| For changes since the release of R 1.0.0 on 29 Feb 2000 |
| see the file CHANGES |
| |
| |
| rw1000 |
| ====== |
| |
| The highlight colour used for help files in the internal pager can now |
| be set in the file Rconsole. |
| |
| tempfile() can have argument `pattern' of length greater than 1. |
| |
| A bug in tab expansion in the console and internal pager has been |
| corrected. |
| |
| link.html.help() is able to cope with packages with missing TITLE files. |
| |
| |
| rw0990 |
| ====== |
| |
| The console and internal pager now have horizontal scollbars. These |
| are disabled (greyed out) if no text is obscured in the current view. |
| |
| Help menu items will be greyed out if the corresponding files are not |
| installed. |
| |
| Many of the menu items now call internal functions and so are much |
| faster, but produce nothing on the console. |
| |
| Help files will be displayed in the internal pager with headings |
| in a contrasting colour. |
| |
| There are new functions winDialog() and winDialogString() to produce |
| dialog boxes, and functions winMenu* (use ?winMenus) to manipulate |
| user menus. |
| |
| Following Unix, the handling of help(, offline=TRUE) has been altered. |
| It will be necessary to adjust helpPRINT.bat to set the TEXINPUTS path |
| to find Rd.sty. TeX processing of these help files normally uses LaTeX |
| package `ae' to handle Latin-1 characters: this can be changed by |
| setting the environment variable R_RD4DVI. |
| |
| The conversion to text help no longer requires groff. |
| |
| |
| rw0901 |
| ====== |
| |
| It is possible to install packages from any directory (set PKGDIR on |
| the make command) and to any directory (set RLIB on the make command). |
| |
| RLIBS is no longer accepted for the library directory: use R_LIBS |
| (which has been preferred since 0.65.0). |
| |
| The code to set the `cra' parameter for a windows() device (and hence |
| the base character size of symbols) is more robust. |
| |
| The code handling Ctrl-like keys has been changed and ought to be more |
| robust (AltGr on Danish Windows NT used to misbehave.) |
| |
| savePlot recognises filename="clipboard" (or "") for wmf plots. |
| |
| The installer has always been version-specific and now tests it is |
| being used for the right version. |
| |
| |
| rw0900 |
| ====== |
| |
| We made a determined attempt to quote paths which might contain spaces, |
| and almost all cases work. Be careful with external unzip, pager and editor |
| programs that these do handle quoted paths. |
| |
| Rterm can be interrupted by Ctrl-C as well as Ctrl-Break. Fast |
| typing should not give problems in interactive use. |
| |
| Better formatting of math expressions in graphics labels, legends, ... |
| (but only if font is True Type since it seems not possible to get |
| per-char font metric information for raster fonts). |
| |
| Support for GIF format bitmaps has been removed, but support for PNG, |
| JPEG and BMP has been added. This can be done via the File menu on the |
| graphics window, savePlot() or dev.print to the new devices png(), bmp() |
| and jpeg(), which can also be used directly. |
| |
| PDF versions of the (draft) manuals are available in file rw0900d.zip |
| and install into rw0900/doc/manuals. These can be read in Acrobat |
| Reader from the Manuals sub-menu of the Help menu provided they and |
| the reader (http://www.adobe.com) are installed. |
| |
| The installer will install packages in the library directory if the |
| installation directory path ends in rw0900. |
| |
| You can install packages by |
| |
| install.packages("/path/to/mypkg.zip", CRAN=NULL) |
| |
| |
| |
| rw0651 |
| ====== |
| |
| New function savePlot() to save plots to wmf, gif or ps. |
| |
| There is now support for help via compiled HTML files (as used by the |
| latest Microsoft products): set options(chmhelp=TRUE) to use this. |
| You will probably need Internet Explorer 4 or later installed to use |
| this, or you can install hhupd.exe from the windows/windows-NT/base/etc |
| directory on CRAN. |
| |
| There is support for building Windows help files (as in Windows 95). |
| Set options(winhelp=TRUE) to make this your preferred help system. |
| |
