
> one you get when you click on "File" -> "Change
Dir...") in Rgui from the R
> command line?  Seems like file.choose() can't be used to choose a
directory.
Looks like there is no R function to do so.

The C level code is in
./src/gnuwin32/rui.c
and
./src/gnuwin32/graphapp/dialogs.c
and friends.

Uwe Ligges

> This is in R-1.8.1 on WinXPPro.
> 
> Any help much appreciated!
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> 
>
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> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide!
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

Thanks to Uwe and Duncan Murdoch (who replied off-list).  The bottom line is
as Uwe said: no existing R level functionality.

I guess it might be possible to do something similar with Tcl/Tk, but I do
not know Tcl/tk...

Best,
Andy
> From: Uwe Ligges
> 
> Liaw, Andy wrote:
> 
> > Dear R-help,
> > 
> > Can anyone tell me if it's possible to call up the 
> "directory chooser" (the
> > one you get when you click on "File" -> "Change
Dir...") in
> Rgui from the R
> > command line?  Seems like file.choose() can't be used to 
> choose a directory.
> 
> Looks like there is no R function to do so.
> 
> The C level code is in
> ./src/gnuwin32/rui.c
> and
> ./src/gnuwin32/graphapp/dialogs.c
> and friends.
> 
> Uwe Ligges
> 
> 
> > This is in R-1.8.1 on WinXPPro.
> > 
> > Any help much appreciated!
> > 
> > Andy
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> > Notice:  This e-mail message, together with any 
> attachments,...{{dropped}}
> > 
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> > https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> 
> 

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Fantastic!  Thanks very much, John.  Now I can use:

cd <- function(dir = tclvalue(tkchooseDirectory()), saveOld=FALSE,
               loadNew=TRUE) {
  require(tcltk)
  if (saveOld) save.image(compress=TRUE)
  setwd(dir)
  rm(list=ls(all=TRUE, envir=.GlobalEnv), envir=.GlobalEnv)
  if (loadNew && file.exists(".RData")) {
    loaded <- load(".RData", envir=.GlobalEnv)
    return(invisible(loaded))
  }
}

so when I simply type cd() at the Rgui prompt, I can choose a directory,
click "OK", and have R switch to the new directory and load the
workspace
image, if one is present.

[The code probably could use a bit more safeguard; e.g., checking that dir
is actually a valid directory, if given in the call to cd().]

Best,
Andy
> From: John Fox [mailto:jfox at mcmaster.ca] 
> 
> Dear Andy,
> 
> At 02:29 PM 2/11/2004 -0500, Liaw, Andy wrote:
> >Thanks to Uwe and Duncan Murdoch (who replied off-list).  
> The bottom line is
> >as Uwe said: no existing R level functionality.
> >
> >I guess it might be possible to do something similar with 
> Tcl/Tk, but I do
> >not know Tcl/tk...
> 
> With the tcltk package loaded, it's as simple as 
> tclvalue(tkchooseDirectory()), which returns the directory name as a 
> character string.
> 
> I hope that this helps,
>   John
> 
> >Best,
> >Andy
> >
> > > From: Uwe Ligges
> > >
> > > Liaw, Andy wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear R-help,
> > > >
> > > > Can anyone tell me if it's possible to call up the
> > > "directory chooser" (the
> > > > one you get when you click on "File" ->
"Change Dir...") in
> > > Rgui from the R
> > > > command line?  Seems like file.choose() can't be used to
> > > choose a directory.
> > >
> > > Looks like there is no R function to do so.
> > >
> > > The C level code is in
> > > ./src/gnuwin32/rui.c
> > > and
> > > ./src/gnuwin32/graphapp/dialogs.c
> > > and friends.
> > >
> > > Uwe Ligges
> > >
> > >
> > > > This is in R-1.8.1 on WinXPPro.
> > > >
> > > > Any help much appreciated!
> > > >
> > > > Andy
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> John Fox
> Department of Sociology
> McMaster University
> Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4
> email: jfox at mcmaster.ca
> phone: 905-525-9140x23604
> web: www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 

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