new help pages in R 2.10.0

[Antonio.Gasparrini]

Dear R-users,
 
I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a completely new version of the help pages.
Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text file.
I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore as a possible choice.
 
I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would be a major drawback of the new version.
The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links in the old R was really useful.
 
At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change in later versions.
Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
 
I hope someone could give some details
Regards,

Antonio Gasparrini
Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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.

[Uwe Ligges-3]

See the NEWS and CHANGES files. You can choose html help, if you prefer
that, or pdf. Support for compiled html help has been withdrawn.

Uwe Ligges


Antonio.Gasparrini@... wrote:

> Dear R-users,
>  
> I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a completely new version of the help pages.
> Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text file.
> I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore as a possible choice.
>  
> I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would be a major drawback of the new version.
> The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links in the old R was really useful.
>  
> At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change in later versions.
> Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
>  
> I hope someone could give some details
> Regards,
>
> Antonio Gasparrini
> Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
> London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
> Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
> Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
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.

[apjaworski]

Antonio,

Starting from 2.10, R dropped its support for Windows CHM  help.  It has
been replaced with the web browser HTML based one.  To activate this add
the following line to your Rprofile

options(help_type="html")

The pages come up in your browser.  They all have the same links as
before.  It works quite well with Firefox as they come up in new tabs, so
you can have several of them open at the same time.

Hope this helps,

Andy

__________________________________
Andy Jaworski
518-1-01
Process Laboratory
3M Corporate Research Laboratory
-----
E-mail: apjaworski@...
Tel:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]



From:
<Antonio.Gasparrini@...>
To:
<r-help@...>
Date:
11/05/2009 02:17 PM
Subject:
[R] new help pages in R 2.10.0
Sent by:
<r-help-bounces@...>



Dear R-users,
 
I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a
completely new version of the help pages.
Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text
file.
I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old
CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore
as a possible choice.
 
I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would
be a major drawback of the new version.
The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links
in the old R was really useful.
 
At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change
in later versions.
Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help
pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
 
I hope someone could give some details
Regards,

Antonio Gasparrini
Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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@... mailing list
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.

[Jonathan Baron]

I haven't tried this yet, but I should note that my Site Search page:
http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu,
and the associated R function RSiteSearch and related functions,
depend on compiled html help files.

The idea is to be able to search the help page of functions that you
don't have installed yet, to see if you want to install some package.

There are other ways to do this, listed in my page.  And perhaps my
page is not necessary anymore.  (I would love it if someone took it
over, whether it is or not.)  Or maybe I'm worrying too much about the
new version.  I do have a script that generates the html help pages
only, and maybe it will still work, although it uses other scripts
that come with R itself.

Jon

On 11/05/09 21:28, Uwe Ligges wrote:
> See the NEWS and CHANGES files. You can choose html help, if you prefer
> that, or pdf. Support for compiled html help has been withdrawn.
>
> Uwe Ligges
--
Jonathan Baron, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
Home page: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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.

[Uwe Ligges-3]

Jonathan Baron wrote:
> I haven't tried this yet, but I should note that my Site Search page:
> http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu,
> and the associated R function RSiteSearch and related functions,
> depend on compiled html help files.


On regular html, not compiled html, I believe.



> The idea is to be able to search the help page of functions that you
> don't have installed yet, to see if you want to install some package.
>
> There are other ways to do this, listed in my page.  And perhaps my
> page is not necessary anymore.  (I would love it if someone took it
> over, whether it is or not.)  Or maybe I'm worrying too much about the
> new version.  I do have a script that generates the html help pages
> only, and maybe it will still work, although it uses other scripts
> that come with R itself.

You may need to install the packages including the option to generate
static html files. That is still possible.

Just compiled html support has been withdrawn (which is a proprietary
Microsoft format Microsoft does not support actively anymore).

Best wishes,
Uwe



> Jon
>
> On 11/05/09 21:28, Uwe Ligges wrote:
>> See the NEWS and CHANGES files. You can choose html help, if you prefer
>> that, or pdf. Support for compiled html help has been withdrawn.
>>
>> Uwe Ligges

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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.

