R devel - Dec 2016 - Strange behavior when using progress bar (Fwd: Re: [R] The code itself disappears after starting to execute the for loop)

I first answered to the email below in r-help, but as I did not see any 
response, and it looks like a bug/unwanted behavior, I am also posting 
here. I have observed this in RGui, whereas it seems not to happen in 
RStudio.

Similar to OP, I sometimes have a problem with functions using the 
progress bar. Frequently, the console is cleared after x iterations when 
the progress bar is called in a function which is wrapped in a loop. In 
the example below, this happened for me every ~44th iteration. 
Interestingly, it seems that reduction of the sleep times in this 
function increases the number of iterations before clearing. In my real 
application, where the progress bar is used in a much slower function, 
the console is cleared every 2-3 iteration, which means that I cannot 
scroll back to check the output.


testit <- function(x = sort(runif(20)), ...)
{
   pb <- txtProgressBar(...)
   for(i in c(0, x, 1)) {Sys.sleep(0.2); setTxtProgressBar(pb, i)}
   Sys.sleep(1)
   close(pb)
}

iter = 0
while (TRUE) {testit(style = 3); iter = iter + 1; print(paste("done", 
iter))}

Is this only a problem for a few, or is it reproducible? Any hints to
what the problem could be, or if it can be fixed? I have seen this in 
some versions of R, and could also reproduce in 3.3.2.

Best wishes,
Jon

R version 3.3.2 (2016-10-31)
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
Running under: Windows 8.1 x64 (build 9600)

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
[2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
[3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C
[5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods base




On 11/23/2016 5:22 PM, Maram SAlem wrote:
> Thanks a lot Bert , will check out your suggestions.
>
> I've unchecked the buffer output option in GUI but still have the same
problem.
>
> Thanks for your time and concern.
>
> Maram Salem
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Nov 23, 2016, at 5:55 PM, Bert Gunter <bgunter.4567 at
gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> In addition to Jim's comments, which you have not yet
satisfactorily
>> addressed (buffering in GUI??),
>>
>> 1. Show your code!
>>
>> 2. Show ouput of sessionInfo()
>>
>> 3. Upgrade to the latest R version maybe
>>
>> 4. Perhaps write to package maintainer (see ?maintainer) if nothing or
>> no one helps.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Bert
>>
>>
>> Bert Gunter
>>
>> "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming
along
>> and sticking things into it."
>> -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic
strip )
>>
>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 10:05 AM, Maram SAlem <marammagdysalem
at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks for helping Jim.
>>>
>>> I'm actually using the pbapply function together with the print
function within a loop. In earlier versions, the progress bar and the output of
the print function used to appear after each iteration of the loop. But with the
3.3.1. Version nothing appears, instead the console turns white and thecursor
turns blue ( busy) and I know nothing about the progress of the running code.
>>>
>>> I just want to see the bar and the output of the print function as
I used to, any help?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>> Maram Salem
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Nov 3, 2016, at 8:30 PM, jim holtman <jholtman at
gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> A little more information would help.  How exactly are out
creating the output to the console?  Are you using 'print',
'cat' or something else?  Do you have buffered output checked on the GUI
(you probably don't want it checked or you output will be delayed till the
buffer is full -- this mightbe the cause of your problem.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jim Holtman
>>>> Data Munger Guru
>>>>
>>>> What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
>>>> Tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it.
>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 1:55 PM, Maram SAlem
<marammagdysalem at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I've a question concerning the R 3.3.1 version. I have
a long code that I used to run on versions earlier to the 3.3.1 version, and
when I copied the code to the R console, I can still see the code while the loop
is executing , along with the output printed after each iteration of the loop.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now, on the 3.3.1 version, after I copy the code to the
console, it disappears and I only see the printed output of only one iteration
at a time, that is, after the first iteration the printed output disappears (
thoughit's only 6 lines, just giving me some guidance, not a long output).
>>>>> This is causing me some problems, so I don't know if
there is a general option for R that enables me to still see the code and the
output of allthe iterations till the loop is over, as was the case with earlier
R versions.
>>>>>
>>>>> I didn't include the code as it's a long one.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks a lot in advance,
>>>>>
>>>>> Maram
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and
more, see
>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained,
reproducible code.
>>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more,
see
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
-- 
Jon Olav Sk?ien
Joint Research Centre - European Commission
Institute for Space, Security & Migration
Disaster Risk Management Unit

Via E. Fermi 2749, TP 122,  I-21027 Ispra (VA), ITALY

jon.skoien at jrc.ec.europa.eu
Tel:  +39 0332 789205

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this email are those of the individual 
and do not necessarily represent official views of the European Commission.

