Vim R plugin installation issue

[azvoleff]

I am also using the plugin for vim posted by jalvesaq. It is working well, and I appreciate your work. One issue I have had with it is the scrolling with using help() in R. Ordinarily R will allow vim keybindings to be used for scrolling a help file (for instance when using the R command "help(density)"). When I use the vim R plugin, however, neither vim keybindings nor arrow keys nor page up/page down will work to scroll help files in R. I am using gnome-terminal rather than xterm, if that makes any difference, with the latest version of the R plugin.

[bgc]

Hi,

I am also using the plugin provided by jalvesaq, and so far it's working well. I do have a related question though, which also applies to the previous version of the plugin: is there no way of getting a better GUI for R? I mean, compared to the Windows GUI, the xterm is not very good. It tends to truncate lines of code sent to it, colour coding for errors would be useful, and there's also the scrolling issue when consulting help files. As you have probably noticed by now I'm completely new to this, and just wondering if there are any things I can change to the setup to improve the experience! Any help or suggestions are very welcome! Thanks for any help you can give me, and for the great plugins!

bgc

[samden]

If you want a better GUI, you may want to try something other than vim. Rkward is an excellent GUI for R, JGR is another. Rkward is in the repositories (sudo apt-get install rkward), not sure about JGR.

Vim is for people who don't want a GUI!

[jalvesaq]

[...] One issue I have had with it is the scrolling with using help() in R. Ordinarily R will allow vim keybindings to be used for scrolling a help file (for instance when using the R command "help(density)"). When I use the vim R plugin, however, neither vim keybindings nor arrow keys nor page up/page down will work to scroll help files in R. I am using gnome-terminal rather than xterm, if that makes any difference, with the latest version of the R plugin.

I added a new key binding, <C-H>, which calls R's help().

The scroll issue affects both xterm and gnome-terminal. It seems that R doesn't use GNU Readline when called through a pipe. That's why you can't complete object names with <Tab> in the terminal window (and that's why I created the omni function for Vim). The best solution for me is to do "help.start()" in the terminal window before using help().

[jalvesaq]

If you want a better GUI, you may want to try something other than vim. Rkward is an excellent GUI for R, JGR is another. Rkward is in the repositories (sudo apt-get install rkward), not sure about JGR.

Vim is for people who don't want a GUI!

Vim is for people who want an editor with advanced features, like complex search and replace, record of macros, etc. For those who prefer do not have to remember a lot of keyboard commands, it's better to use GUI for R like JGR or Rkward, as suggested by samden.

[jalvesaq]

[...] xterm is not very good. It tends to truncate lines of code sent to it, colour coding for errors would be useful [...].

I also would like to have color coding of errors in R's output, but I don't know how to get them without patching R source code.

The truncated lines are not a xterm limitation, but an issue with running R through a pipe (and I don't know how to solve it). However, although annoying, I don't see this problem as a serious bug because you still have the entire lines in the script that you are editing with Vim. You can also break the lines in Vim before sending them to R, and, in my opinion, the code will even become more readable.

As far as I know, the two most serious bugs of vim-r-plugin are:

(1) You should never hit Ctrl+C in the terminal window.
(2) Sending more than 4 k of text to R "obstructs" the pipe and freezes the terminal.

[bgc]

Hi! I fear I might have not explained myself very well! Sorry! So...

Samden: I'm actually very happy with Vim, and what I would want is not a GUI for Vim, but for R. And in fact, I think GUI isn't it either, just a somewhat better CLI (taking the better parts of the Windows implementation).

jalvesaq: Thank you for your reply! And thanks for the plugin! I only ask out of ignorance, because I have had situations where I would have wished something that turned out to be possible by tweaking settings! In any case this plugin allows me to stay away from Windows, so thanks.

[jalvesaq]

[...] I only ask out of ignorance, because I have had situations where I would have wished something that turned out to be possible by tweaking settings! In any case this plugin allows me to stay away from Windows, so thanks.

You are welcome! And, please, keep reporting bugs and wishes!

I can't fix the scrolling problem, but now the plugin calls R's help.start() automatically the first time that <C-H> is pressed. This behavior can be customized or even disabled, and the details are explained in the plugin's documentation. I think this is better than having to remember of calling help.start() manually.

The new version of the plugin has some other bug fixes:
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2628

[bgc]

That's great, and actually using help.start() or the method with the new version works great! I do have one question: how do you change settings, for instance the amount of indent (from 4 to 2 say)? Is it also possible to change any of the keybindings? Apologies in advance for probably very naive questions! Thank you!

[jalvesaq]

[...] I do have one question: how do you change settings, for instance the amount of indent (from 4 to 2 say)? Is it also possible to change any of the keybindings?

To change the amount of indent, put in your vimrc:

set shiftwidth=2

To change the key bindings you can open the file ~/.vim/ftplugin/r.vim and edit the lines that begin with "noremap", "inoremap" or "vnoremap". For example, in the following line you could replace <C-F9> with another key combination:

noremap <buffer> <C-F9> :call SendFunctionToR()<CR>

On the next weekend I will try to find a way of doing these settings in the vimrc, so you and other people will not have to patch the plugin after each new release.