[Jonathan Baron]

Thanks.  I misunderstood "compiled".  Sorry.

I need "static" html.

I cannot install all the packages (for several reasons).  That is why
I wrote my script to extract the html pages only. The parts of R that
it uses are:
/usr/share/R/perl/build-help.pl
tools:::.writePkgIndices()
make.packages.html()

I will see how it works.  But I may give up if it doesn't work.

Jon

On 11/05/09 21:59, Uwe Ligges wrote:

>
>
> Jonathan Baron wrote:
> > I haven't tried this yet, but I should note that my Site Search page:
> > http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu,
> > and the associated R function RSiteSearch and related functions,
> > depend on compiled html help files.
>
>
> On regular html, not compiled html, I believe.
>
>
>
> > The idea is to be able to search the help page of functions that you
> > don't have installed yet, to see if you want to install some package.
> >
> > There are other ways to do this, listed in my page.  And perhaps my
> > page is not necessary anymore.  (I would love it if someone took it
> > over, whether it is or not.)  Or maybe I'm worrying too much about the
> > new version.  I do have a script that generates the html help pages
> > only, and maybe it will still work, although it uses other scripts
> > that come with R itself.
>
> You may need to install the packages including the option to generate
> static html files. That is still possible.
>
> Just compiled html support has been withdrawn (which is a proprietary
> Microsoft format Microsoft does not support actively anymore).
>
> Best wishes,
> Uwe

--
Jonathan Baron, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
Home page: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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.

[Antonio.Gasparrini]

Thanks to everyone who replied.
 
I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred the old chtml).
Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows Vista, but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly installed version.
 
Of course, I can type "options(help_type="html")" as suggested every time I open a new session, but it would be easier if html was actually the default, especially for other un-experienced users.
 
Thanks again
Antonio

>>> <apjaworski@...> 05/11/2009 20:33 >>>

Antonio,

Starting from 2.10, R dropped its support for Windows CHM  help.  It has been replaced with the web browser HTML based one.  To activate this add the following line to your Rprofile

options(help_type="html")

The pages come up in your browser.  They all have the same links as before.  It works quite well with Firefox as they come up in new tabs, so you can have several of them open at the same time.

Hope this helps,

Andy

__________________________________
Andy Jaworski
518-1-01
Process Laboratory
3M Corporate Research Laboratory
-----
E-mail: apjaworski@...
Tel:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]



From: <Antonio.Gasparrini@...> To: <r-help@...> Date: 11/05/2009 02:17 PM Subject: [R] new help pages in R 2.10.0 Sent by: <r-help-bounces@...>




Dear R-users,

I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a completely new version of the help pages.
Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text file.
I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore as a possible choice.

I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would be a major drawback of the new version.
The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links in the old R was really useful.

At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change in later versions.
Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.

I hope someone could give some details
Regards,

Antonio Gasparrini
Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]

______________________________________________
R-help@... mailing list
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@... mailing list
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.

[Robert Baer]

> I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred the
> old chtml).
> Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows Vista,
> but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly installed
> version.
The nice thing about the chtml that is missing from html is the "table of
contents" frame on the left.  Oh well!

>
> Of course, I can type "options(help_type="html")" as suggested every time
> I open a new session, but it would be easier if html was actually the
> default, especially for other un-experienced users.
>
I think if you open the file C:\Program Files\R\R-2.10.0\etc\Rprofile.site
in a text editor and remove the # symbol before the line
options(help_type="html")
that html help will be your default help.  As I think Duncan posted there
was an install file error that causes this to not happen, and
none of the beta testers caught it in time.

