Ben Bolker
2022-May-15 18:44 UTC
[Rd] Writing in R // R 4.2.0 on Windows doesn't work with Dasher
I don't know if there's a good up-to-date list anywhere of editors/IDEs that handle R nicely, but it would include at least: Atom Sublime Text VS Code RStudio Jupyter notebooks vim emacs Tinn-R It's worth being able to choose from such a list both for general aesthetic preferences, and for those with accessibility challenges. I do agree that it would be nice if there were a way to make the R console work well with Dasher under Windows, but the technical details are completely beyond me. On 2022-05-15 2:28 p.m., Paulo Barata wrote:> > Mr. Murdoch, > > Yes, following your suggestion, I see that I can use Dasher with R 4.2.0 > patched in Visual Studio Code. Dasher works well that way, Visual Studio > Code does accept Dasher, so I can use Dasher with R in an interactive > mode. I will have to understand better the workings of Visual Studio Code. > > As an alternative, I will keep here two different versions of R: R 4.1.3 > for interactive use through Dasher, and R 4.2.0 for running programs > (written by means of a text editor). > > Anyway, I hope that some technical way can be found so that Dasher can > be used regularly on the R console in R versions following R 4.2.0. > > For your information, Dasher can be used on Windows and Linux, but > currently not on Macs. > > Best regards, > > Paulo Barata > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > > On 15/05/2022 14:24, Duncan Murdoch wrote: >> On 15/05/2022 1:09 p.m., Paulo Barata wrote: >>> >>> Following Mr. Murdoch's suggestion, I installed R Studio (2022.02.2 >>> build 485) on my Windows 10 Professional. >>> >>> When opening R Studio, it showed R 4.2.0 patched, the most recent >>> version of R I had installed here. As it happens with the standalone R >>> 4.2.0, Dasher did not work with R Studio with that version of R -- >>> please see below what happened. >> >> That's too bad.? Still, there are other front ends: >> >> - Running Rterm in a command window. >> >> - R in Visual Studio Code >> >> - ESS in Emacs >> >> - Others whose names I don't remember; not sure how active any of them >> are these days. >> >> And finally, if you are really desperate, I believe dasher runs on >> other platforms besides Windows, i.e. Linux and MacOS. >> >> Duncan Murdoch >> >> >>> >>> I unistalled R 4.2.0 patched and also R 4.2.0, so then my latest version >>> of R was R 4.1.3 patched. This was now the version of R that R Studio >>> used. Dasher also did not work in R Studio with R 4.1.3 patched -- >>> please see below what happened. Please note that the standalone R 4.1.3 >>> patched does work perfectly well with Dasher. >>> >>> What happens in R Studio with both R 4.2.0 patched and R 4.1.3 patched: >>> when I open R studio and start writing with Dasher, the first character >>> that I write is now the character that always appears on the R Studio >>> console, no matter what other characters I am commanding with Dasher. >>> For R Studio, strangely, Dasher seems to be stuck in the first >>> character. >>> >>> For example, if I wish to write a plot command in R Studio, the first >>> Dasher "p" is accepted by R Studio, but the next "lot" appears on the R >>> Studio console as "ppp". This is is contrast with what happens with >>> Dasher on R 4.2.0, where, except for the "Enter" character, no other >>> character is accepted by R 4.2.0, the R 4.2.0 screen just does not >>> respond to Dasher. >>> >>> Both in R 4.2.0 and in R Studio, the "Enter" character of Dasher work >>> well, it makes the R prompt to jump to the next line. >>> >>> So, Dasher does not work with R Studio either, but in a different way >>> than it happens with R 4.2.0. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Paulo Barata >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> On 15/05/2022 13:27, Duncan Murdoch wrote: >>>> On 15/05/2022 10:58 a.m., Ivan Krylov wrote: >>>>> On Sun, 15 May 2022 11:10:49 -0300 >>>>> Paulo Barata <pb at infolink.com.br> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I noticed today that R 4.2.0 responds to the "Enter" character of >>>>>> Dasher version 5.0.0 beta in "Direct Entry" mode. An "Enter" in >>>>>> Dasher causes the R prompt to jump to the next line, as an "Enter" >>>>>> should do. >>>>>> >>>>>> No other characters (letters, digits, special characters like + = & ~ >>>>>> | # $) are accepted by R 4.2.0 through Dasher. >>>>> >>>>> This seems to be very similar to the problem discussed here: >>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2022-May/081683.html >>>>> >>>>> For the record, here's the part of Dasher responsible for "Direct >>>>> Entry" on Windows: >>>>> https://github.com/dasher-project/dasher/blob/0ec7d646dbaadf06b8eebfc11b784738a20e75af/Src/Win32/Widgets/Edit.cpp#L302 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> MSDN says: >>>>> >>>>>>> If KEYEVENTF_UNICODE is specified, SendInput sends a WM_KEYDOWN or >>>>>>> WM_KEYUP message to the foreground thread's message queue with >>>>>>> wParam equal to VK_PACKET. Once GetMessage or PeekMessage obtains >>>>>>> this message, passing the message to TranslateMessage posts a >>>>>>> WM_CHAR message with the Unicode character originally specified by >>>>>>> wScan. >>>>> >>>>> <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/ns-winuser-keybdinput> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> As far as I can see, Graphapp never looks for VK_PACKET. >>>> >>>>> >>>>> Previously, Tomas Kalibera has mentioned: >>>>> >>>>>> For Unicode Windows, GraphApp uses WM_IME_COMPOSITION messages to >>>>>> read the keys instead of WM_CHAR, which it uses for non-Unicode >>>>>> windows. >>>>> >>>>> I think that for a combination of R >= 4.2 and Dasher, this means an >>>>> impasse. Either Dasher should be taught to send WM_IME_COMPOSITION >>>>> messages to R (?), or R should learn to understand WM_CHAR messages in >>>>> its Unicode windows in addition to WM_IME_COMPOSITION it currently >>>>> uses. >>>>> >>>> >>>> Another possible solution for Paulo is to use R via some other front >>>> end >>>> besides RGui, e.g. RStudio, but there are other possibilities too. >>>> >>>> Duncan Murdoch >> > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel-- Dr. Benjamin Bolker Professor, Mathematics & Statistics and Biology, McMaster University Director, School of Computational Science and Engineering (Acting) Graduate chair, Mathematics & Statistics
Duncan Murdoch
2022-May-15 19:32 UTC
[Rd] Writing in R // R 4.2.0 on Windows doesn't work with Dasher
On 15/05/2022 2:44 p.m., Ben Bolker wrote:> I don't know if there's a good up-to-date list anywhere of > editors/IDEs that handle R nicely, but it would include at least: > > Atom > Sublime Text > VS Code > RStudio > Jupyter notebooks > vim > emacs > Tinn-R > > It's worth being able to choose from such a list both for general > aesthetic preferences, and for those with accessibility challenges.One more that I should have mentioned: StatET, a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE.> > I do agree that it would be nice if there were a way to make the R > console work well with Dasher under Windows, but the technical details > are completely beyond me.A long time ago I used to know some of this stuff, but now I find working in Windows quite difficult. I never knew it well enough to know the advantages and disadvantages of the approach RGui uses versus the one that dasher seems to be expecting. On the hopeful side, accessibility has always had a relatively high priority in the R Project, and there seems to be a recent push in that direction. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for someone to bring up this issue at useR! 2022 (https://user2022.r-project.org). Duncan Murdoch