ESS (R) Auto-complete - r

I try to get a practical development environment for R in Emacs, hoping to get auto-completion working as shown in http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ESSAuto-complete.
However, even in a minimal configuration, I can't get it working.
See what I get on http://screencast.com/t/qcyVwkECX. In fact, while AC does work (see completion menu appearing), it's like if there was no info from the R language itself, while ac-source-R is WELL added to ac-sources.
Do you understand what's happening?
Best regards.
PS- Here is my minimal Emacs configuration file for the demo:
;; Auto Completion
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/auto-complete-20140824.1658/")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20140815.629/")
(when (require 'auto-complete-config)
(ac-config-default)
;; use `C-n/C-p' to select candidates
(setq ac-use-menu-map t)
(define-key ac-menu-map (kbd "C-n") 'ac-next)
(define-key ac-menu-map (kbd "C-p") 'ac-previous)
;; unbind some keys (inconvenient in iESS buffers)
(define-key ac-completing-map (kbd "M-n") nil)
(define-key ac-completing-map (kbd "M-p") nil)
;; set default sources
(setq ac-sources
(append '(ac-source-features
ac-source-functions
ac-source-yasnippet
ac-source-variables
ac-source-symbols)
ac-sources))
(setq ac-delay 0) ; faster than default 0.1
(setq ac-auto-show-menu 0.2)
(setq ac-quick-help-delay 0.5)
(setq ac-quick-help-height 10)
(setq ac-candidate-limit 100)
;; completion by TAB
(define-key ac-completing-map
(kbd "<tab>") 'ac-complete)
;; avoid Flyspell processes when auto completion is being started
(ac-flyspell-workaround))
;; ESS: Emacs Speaks Statistics
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20140824.1452/lisp/")
(setq shell-file-name "zsh.exe")
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.[rR]\\'" . R-mode))
(autoload 'R "ess-site" "Call 'R', the 'GNU S' system from the R Foundation." t)
(autoload 'R-mode "ess-site" "Major mode for editing R source." t)
(setq ess-ask-for-ess-directory nil)
(setq inferior-ess-same-window nil)
(setq ess-default-style 'DEFAULT)
(with-eval-after-load "ess-site"
;; use eldoc to report R function names
(require 'ess-eldoc)
(add-hook 'inferior-ess-mode-hook 'ess-use-eldoc))
PPS- In fact, ElDoc does not seem to work either!
UPDATE
I just discovered it almost works when the iESS buffer gets created, not when just editing R code in its own buffer. See http://screencast.com/t/fKRjLmIC6K0.
What would explain that iESS must be run first before it finally works?
Still, something that does not work is the completion on function arguments (like with the cat function on the page http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ESSAuto-complete).
Why does that not work?

After opening a R file with emacs, if you have this mode described into your emacs status bar:
(ESS[S] [none] ElDoc AS)
You can run this shortcut C-c C-s to attach a R session to you ESS[S] editor mode.
If you already have one or some R session open, emacs will ask you to choose the R session you want to use. Otherwise if you have not already open a R session then emacs will open a new one for you.
Next, you should have this information inside your status bar:
(ESS[S] [R db -] ElDoc AS)
and the completion should work.