HTH,
Rob

> Starting from 2.10, R dropped its support for Windows CHM  help.  It has
> been replaced with the web browser HTML based one.  To activate this add
> the following line to your Rprofile
>
> options(help_type="html")
>
> The pages come up in your browser.  They all have the same links as
> before.  It works quite well with Firefox as they come up in new tabs, so
> you can have several of them open at the same time.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Andy
>
> __________________________________
> Andy Jaworski
> 518-1-01
> Process Laboratory
> 3M Corporate Research Laboratory
> -----
> E-mail: apjaworski@...
> Tel:  [phone]
> Fax:  [phone]
>
>
>
> From: <Antonio.Gasparrini@...> To: <r-help@...> Date:
> 11/05/2009 02:17 PM Subject: [R] new help pages in R 2.10.0 Sent by:
> <r-help-bounces@...>
>
>
>
>
> Dear R-users,
>
> I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a
> completely new version of the help pages.
> Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text
> file.
> I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old
> CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore
> as a possible choice.
>
> I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would
> be a major drawback of the new version.
> The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links
> in the old R was really useful.
>
> At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change
> in later versions.
> Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help
> pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
>
> I hope someone could give some details
> Regards,
>
> Antonio Gasparrini
> Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
> London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
> Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
> Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
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.

[Henrik Bengtsson (max 7Mb)]

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 11:03 PM,  <Antonio.Gasparrini@...> wrote:
> Thanks to everyone who replied.
>
> I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred the old chtml).
> Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows Vista, but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly installed version.

Thanks for this report; few people pay attention to this and/or don't
recall what they're installation options were and/or  may not be
bothered to report it.  It turns out it is a known bug in the
installer, cf.

https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2009-November/055430.html

and it has been fixed recently in R v2.10.0 patched:

BUG FIXES

    o The installer did not properly record help type choices in
        R_HOME/etc/Rprofile.site.

>From http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/CHANGES.R-2.10.0pat

You find updates on the latest patches (and the most recent developers
version) via:

  http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/

>
> Of course, I can type "options(help_type="html")" as suggested every time I open a new session, but it would be easier if html was actually the default, especially for other un-experienced users.

You can also add that code to the .Rprofile file that you have/can
create in your home directory, e.g. C:/Users/JohnDoe/.Rprofile.

/Henrik

>
> Thanks again
> Antonio
>
>>>> <apjaworski@...> 05/11/2009 20:33 >>>
>
> Antonio,
>
> Starting from 2.10, R dropped its support for Windows CHM  help.  It has been replaced with the web browser HTML based one.  To activate this add the following line to your Rprofile
>
> options(help_type="html")
>
> The pages come up in your browser.  They all have the same links as before.  It works quite well with Firefox as they come up in new tabs, so you can have several of them open at the same time.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Andy
>
> __________________________________
> Andy Jaworski
> 518-1-01
> Process Laboratory
> 3M Corporate Research Laboratory
> -----
> E-mail: apjaworski@...
> Tel:  [phone]
> Fax:  [phone]
>
>
>
> From: <Antonio.Gasparrini@...> To: <r-help@...> Date: 11/05/2009 02:17 PM Subject: [R] new help pages in R 2.10.0 Sent by: <r-help-bounces@...>
>
>
>
>
> Dear R-users,
>
> I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and found a completely new version of the help pages.
> Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished) text file.
> I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the old CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included anymore as a possible choice.
>
> I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise would be a major drawback of the new version.
> The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the links in the old R was really useful.
>
> At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will change in later versions.
> Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the help pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
>
> I hope someone could give some details
> Regards,
>
> Antonio Gasparrini
> Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
> London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
> Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
> Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
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.

[Peter Ehlers]

Robert Baer wrote:
>
>> I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred
>> the old chtml).
>> Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows
>> Vista, but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly
>> installed version.
> The nice thing about the chtml that is missing from html is the "table
> of contents" frame on the left.  Oh well!
>
But you do have the 'Index' link at the bottom of every page.
Works for me. Just takes a little getting used to.