| Both compiled HTML files and Windows help are available for the |
| standard packages. |
| |
| The new function update.packages() is supported if you have wget.exe |
| (a copy is in the windows/windows-NT/base/etc/wget.zip on CRAN) or |
| lynx.exe, from http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm. |
| |
| On NT only, CPU times are returned by proc.time() (using a call to |
| GetProcessTimes). |
| |
| Rotated text on a windows / win.* device is placed more accurately, |
| especially for non-multiples of 90 degrees. |
| |
| A windows() device reports itself as `windows' not `X11'. |
| |
| getenv() now returns all the environmental variables. |
| |
| unlink() can now remove (empty) directories (but not using wildcard |
| specifications). |
| |
| The complex LINPACK routines which were not included in the Unix |
| versions of R are now omitted here. |
| |
| There is more support for (support of) ActiveX Automation via the |
| Rproxy.dll: see the file front-ends/readme. |
| |
| As under Unix, .Renviron is first searched for in the working directory, |
| then in the home directory. (It this case the home directory must |
| be given by the R_USER or HOME environmental variable.) |
| |
| The sockets code is definitely working in this version, enough to support |
| source.url and friends. |
| |
| options(pager="console") is set as the default if --ess is used (as it |
| works better with Emacs). |
| |
| The rounding code has been re-written to be more accurate and to round |
| to even as documented. |
| |
| The rw-FAQ is linked into the HTML help system. |
| |
| We believe the problems with re-sizing windows (especially on Windows 9x) |
| have been solved. |
| |
| |
| |
| rw0650 |
| ====== |
| |
| [ Because Guido Masarotto was ill for several weeks, rw0650 was only ever |
| pre-released. ] |
| |
| There are many changes `under the skin' which are not reflected in |
| user-visible changes, but either improve performance or will allow |
| future enhancements. |
| |
| The environment variables have been changed: R_HOME is now R's home |
| directory and R_USER is the HOME for the user which will be used by R |
| (and defaults to HOME, if set, then to ${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}, if that |
| is set, then the working directory). (There are many other such |
| changes in R: for example RLIBS becomes R_LIBS, although for the time |
| being RLIBS is also recognised.) |
| |
| Saving a plot as postscript from the device menu will produce a |
| portrait plot irrespective of the setting of ps.options(). |
| |
| Saving a plot as a metafile should be more reliable on machines which |
| report incorrect information on the size of the screen. |
| |
| The new flag --no-environ suppresses reading .Renviron and is implied by |
| --vanilla. |
| |
| When rterm is used non-interactively either --save or --no-save must be |
| specified: these is no longer a default of --no-save (for consistency |
| with Unix). |
| |
| More support for building R into other applications: see the examples |
| in the front-ends directory of the source distribution. |
| |
| Interrupting by Esc or Ctrl-Break is handled internally by signals, so |
| the `User Break' response will no longer appear, but in rterm ^C will |
| be echoed. |
| |
| There is limited support for `tilde-expansion': file paths such as |
| ~/rest will be expanded to ${HOME}\rest if HOME is set, or to |
| ${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}\rest if those variables are set. |
| |
| Using rterm either interactively or with --ess will be more responsive and |
| use much less CPU time when waiting for input. Interruptions by Ctrl-Break |
| or (under --ess, for use by ESS) Ctrl-C should happen immediately and be |
| handled correctly. [On NT: problems with Win 98 were corrected for rw0651.] |
| |
| The installer can now install correctly in a top-level directory (e.g. |
| C:\), fixing a bug in the unzip code used. |
| |
| |
| rw0642 |
| ====== |
| |
| There are few Windows-specific enhancements: rw0642 (and R-0.64.2) is |
| a bug-fixing release. |
| |
| If options(pager="console") then files are listed in the console |
| window, as happened prior to rw0640. |
| |
