R devel - Nov 2016 - getGraphicsEvent() alternative for cairo graphics device?

Hi

Taking a look at those patches is now on my todo list, so I may be in 
touch with both of you at some point to request some testing.

Paul

On 26/07/16 07:17, frederik at ofb.net wrote:
> Dear Daniel Greenidge,
>
> To enable getGraphicsEvent on Cairo, you have two patches to choose
> from:
>
> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14364
> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16951
>
> The second one is by me, and the first one is from five years ago by
> Hugo Mildenberger.
>
> Both patches are very simple, they move some lines enabling
> getGrahpicsEvent outside of a if(!cairo) statement. My patch also adds
> the ability to execute code (e.g. for animation) while the interface
> is idle.
>
> Top guy Duncan Murdoch has expressed that he doesn't have time to work
> on applying these patches, and I haven't had any responses from the
> rest of the R Core Team. I was thinking that perhaps your best bet is
> to try to create a package called e.g. "X11-fixes" which people
can
> use to get a better X11 library (there is also a bug waiting to be
> fixed from 2001:
> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16702).
>
> I don't know if CRAN would accept such a package, or if you'd have
to
> distribute it via GitHub, but R has excellent tools to facilitate the
> distribution of code via packages. Whether the R kernel exports enough
> functions to allow a package to take over event handling, I'm not
> sure. I was intending to look more into the details of this
> possibility but haven't had time.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Frederick
>
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 02:15:59PM -0400, Daniel Greenidge wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm writing an interactive plotting function for viewing fMRI
>> datasets. Currently, I get keypresses using
>> grDevices::getGraphicsEvent().
>>
>> Unfortunately getGraphicsEvent() only supports the
X11(type="Xlib")
>> graphics device on Unix systems. The Xlib device doesn't support
>> buffering (i.e. dev.hold() and dev.flush()), so redrawing the plots
>> causes lots of flickering.
>>
>> Is there a way to get keypresses while using the cairo graphics
>> device? Alternatively, is there a way to prevent flickering with the
>> Xlib graphics device?
>>
>> Best,
>> Daniel Greenidge
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>
-- 
Dr Paul Murrell
Department of Statistics
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
64 9 3737599 x85392
paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/

Hi Paul,

Just checking in to see what the status is.
>From my perspective it seems logical to split off X11 into a separate
package, so development can proceed at a reasonable rate, but I
haven't yet tried to see if that's even possible.

Thanks,

Frederick

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 09:23:35AM +1200, Paul Murrell
wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Taking a look at those patches is now on my todo list, so I may be in touch
> with both of you at some point to request some testing.
> 
> Paul
> 
> On 26/07/16 07:17, frederik at ofb.net wrote:
> > Dear Daniel Greenidge,
> > 
> > To enable getGraphicsEvent on Cairo, you have two patches to choose
> > from:
> > 
> > https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14364
> > https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16951
> > 
> > The second one is by me, and the first one is from five years ago by
> > Hugo Mildenberger.
> > 
> > Both patches are very simple, they move some lines enabling
> > getGrahpicsEvent outside of a if(!cairo) statement. My patch also adds
> > the ability to execute code (e.g. for animation) while the interface
> > is idle.
> > 
> > Top guy Duncan Murdoch has expressed that he doesn't have time to
work
> > on applying these patches, and I haven't had any responses from
the
> > rest of the R Core Team. I was thinking that perhaps your best bet is
> > to try to create a package called e.g. "X11-fixes" which
people can
> > use to get a better X11 library (there is also a bug waiting to be
> > fixed from 2001:
> > https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16702).
> > 
> > I don't know if CRAN would accept such a package, or if you'd
have to
> > distribute it via GitHub, but R has excellent tools to facilitate the
> > distribution of code via packages. Whether the R kernel exports enough
> > functions to allow a package to take over event handling, I'm not
> > sure. I was intending to look more into the details of this
> > possibility but haven't had time.
> > 
> > Best wishes,
> > 
> > Frederick
> > 
> > On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 02:15:59PM -0400, Daniel Greenidge wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > > 
> > > I'm writing an interactive plotting function for viewing fMRI
> > > datasets. Currently, I get keypresses using
> > > grDevices::getGraphicsEvent().
> > > 
> > > Unfortunately getGraphicsEvent() only supports the
X11(type="Xlib")
> > > graphics device on Unix systems. The Xlib device doesn't
support
> > > buffering (i.e. dev.hold() and dev.flush()), so redrawing the
plots
> > > causes lots of flickering.
> > > 
> > > Is there a way to get keypresses while using the cairo graphics
> > > device? Alternatively, is there a way to prevent flickering with
the
> > > Xlib graphics device?
> > > 
> > > Best,
> > > Daniel Greenidge
> > > 
> > > ______________________________________________
> > > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> > > 
> > 
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Dr Paul Murrell
> Department of Statistics
> The University of Auckland
> Private Bag 92019
> Auckland
> New Zealand
> 64 9 3737599 x85392
> paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
> http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/
>

