Hi Marc, > -----Original Message----- > From: Marc Schwartz [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 5:10 PM > To: John Fox > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] bypassing the R.app help browser? > > Hi John, > > Happy to help. I recalled seeing something previously on this, so a > search using rseek.org was fruitful. > > The potential gotcha, of course, is if for some reason the GUI exits in > a manner possibly not under your control. The setting would not be > returned to the default and the therefore, as you note, retained for a > subsequent session where the behavior may not be desired. >
Yes, there is that possibility. > If this is for Rcmdr, perhaps this is something that could be added to > a menu, where the user can alter the behavior in either direction as > desired, if that makes sense. > As you guessed, this is for the Rcmdr, where the built-in R.app browser doesn't play well with dialog help buttons -- the browser is unresponsive until the dialog that called it closes -- while an external html-help browser works fine. I've now successfully implemented the approach I outlined, in which the previous setting is restored when the Commander GUI closes. As you point out, this isn't bullet-proof, but I think it is the best I can do for now. Allowing the user to apply the change would be safer, but users are unlikely to discover the option. > Simon would need to comment on the potential for alternatives. Yes, that would be welcome. I still think that a setting via options() would be better. Thanks again for your help, John > > Best regards, > > Marc > > > On Aug 12, 2014, at 3:46 PM, John Fox <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Marc, > > > > Thanks for this. It does work, and I wasn't aware of it -- you've > obviously > > done a better job than I did of searching for a solution! > > > > Although this approach works, it has the disadvantage of permanently > > changing the help browser in R.app, beyond the current session, at > least > > until the change is explicitly undone. I think that I can work around > that > > by something like > > > > current <- system("defaults read org.R-project.R", intern=TRUE) > > > > to discover whether the use.external.help preference exists, and if > so, what > > its value is; to then set the preference to YES if it's NO or unset; > and > > finally to remove the preference on exit. > > > > Again, thanks -- I think that I can work with this, though it would > in my > > opinion be better if the help browser were settable for the current > session > > directly via options() in R, or if one could specify the browser in a > call > > to help(). > > > > Best (and thanks again), > > John > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Marc Schwartz [mailto:[email protected]] > >> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 4:04 PM > >> To: John Fox > >> Cc: [email protected] > >> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] bypassing the R.app help browser? > >> > >> On Aug 12, 2014, at 2:33 PM, John Fox <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >>> Dear list members, > >>> > >>> Is there a way to bypass the R.app help browser, and to use instead > >> an alternative browser, such as the one pointed to by > >> getOption("browser")? > >>> > >>> I've tried a number of strategies, including setting .Platform$GUI > <- > >> "unknown". The only approach I tried that works is to mask the > help() > >> function with a modified version, but this produces other problems, > >> such as referencing unexported objects from utils and tools. > >>> > >>> It would be nice if the help() function had a browser argument, > >> similar to that in browseURL(), and defaulting to the current > >> behaviour. > >>> > >>> Any suggestions would be appreciated. > >>> > >>> John > >> > >> > >> John, > >> > >> I found this post from Simon that seems to work: > >> > >> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-mac/2009-December/006908.html > >> > >> I tried it on my Mac in the latest version of R.app, which I > normally > >> do not use and the help system does now popup a browser. > >> > >> > >> Regards, > >> > >> Marc Schwartz > > _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Mac mailing list [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