| On request, we have enabled `pagerstyle = singlewindow' in MDI mode, |
| although we do not recommend this combination. |
| |
| The file HOME\.Renviron is read (it was HOME\Renviron, and the |
| documentation used both names). Only the last line was successfully |
| processed in rw0641, but all lines are in this version. |
| |
| unlink() on non-existent files no longer causes a crash. |
| |
| The new function win.version() will report details of the run-time |
| Windows version, principally for use in bug.report(). |
| |
| bug.report() has a new argument wait: wait=FALSE gives a non-modal editor |
| screen. |
| |
| Generally TAB will move between fields in dialog boxes, and return and |
| escape will work (selecting OK and Cancel) in the Change Directory |
| dialog box. |
| |
| The installer will allow several packages to be selected, and will |
| install them in sequence. It should give more informative messages on |
| some error conditions. Usually return will select Next or Finish, |
| escape will select Cancel and B Back. |
| |
| There is a new target `make check' for running the standard tests and |
| checking the standard packages (as on Unix). |
| |
| Saving the content of a graphic device as GIF should work again (under some |
| circumstances, it resulted in a white image in rw064[01]). |
| |
| |
| rw0641 |
| ====== |
| |
| There is a choice of interface for Rgui: |
| |
| o SDI, single document interface. This is like the previous version, |
| with separate windows for the console, graphics and pager(s). |
| |
| o MDI, multiple document interface. Here the console, graphics and |
| pagers are subwindows of one main `frame' window. |
| |
| You can set your preference (and details of the MDI) in the Rconsole |
| file: this can also be overridden on the command line by --mdi or --sdi. |
| |
| If you use multiple files in a single SDI pager, the (row) positions |
| are remembered and re-used when you switch views in the pager. |
| |
| For MDI pagers, the pager size is chosen by the system, and only |
| multiple pagers are supported. |
| |
| When pagers are re-sized the strategy is now to keep the middle line |
| in the middle. |
| |
| The option `setwidthonresize' in Rconsole automatically generates an |
| internal call to options("width") if you resize the console and change |
| its width. This is the default, but we suggest you do not resize |
| while R is outputting. |
| |
| The console, pagers and graphics devices now have right-click popup |
| menus, and you can paste from a pager to the console directly. |
| |
| There is a new console menu item to show a file in a pager. This is |
| intended to allow lines to be selected in an script file displayed in |
| a pager and submitted to the R engine. |
| |
| `Busy' cursors are used where appropriate: a cross-hair cursor is |
| used on a graphics device to indicate that locator() (or identify()) |
| is in use. |
| |
| The file HOME\.Renviron is now read. This can contain environment |
| variables in NAME=value form, one per line. This is useful for setting |
| R_VSIZE, R_NSIZE, RLIBS and R_PAPERSIZE, for example. |
| |
| You can now paste in more to the console: the limit (which was 2048 |
| chars) is now that of the clipboard. Pasting can take place whilst |
| the console is busy. |
| |
| The command `make pkgcheck-pkgname' will do the equivalent of `R CMD |
| check', that is run all the examples in the help pages for that package. |
| |
| unlink can now handle wildcards and a vector argument of length more than |
| one. |
| |
| The inverse hyperbolic tangent functions asinh acosh atanh are now |
| available in this version. |
| |
| |
| rw0640 |
| ====== |
| |
| R-0.64 uses platform-independent code for file handling. Files are |
| displayed under a pager in a separate window rather than in the |
| console. |
| |
| Environment variables can be set as NAME=value on the command line, |
| including in a short-cut. |
| |
| Content of the pager and of the Rgui's console can be printed |
| using File | Print. |
| |
| The help, latex and example files can be stored in zip files to save |
| space; this is used for the base package. |
| |
| The menus are enabled/disabled and check-marked correctly under NT. |