Related

disabling auxiliary buffers in ESS

when open an R script in emacs invariably an additional buffer opens up called Flymake Log with the following message
Warning [flymake DR.R]: Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)
Following this discussion I added the following line to my init.el file:
(remove-hook 'flymake-diagnostic-functions 'flymake-proc-legacy-flymake)
but it didn't solve the problem.
Additionally, when I start an R process using M-x R an ESS buffer opens up, which says
current-prefix-arg=nil
(inferior-ess: waiting for process to start (before hook)
(inferior-ess 3): waiting for process after hook(R): inferior-ess-language-start=options(STERM='iESS', str.dendrogram.last="'", editor='emacsclient', show.error.locations=TRUE)
This happens whenever I restart my R session. It's really annoying and distracting when I constantly have to cycle through these redundant buffers. I say they are redundant, because I haven't noticed any way in which the normal R operation would be disrupted.
I'm using emacs 26.3 with ESS 18.10.3 on ubuntu 20.04 with R 3.6.3. Also, please see below my entire init.el file
(require 'package)
(let* ((no-ssl (and (memq system-type '(windows-nt ms-dos))
(not (gnutls-available-p))))
(proto (if no-ssl "http" "https")))
;; Comment/uncomment these two lines to enable/disable MELPA and MELPA Stable as desired
(add-to-list 'package-archives (cons "melpa" (concat proto "://melpa.org/packages/")) t)
;;(add-to-list 'package-archives (cons "melpa-stable" (concat proto "://stable.melpa.org/packages/")) t)
(when (< emacs-major-version 24)
;; For important compatibility libraries like cl-lib
(add-to-list 'package-archives (cons "gnu" (concat proto "://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")))))
(package-initialize)
(custom-set-variables
;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
'(package-selected-packages (quote (dracula-theme ess-smart-underscore ess)))
'(pop-up-windows nil))
(custom-set-faces
;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
)
;; Makes *scratch* empty.
(setq initial-scratch-message "")
;; Removes *scratch* from buffer after the mode has been set.
(defun remove-scratch-buffer ()
(if (get-buffer "*scratch*")
(kill-buffer "*scratch*")))
(add-hook 'after-change-major-mode-hook 'remove-scratch-buffer)
;; Removes *messages* from the buffer.
(setq-default message-log-max nil)
(kill-buffer "*Messages*")
;; Removes *Completions* from buffer after you've opened a file.
(add-hook 'minibuffer-exit-hook
'(lambda ()
(let ((buffer "*Completions*"))
(and (get-buffer buffer)
(kill-buffer buffer)))))
;; Don't show *Buffer list* when opening multiple files at the same time.
(setq inhibit-startup-buffer-menu t)
;; Show only one active window when opening multiple files at the same time.
(add-hook 'window-setup-hook 'delete-other-windows)
;; backup in one place. flat, no tree structure
(setq backup-directory-alist '(("" . "~/.emacs.d/backup")))
;; easier switching between windows
(windmove-default-keybindings 'control)
;; color theme
(load-theme 'dracula t)
;; matching parenthesis
(show-paren-mode 1)
;; keybindings for resizing windows
(global-set-key (kbd "S-C-<left>") 'shrink-window-horizontally)
(global-set-key (kbd "S-C-<right>") 'enlarge-window-horizontally)
(global-set-key (kbd "S-C-<down>") 'shrink-window)
(global-set-key (kbd "S-C-<up>") 'enlarge-window)
;; easier switching between buffers
(ido-mode 1)
;; no menu bar
(menu-bar-mode -1)
;; no line wrapping by default
(set-default 'truncate-lines t)
;; Disable Flymake warnings
(remove-hook 'flymake-diagnostic-functions 'flymake-proc-legacy-flymake)
;; disables ESS buffer
(setq ess-write-to-dribble t)
The last line was an attempt at permanently disabling the ESS log buffer.

Capture output of cl-async:spawn

I was hoping to experiment with cl-async to run a series of external programs with a large combinations of command line arguments. However, I can't figure out how to read the stdout of the processes launched with as:spawn.
I would typically use uiop which makes it easy to capture the process output:
(let ((p (uiop:launch-program ... :output :stream)))
(do-something-else-until-p-is-done)
(format t "~a~%" (read-line (uiop:process-info-output p))))
I've tried both :output :pipe and :output :stream options to as:spawn and executing (as:process-output process-object) in my exit-callback shows the appropriate pipe or async-stream objects but I can't figure out how to read from them.
Can anyone with experience with this library tell how to accomplish this?
So you go to your repl and type:
CL-USER> (documentation 'as:spawn 'function)
And you read whatever comes out (or put your point on the symbol and hit C-c C-d f). If you read it you’ll see that the format for the :input, etc arguments is either :pipe, (:pipe args...), :stream, or (:stream args...) (or some other options). And that :stream behaves similarly to :pipe but gives output of a different type and that for details of args one should look at PIPE-CONNECT so you go and look up the documentation for that. Well it tells you what the options are but it isn’t very useful. What’s the documentation/description of PIPE or STREAM? Well it turns out that pipe is a class and a subclass of STREAMISH. What about PROCESS that’s a class too and it has slots (and accessors) for things like PROCESS-OUTPUT. So what is a good plan for how to figure out what to do next? Here’s a suggestion:
Spawn a long running process (like cat foo.txt -) with :output :stream :input :pipe say
Inspect the result (C-c C-v TAB)
Hopefully it’s an instance of PROCESS. What is it’s output? Inspect that
Hopefully the output is a Gray stream (ASYNC-STREAM). Get it into your repl and see what happens if you try to read from it?
And what about the input? See what type that has and what you can do with it
The above is all speculation. I’ve not tried running any of this but you should. Alternatively go look at the source code for the library. It’s already on your computer and if you can’t find it it’s on GitHub. There are only about half a dozen source files and they’re all small. Just read them and see what you can learn. Or go to the symbol you want to know about and hit M-. to jump straight to its definition. Then read the code. Then see if you can figure out what to do.
I found the answer in the test suite. The output stream can only be processed asynchronously via a read call-back. The following is simple example for posterity
(as:start-event-loop
(lambda ()
(let ((bytes (make-array 0 :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8))))
(as:spawn "./test.sh" '()
:exit-cb (lambda (proc exit-status term-signal)
(declare (ignore proc exit-status term-signal))
(format t "proc output:~%~a"
(babel:octets-to-string bytes)))
:output (list :stream
:read-cb (lambda (pipe stream)
(declare (ignore pipe))
(let ((buf (make-array 128 :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8))))
(loop for n = (read-sequence buf stream)
while (plusp n) do
(setf bytes
(concatenate '(vector (unsigned-byte 8))
bytes
(subseq buf 0 n)))))))))))
with
$ cat test.sh
#!/bin/bash
sleep_time=$((1+$RANDOM%10))
echo "Process $$ will sleep for $sleep_time"
sleep $sleep_time
echo "Process $$ exiting"
yields the expected output

