Hi Luca, I would suggest to work/enhance existing code rather that reinventing the wheel. There are a couple of RGui projects, and you may found what you are looking for in there. Look, at http://www.sciviews.org/_rgui/ for a listing of various projects. You have GUIs written in Java, Tcl/Tk, GTK, etc... there. Tcl/Tk is often used for convenience, because the tcltk R package is available with (almost) all R distributions. So, you don't need to install additional stuff. That is what makes Rcmdr so easy to run on all platforms. If you want more advanced features, I agree that there are better solutions (GTK, wxWidgets, etc).
May I suggest you to look here: http://bioinf.wehi.edu.au/folders/james/wxPython/. This is a solution using R and Python... in development and desperately seeking for a new maintainer. This is not GTK, but wxWidgets, which is also a very good solution. Regarding a substitute for Glade, you could consider Boa Constructor. Look here: http://bioinf.wehi.edu.au/folders/james/RBoa/. The explanation on this page is a little outdated. The latest version of Boa Constructor is now compatible with wxPython 2.5.X. So, you don't need to install Python/wxPython twice as explained in the page. Anyway, using RSPython, you should be able to do what you want (mixing R, Python and GTK). Best, Philippe Grosjean Luca Manini wrote: > Hi, > > I'm new to this list (and to the whole R world); I've started to read > some threads in the archives to get acquinted with the community but I > have some questions ready to be asked "now". So please keep with me > even if the mail is not that short. > > > I'm a software developer and I've been asked to "write a GUI for R". > The customer(s) are (could be in the near future) some departments of > the local university where R is used both for teaching and research > (in various areas). So the problem is always the same: users find CLI > difficult to learn/use and/or the time to learn them is greater than > the total available time (for introductory courses in statistics, for > example). > > As I said, I don't know much of R but it clear that is a big > language/environment and that just thinking (let alone writing) a > "full GUI" for it is a major undertaking well beyond the time (and > money) budget I have at hand. > > So, what I have in mind is, instead of using/customizing big GUIs, to > just write some small apps with a dedicated and minimal GUI for any > single and simple task (think for example of some students' > "exercises" on regression, or a series of computations or analysis or > drawing steps needed to complete a research paper). > > Of course I will not directly write them myself (sorry to say that) > but instead I have to check whether that approach is feasible and, if > it is, to "set up" the environment (docs, tools, examples, ...) so > that "junior programmers" (or smart users) can write the single apps > in a reasonable time. > > I'm thinking about Python + GTK + Glade for the interface stuff with > some "glue" to get Python speak to R (and trap the answers). Python > is my preferred language, it is easy to learn (and I'm happy to teach > it) and Glade is easy to use. > > My biggest concern at the moment is to check that I'm not offering to > write something to solve an already solved problem and **for that** > I'm asking this list's help. > > TIA for any help/suggestion, Luca > > PS: the second biggest is to check that my idea is feasible/reasonable > (and for that I've already started experimenting). > _______________________________________________ R-SIG-GUI mailing list R-SIG-GUI@stat.math.ethz.ch https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-gui