| We hope to have solved the 'rw0633 font dimension problem' shown |
| under some NT versions. |
| |
| read.fwf works if you have Perl installed. |
| |
| help(, offline=TRUE) will work if you have latex installed and |
| customize RHOME/bin/helpPRINT.bat |
| |
| The sockets code is compiled in, but we have not tested it. |
| |
| system() has new arguments `invisible' and `minimized'. |
| |
| |
| rw0633 |
| ====== |
| |
| The beginnings of a FAQ (RHOME/rw-faq). |
| |
| Programs can be launched from all shells: the full path to the |
| executable is not needed. |
| |
| Configurable fonts in the graphics devices by the file Rdevga. |
| |
| Workspaces are saved in XDR format, and so can be shared with most |
| Unix implementations of R. |
| |
| Printer and metafile graphics devices (?win.print and ?win.metafile). |
| |
| Consistent handling of start directory for dialogs and the working |
| directory across versions of Windows. |
| |
| An improved and enhanced system() function (?system and ?shell). |
| |
| Windows-specific help files where necessary. |
| |
| Better support for ESS. |
| |
| Better support for the installation of pre-compiled packages |
| (?link.html.help) |
| |
| |
| rw0632 |
| ====== |
| |
| The NT copy to the clipboard bug has been fixed. |
| |
| Help files use latin1 encoding (but, to see the difference, |
| you must use a latin1 capable font; for this reason, now, as packed, |
| the R console uses "Courier New"; if you don't like it, edit etc/Rconsole). |
| |
| |
| rw0631 |
| ====== |
| |
| There are two executables, Rgui.exe and Rterm.exe. |
| |
| NEW FEATURES |
| |
| Will run from NT command line. |
| |
| No `tricks' are needed for animated graphics. |
| |
| The windows are much more responsive. |
| |
| R commands can be interrupted by Esc. |
| |
| Rterm allows batch mode operation and can also be run in |
| inferior-R-mode under NTEmacs. |
| |
| There is a history mechanism for graphics plots. |
| |
| Graphics can be copied to the clipboard. |
| |
| Commands history is saved between session (only by Rgui.exe). |
| |
| Saved images and user profile are called .RData and .Rprofile as under Unix |
| (before they were RData and Rprofile). |
| |
| |
| rw0630 |
| ====== |
| |
| - Minor adjustment to reflect changes in R-0.63.0 (options, example,...) |
| |
| - Fixed a couple of minor bugs in the graphics device. |
| |
| - More control keys (some Emacs-like (crtl+a, crtl+e, crtl+k), and, by |
| popular demand, crtl+c and crtl-v for copy and paste); take a look at |
| the help/console menuitem. |
| |
| - Added support for Cygwin B20 (target remains Mingw32,i.e, no Unix |
| emulation layer) |
| |
| - Access of global variables in R.exe from a dll should work (all the |
| horrible name-mangling needed by `gnuwin32' - `var' in R.exe becames |
| `*__imp_var' in a dll - is done automatically). |
| |
| |
| rw0624 |
| ====== |
| |
| New features: |
| |
| - The console can be configured (font, colours, dimensions). No fancy |
| dialog (yet), but look at the rw0624/etc/Rconsole file. |
| |
| - help.start() now is implemented. Of course, you need the html |
| documentation. |
| |
| Bugs fixed (I hope): |
| |
| - Alt+Gr problems on some European keyboards. |
| |
| - Focus is 'always' given back to the console. |
| |
| - Filters in the dialogs which ask a file-name. |
| |
| - round(..) now works as documented. |
| |
| - Some small modifications to the graphic device (position of text and |
| clipping of lines was sometimes not exact). In addition, I changed the |
| font to helvetica (for better consistency with the X11 device). |
| |
| |
| rw0623 |
| ====== |
| |
| A. News (with respect to rw0613) |
| -------------------------------- |
| |
| (a) I rewrote the console using a portable toolkit (GraphApp, see |
| http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~loki/graphapp). Now, output is buffered |
| until some input is required. In addition, there are some command |
| history support. For a mini help on the new console, use the |
| help/Console menuitem. |
| |
| (b) I also rewrote the graphics device using GraphApp. Apart for the |
| redraw (which seems faster) the GraphApp device is +/- equal to the |
| one that you find in RJune. With respect to rw0613 the major |