  -Peter Ehlers

>>
>> Of course, I can type "options(help_type="html")" as suggested every
>> time I open a new session, but it would be easier if html was actually
>> the default, especially for other un-experienced users.
>>
> I think if you open the file C:\Program
> Files\R\R-2.10.0\etc\Rprofile.site in a text editor and remove the #
> symbol before the line
> options(help_type="html")
> that html help will be your default help.  As I think Duncan posted
> there was an install file error that causes this to not happen, and
> none of the beta testers caught it in time.
>
> HTH,
> Rob
>
>
>> Starting from 2.10, R dropped its support for Windows CHM  help.  It
>> has been replaced with the web browser HTML based one.  To activate
>> this add the following line to your Rprofile
>>
>> options(help_type="html")
>>
>> The pages come up in your browser.  They all have the same links as
>> before.  It works quite well with Firefox as they come up in new tabs,
>> so you can have several of them open at the same time.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>>
>> Andy
>>
>> __________________________________
>> Andy Jaworski
>> 518-1-01
>> Process Laboratory
>> 3M Corporate Research Laboratory
>> -----
>> E-mail: apjaworski@...
>> Tel:  [phone]
>> Fax:  [phone]
>>
>>
>>
>> From: <Antonio.Gasparrini@...> To: <r-help@...>
>> Date: 11/05/2009 02:17 PM Subject: [R] new help pages in R 2.10.0 Sent
>> by: <r-help-bounces@...>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear R-users,
>>
>> I've just installed the last version of R (2.10.0) in Windows and
>> found a completely new version of the help pages.
>> Basically, they now appear as a simple (even if slightly embellished)
>> text file.
>> I tried to install it with a customized startup and realized that the
>> old CHM files (the default for Windows up to 2.9.2) are not included
>> anymore as a possible choice.
>>
>> I don't know if this is due to some mistake I've done, but otherwise
>> would be a major drawback of the new version.
>> The opportunity to navigate through different help pages using the
>> links in the old R was really useful.
>>
>> At the moment I re-installed the old R 2.9.2, but I hope this will
>> change in later versions.
>> Or at least, that the user could have the opportunity to choose the
>> help pages he deems more suitable for his purposes.
>>
>> I hope someone could give some details
>> Regards,
>>
>> Antonio Gasparrini
>> Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU)
>> London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
>> Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
>> Office: 0044 (0)20 79272406 - Mobile: [phone]
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help@... mailing list
>> 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@... mailing list
>> 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@... mailing list
> 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@... mailing list
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.

[Robert Baer]

> Robert Baer wrote:
>>
>>> I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred
>>> the old chtml).
>>> Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows
>>> Vista, but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly
>>> installed version.
>> The nice thing about the chtml that is missing from html is the "table of
>> contents" frame on the left.  Oh well!
>>
> But you do have the 'Index' link at the bottom of every page.
> Works for me. Just takes a little getting used to.

Thanks for pointing it out.  Astoundingly, I missed this link with my old
eyes <G>.  Not quite the same as having a panel, but now its about user
interface and not functionality, so I'm much happier.

In future versions, it would be nice if this <index> link at least forced a
new browser tab when clicked.  Likewise, it would be nice if links on the
"index page" did not write over the index. The goal would be to allow
content to be viewed "more or less" simultaneously with the index
information.

The other question is whether there is a way to start the httpd help server
in the background during the R startup sequence.   The first call to help
during an R session seems to incur a delay which I'm guessing is spent
connecting to localhost and starting the httpd server.  Has anyone
discovered any tricks to make the httpd help engine start-up more seemless?

Rob

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[hadley]

> In future versions, it would be nice if this <index> link at least forced a
> new browser tab when clicked.  Likewise, it would be nice if links on the
> "index page" did not write over the index. The goal would be to allow
> content to be viewed "more or less" simultaneously with the index
> information.

It's generally pretty easy to do this yourself and then you're in
total control.  On my mac, you hold down command when clicking a link
to get it into a new tab, and I'm sure there's something similar on
windows.

Hadley

--
http://had.co.nz/

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[ripley-3]

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009, Robert  Baer wrote:

>> Robert Baer wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think the html based one works fine (even if I definitely preferred the
>>>> old chtml).
>>>> Only another comment: I chose html in my installation with Windows Vista,
>>>> but still the help pages are opened in text files in the newly installed
>>>> version.
>>> The nice thing about the chtml that is missing from html is the "table of
>>> contents" frame on the left.  Oh well!
>>>
>> But you do have the 'Index' link at the bottom of every page.
>> Works for me. Just takes a little getting used to.
>
> Thanks for pointing it out.  Astoundingly, I missed this link with my old
> eyes <G>.  Not quite the same as having a panel, but now its about user
> interface and not functionality, so I'm much happier.
>
> In future versions, it would be nice if this <index> link at least forced a
> new browser tab when clicked.  Likewise, it would be nice if links on the
> "index page" did not write over the index. The goal would be to allow content
> to be viewed "more or less" simultaneously with the index information.
>
> The other question is whether there is a way to start the httpd help server
> in the background during the R startup sequence.   The first call to help
> during an R session seems to incur a delay which I'm guessing is spent
> connecting to localhost and starting the httpd server.