______________________________________________
R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

I would like to ask once more if this is reproducible also for others? 
If yes, should I submit it as a bug-report?

Best,
Jon

On 11/28/2016 11:26 AM, Jon Skoien wrote:
> I first answered to the email below in r-help, but as I did not see 
> any response, and it looks like a bug/unwanted behavior, I am also 
> posting here. I have observed this in RGui, whereas it seems not to 
> happen in RStudio.
>
> Similar to OP, I sometimes have a problem with functions using the 
> progress bar. Frequently, the console is cleared after x iterations 
> when the progress bar is called in a function which is wrapped in a 
> loop. In the example below, this happened for me every ~44th 
> iteration. Interestingly, it seems that reduction of the sleep times 
> in this function increases the number of iterations before clearing. 
> In my real application, where the progress bar is used in a much 
> slower function, the console is cleared every 2-3 iteration, which 
> means that I cannot scroll back to check the output.
>
>
> testit <- function(x = sort(runif(20)), ...)
> {
>   pb <- txtProgressBar(...)
>   for(i in c(0, x, 1)) {Sys.sleep(0.2); setTxtProgressBar(pb, i)}
>   Sys.sleep(1)
>   close(pb)
> }
>
> iter = 0
> while (TRUE) {testit(style = 3); iter = iter + 1;
print(paste("done",
> iter))}
>
> Is this only a problem for a few, or is it reproducible? Any hints to
> what the problem could be, or if it can be fixed? I have seen this in 
> some versions of R, and could also reproduce in 3.3.2.
>
> Best wishes,
> Jon
>
> R version 3.3.2 (2016-10-31)
> Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
> Running under: Windows 8.1 x64 (build 9600)
>
> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods base
>
>
>
>
> On 11/23/2016 5:22 PM, Maram SAlem wrote:
>> Thanks a lot Bert , will check out your suggestions.
>>
>> I've unchecked the buffer output option in GUI but still have the 
>> same problem.
>>
>> Thanks for your time and concern.
>>
>> Maram Salem
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Nov 23, 2016, at 5:55 PM, Bert Gunter <bgunter.4567 at
gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> In addition to Jim's comments, which you have not yet
satisfactorily
>>> addressed (buffering in GUI??),
>>>
>>> 1. Show your code!
>>>
>>> 2. Show ouput of sessionInfo()
>>>
>>> 3. Upgrade to the latest R version maybe
>>>
>>> 4. Perhaps write to package maintainer (see ?maintainer) if nothing
or
>>> no one helps.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Bert
>>>
>>>
>>> Bert Gunter
>>>
>>> "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep
coming along
>>> and sticking things into it."
>>> -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County"
comic strip )
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 10:05 AM, Maram SAlem 
>>>> <marammagdysalem at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Thanks for helping Jim.
>>>>
>>>> I'm actually using the pbapply function together with the
print
>>>> function within a loop. In earlier versions, the progress bar
and
>>>> the output of the print function used to appear after each 
>>>> iteration of the loop. But with the 3.3.1. Version nothing
appears,
>>>> instead the console turns white and thecursor turns blue (
busy)
>>>> and I know nothing about the progress of the running code.
>>>>
>>>> I just want to see the bar and the output of the print function
as
>>>> I used to, any help?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>> Maram Salem
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>> On Nov 3, 2016, at 8:30 PM, jim holtman <jholtman at
gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> A little more information would help.  How exactly are out 
>>>>> creating the output to the console?  Are you using
'print', 'cat'
>>>>> or something else?  Do you have buffered output checked on
the GUI
>>>>> (you probably don't want it checked or you output will
be delayed
>>>>> till the buffer is full -- this mightbe the cause of your
problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Jim Holtman
>>>>> Data Munger Guru
>>>>>
>>>>> What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
>>>>> Tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it.
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 1:55 PM, Maram SAlem 
>>>>>> <marammagdysalem at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I've a question concerning the R 3.3.1 version. I
have a long
>>>>>> code that I used to run on versions earlier to the
3.3.1 version,
>>>>>> and when I copied the code to the R console, I can
still see the
>>>>>> code while the loop is executing , along with the
output printed
>>>>>> after each iteration of the loop.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now, on the 3.3.1 version, after I copy the code to the
console,
>>>>>> it disappears and I only see the printed output of only
one
>>>>>> iteration at a time, that is, after the first iteration
the
>>>>>> printed output disappears ( thoughit's only 6
lines, just giving
>>>>>> me some guidance, not a long output).
>>>>>> This is causing me some problems, so I don't know
if there is a
>>>>>> general option for R that enables me to still see the
code and
>>>>>> the output of allthe iterations till the loop is over,
as was the
>>>>>> case with earlier R versions.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I didn't include the code as it's a long one.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks a lot in advance,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Maram
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE
and more, see
>>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
>>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained,
reproducible code.
>>>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and
more, see
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible
code.
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
-- 
Jon Olav Sk?ien
Joint Research Centre - European Commission
Institute for Space, Security & Migration
Disaster Risk Management Unit