| improvements are: (i) it is a R0.62.x device,i.e., it supports |
| multiple instances, resizing, copy,...(look to the dev.xxx functions); |
| (ii) it supports plotting math expression; (iii) there is a new item |
| in the menu which let to save the contents of the active device as a |
| gif file; (ii) arbitrary line patterns in any width are supported. |
| |
| (c) Now, edit makes use of an external editor (the default one is |
| notepad), i.e., it works as under Unix. |
| |
| (d) date() now works. In addition, proc.time(), and so |
| system.time(..), works (but don't expect too much, you will get only |
| the elapsed time). |
| |
| (e) IEEE math (Inf, Nan,..). |
| |
| (f) I used the GNU regex library. Hence all the |
| code is GPL'ed. |
| |
| B. The new menubar |
| ------------------ |
| The menu bar contains the following item: |
| |
| File |
| |
| Source R Code -> ask for a filename and then send to the |
| interpreter a source(filename) command. |
| |
| Load Image -> ask for a filename and then send to the |
| interpreter a load(filename) command. |
| |
| Save Image -> ask for a filename and then send to the |
| interpreter a save.image(filename) command. |
| |
| Edit |
| |
| Copy Paste Copy and Paste Select All |
| |
| Misc |
| |
| Kill current computation |
| |
| List objects -> send to the interpreter a ls() command |
| |
| Remove all objects -> ask for confirmation and then send to |
| the interpreter a rm(list=ls()) command |
| |
| Graphics save as Postscript -> ask for a filename and then send to the |
| interpreter a dev.print(...) command |
| |
| save as gif -> ask for a filename (extension must be |
| .gif) and then save the current plot as gif |
| |
| Help |
| |
| Console -> mini help on the console |
| |
| R language -> ask for a topic and then send to the interpreter a |
| help(topic) command |
| |
| Apropos -> ask for a topic and then send to the interpreter a |
| apropos(topic) command |
| |
| About |
| |
| Observe that some of the menu items just send to the interpreter a |
| command. This means that these items are disabled when the interpreter |
| is waiting for the completion of a previous command,i..e, when you |
| have the ''continuation'' prompt. On the other end, under normal |
| editing (prompt='>'), since the current line is saved and then |
| restored you can, for example, type part of a command, ask for some |
| help, and then complete your command. |
| |
| C. Printing |
| ----------- |
| To avoid questions: printing is not directly supported (yet). |
| |
| To print the content of the console you must: |
| a) select the text; |
| b) copy it to the clipboard; |
| c) paste it in some word processor or editor which can print. |
| |
| To obtain a good copy of your graphs you can: |
| a) save it as postscript and then print on a ps printer (or play with |
| it using ghostscript); |
| b) save it as a gif and then print it using one of the many programs |
| which support this format (image manipulation programs, word processors, |
| internet browsers,...). |
| |
| If you give the focus to a graphic window, you can also copy it to |
| the clipboard using the alt+print keys. But this is the standard |
| Windows command and you will get also the window's decoration. So |
| this is useful only to get a "draft" copy of the graph. [however, I |
| find quite effective to open a word processor in which to paste |
| command, console output and graphs. Indeed this is the way I ask my |
| students to work (of course, they must also write comments!)]. |
| |
| [...] |
| |
| H. Bugs (known) and misc. observations. |
| --------------------------------------- |
| (a) As always, the English of this README. |
| |
| (b) de() doesn't work anymore. If someone needs it, I can try to include |
| the old one (or try to write a portable version of it using GraphApp). |
| |
| (c) edit(...) doesn't work properly under Win3.1/Win32s. |
| |
| (d) system(...) is quite limited (popen under MsWindows is a |
| nightmare). |
| |
| (d) To use this version under Win32s you need a recent version of |
| Win32s (I have only tested with the last one that can be found at |
| ftp://ftp.microsoft.com). |
| |
| (e) Only the mouse can be used to select the text in the console. |