I think you should collect some data rather than guess.

> Has anyone discovered any tricks to make the httpd help engine
> start-up more seemless?

Well, the delays for me are very small.  People are reporting delays
in starting the browser, especially on Windows.  (I find Chrome starts
there faster than Firefox or IE8, but I mainly use Firefox on Linux.)

Starting the server is down by tools::startDynamicHelp().  And on my
MacBook Air:

> system.time(tools::startDynamicHelp())
starting httpd help server ... done
    user  system elapsed
   0.019   0.002   0.021

and in a new session

> system.time(help.start())
starting httpd help server ... done
If '/usr/bin/open' is already running, it is *not* restarted, and you
     must switch to its window.
Otherwise, be patient ...
    user  system elapsed
   0.022   0.007   0.035

and the page is up in Firefox faster than I can time.

On my early 2005 vintage Windows XP laptop (slow by today's
standards):

> system.time(tools::startDynamicHelp())
starting httpd help server ... done
    user  system elapsed
    0.05    0.02    0.25

and

> system.time(tools::startDynamicHelp())
starting httpd help server ... done
    user  system elapsed
    0.05    0.02    0.25

with a web page shown in Firefox 3.5.4 in 3 seconds.  (It does help to
have run Firefox recently in the Windows session.)


There is no known problem with the speeds of R's components, so if you
are not seeing comparable times you need to get your system
investigated.

--
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley@...
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  [phone] (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     [phone] (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  [phone]

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[Robert Baer]

>> The first call to help during an R session seems to incur a delay which
>> I'm guessing is spent connecting to localhost and starting the httpd
>> server.
>>
>>  I think you should collect some data rather than guess
> >
-- snip --

> and in a new session
>
>> system.time(help.start())
> starting httpd help server ... done
> If '/usr/bin/open' is already running, it is *not* restarted, and you
>     must switch to its window.
> Otherwise, be patient ...
>    user  system elapsed
>   0.022   0.007   0.035
>
>>  I think you should collect some data rather than guess

Fair enough!  And, as usual, you appear to be spot on.  The "starting httpd
help server ... done" line appears long before the majority of the delay I'm
experiencing.   If I've already started help (and possibly the browser
directly), the delay is reduced.  If the browser is already open, the delay
is very short.  I probably should try some alternatives to IE on Windows and
see if I can do better.  Thanks for the idea.

Here is the data I got.  I realize that 3-4 seconds is not much out of a
lifetime, but it can seem like it when you're anxious to do work<G>.

My data:
# For whatever reason, the delay is not very consistent
# Using IE Browser closed Newly-started R session
> system.time(help.start())
starting httpd help server ... done
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:13428/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.06    0.05    4.24

# IE Browser closed Newly started R session
> system.time(help.start())
starting httpd help server ... done
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:16957/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.04    0.05    3.06

# IE Browser closed Newly started R session
> system.time(help.start())
starting httpd help server ... done
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:24234/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.03    0.01    1.36

-------------------------------------
# IE Browser already started; help already used once
> system.time(help.start())
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:24234/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.00    0.01    0.04

# IE Browser closed; but help already used once
> system.time(help.start())
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:24234/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.00    0.01    0.57

# IE Browser already started; help already used once
> system.time(help.start())
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:24234/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.00    0.02    0.06


# IE Browser closed; help already used once
> system.time(help.start())
If nothing happens, you should open
'http://127.0.0.1:24234/doc/html/index.html' yourself
   user  system elapsed
   0.00    0.02    0.58
>

Thanks again,
Rob


> --
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley@...
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  [phone] (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     [phone] (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  [phone]
>

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