Hi

The current status is that I am keen for people to contribute some 
testing code (see https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16951)

There were also some getGraphicsEvent() changes/fixes suggested by 
Richard Bodewits (cc'ed), for which I am also seeking test code.

Paul

On 13/11/16 09:00, frederik at ofb.net wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> Just checking in to see what the status is.
>
> From my perspective it seems logical to split off X11 into a separate
> package, so development can proceed at a reasonable rate, but I
> haven't yet tried to see if that's even possible.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Frederick
>
> On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 09:23:35AM +1200, Paul Murrell wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> Taking a look at those patches is now on my todo list, so I may be in
touch
>> with both of you at some point to request some testing.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> On 26/07/16 07:17, frederik at ofb.net wrote:
>>> Dear Daniel Greenidge,
>>>
>>> To enable getGraphicsEvent on Cairo, you have two patches to choose
>>> from:
>>>
>>> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14364
>>> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16951
>>>
>>> The second one is by me, and the first one is from five years ago
by
>>> Hugo Mildenberger.
>>>
>>> Both patches are very simple, they move some lines enabling
>>> getGrahpicsEvent outside of a if(!cairo) statement. My patch also
adds
>>> the ability to execute code (e.g. for animation) while the
interface
>>> is idle.
>>>
>>> Top guy Duncan Murdoch has expressed that he doesn't have time
to work
>>> on applying these patches, and I haven't had any responses from
the
>>> rest of the R Core Team. I was thinking that perhaps your best bet
is
>>> to try to create a package called e.g. "X11-fixes" which
people can
>>> use to get a better X11 library (there is also a bug waiting to be
>>> fixed from 2001:
>>> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16702).
>>>
>>> I don't know if CRAN would accept such a package, or if
you'd have to
>>> distribute it via GitHub, but R has excellent tools to facilitate
the
>>> distribution of code via packages. Whether the R kernel exports
enough
>>> functions to allow a package to take over event handling, I'm
not
>>> sure. I was intending to look more into the details of this
>>> possibility but haven't had time.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Frederick
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 02:15:59PM -0400, Daniel Greenidge wrote:
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I'm writing an interactive plotting function for viewing
fMRI
>>>> datasets. Currently, I get keypresses using
>>>> grDevices::getGraphicsEvent().
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately getGraphicsEvent() only supports the
X11(type="Xlib")
>>>> graphics device on Unix systems. The Xlib device doesn't
support
>>>> buffering (i.e. dev.hold() and dev.flush()), so redrawing the
plots
>>>> causes lots of flickering.
>>>>
>>>> Is there a way to get keypresses while using the cairo graphics
>>>> device? Alternatively, is there a way to prevent flickering
with the
>>>> Xlib graphics device?
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Daniel Greenidge
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr Paul Murrell
>> Department of Statistics
>> The University of Auckland
>> Private Bag 92019
>> Auckland
>> New Zealand
>> 64 9 3737599 x85392
>> paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
>> http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/
>>
-- 
Dr Paul Murrell
Department of Statistics
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
64 9 3737599 x85392
paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/