Via E. Fermi 2749, TP 122,  I-21027 Ispra (VA), ITALY

jon.skoien at jrc.ec.europa.eu
Tel:  +39 0332 789205

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this email are those of the individual and do not
necessarily represent official views of the European Commission.

>>>>> Jon Skoien <jon.skoien at jrc.ec.europa.eu>
>>>>>     on Wed, 7 Dec 2016 11:04:04 +0100 writes:
    > I would like to ask once more if this is reproducible also for others? 
    > If yes, should I submit it as a bug-report?

    > Best,
    > Jon

Please  Windows users .. this is possibly only for you!

Note that I do *not* see problems on Linux (in ESS; did not try RStudio).

Please also indicate in which form you are running R.
Here it does depend if this is inside RStudio, ESS, the "Windows
GUI", the "Windows terminal", ...

Martin Maechler,
ETH Zurich


    > On 11/28/2016 11:26 AM, Jon Skoien wrote:
    >> I first answered to the email below in r-help, but as I did not see
    >> any response, and it looks like a bug/unwanted behavior, I am also 
    >> posting here. I have observed this in RGui, whereas it seems not to
    >> happen in RStudio.
    >> 
    >> Similar to OP, I sometimes have a problem with functions using the 
    >> progress bar. Frequently, the console is cleared after x iterations
    >> when the progress bar is called in a function which is wrapped in a
    >> loop. In the example below, this happened for me every ~44th 
    >> iteration. Interestingly, it seems that reduction of the sleep
times
    >> in this function increases the number of iterations before
clearing.
    >> In my real application, where the progress bar is used in a much 
    >> slower function, the console is cleared every 2-3 iteration, which 
    >> means that I cannot scroll back to check the output.

 testit <- function(x = sort(runif(20)), ...) {
   pb <- txtProgressBar(...)
   for(i in c(0, x, 1)) {Sys.sleep(0.2); setTxtProgressBar(pb, i)}
   Sys.sleep(1)
   close(pb)
 }
 
 it <- 0
 while (TRUE) {testit(style = 3); it <- it + 1; print(paste("done",
it))}

    >> Is this only a problem for a few, or is it reproducible? Any hints
to
    >> what the problem could be, or if it can be fixed? I have seen this
in
    >> some versions of R, and could also reproduce in 3.3.2.

"some versions of R" ... all on Windows ?

    >> 
    >> Best wishes,
    >> Jon
    >> 
    >> R version 3.3.2 (2016-10-31)
    >> Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
    >> Running under: Windows 8.1 x64 (build 9600)
    >> 
    >> locale:
    >> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
    >> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
    >> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
    >> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
    >> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
    >> 
    >> attached base packages:
    >> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods base

[.....................]

    > Jon Olav Sk?ien
    > Joint Research Centre - European Commission
    > Institute for Space, Security & Migration
    > Disaster Risk Management Unit

    > Via E. Fermi 2749, TP 122,  I-21027 Ispra (VA), ITALY

    > jon.skoien at jrc.ec.europa.eu
    > Tel:  +39 0332 789205