Inferior-lisp not responding on sldb-quit

I just started learning common lisp, so excuse me if lisp terminology is a bit off. I installed slime and am using Clozure CL. ccl is working just fine. When I enter a wrong expression, the debugger opens (slbc ccl/1 buffer). When I enter q, the debugger buffer closes, and then the inferior-lisp buffer does not respond. Why is that?
and if I want to continue work, I seem to have to restart inferior-lisp, what is it I am doing wring?
I just wanted to say put out the solution I found.
I had followed the instructions in the slime's user manual (from here), I used MALPA repository to install slime.
As PuercoPop's says in the comments, i should land in a slime-repl buffer, which I didn't have by default. I did some further digging and learnt that i have to add a few more line to my .emacs file for the slime-repl buffer to load. The line needed was
(slime-setup '(slime-fancy))
My final .emacs file looks like this:
(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/"))
(when (< emacs-major-version 24)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")))
(package-initialize)
(setq package-enable-at-startup nil)
(setq inferior-lisp-program "F:/Binaries/ccl/wx86cl64.exe")
(setq slime-auto-connect 'ask)
(setq slime-net-coding-system 'utf-8-unix)
(require 'slime)
(slime-setup
'(slime-fancy slime-asdf slime-references slime-indentation slime-xref-browser)
)

Have Emacs to automatically latex your Rnw file after knitting

I would like to start a LaTeX after knitting an .Rnw file. The meta code shoudl be something like:
(defun knit ()
(interactive)
(setq rproc (ess-get-process ess-current-process-name))
(setq c "knit('foo.rnw')\n")
(process-send-string rproc c)
;; Wait for ESS to finish
(shell-command-to-string "cd foo/path & pdflatex foo"))
The main problem is to have Emacs to wait for the inferior buffer to finish knitting and only after to start latexing. I found a couple of interesting functions: (ess-wait-for-process ...) and (inferior-ess-mark-as-busy ...)`, which could possibly work, but I am unable to understand how.
Note that (shell-command-to-string ... is only illustrative. The final choice might be:
(TeX-command "LaTeX" 'rnw-to-tex-ext -1))
knit2pdf() might be a different path to go, but I will lose the benefit of AUCTeX.
PS: My question is considered "subjective and likely to be closed" by the SE robot!?
I use texi2pdf and have R do it after the knit, but that's apparently the equivalent of knit2pdf. I wonder though if you could use system to call whatever tex command you want from within R, after the knit command, similar to how I use texi2pdf.
I'm not an emacs expert whatsoever but for what it's worth here's the function I have in my .emacs file.
; use knitr (was Sweave) script as compile function for Rnw files
(defun ess-swv-SweaveSh ()
"Use knitr script to knit an Rnw file and create a pdf."
(interactive)
(let
((compilation-buffer-name-function (function (lambda(ign)(concat "*" (buffer-file-name) "*")))))
(compile (concat "Rscript -e \".n <- '" (buffer-file-name) "'; library(knitr); knit(.n); library(tools); texi2pdf(sub('Rnw$','tex',.n))\"" ))
)
)
A possible solution is to check the 'busy property of the inferior ESS process.
The while loop waiting for it to be nil blocks command echo. This is why you see (redisplay). To avoid stressing your dear one, I set also a refresh delay (sleep-for .5).
Just in case ESS gets stuck the loop exists after 60 seconds. Adjust it, if you have heavy weight code.
Finally I attached latexing to AUCTeX. Therefore you can customise LaTeX-command-style with the help of TeX-expand-list documentation.
The function automatically sets the proper name for files to knit and latex, and sets R working dir to the .Rnw file to be knitted, so you can source other scripts or load data.
So you can run it everywhere with M-x knit or perhaps associate it with a shortcut.
The function saves the buffer with last changes before knitting and opens an inferior R buffer if there is none available; otherwise it uses the existing one.
(defun knit ()
"Save the buffer, knit and latex"
(interactive) ; You will associate this to you favourite key
(let* (
;; Get names & path
(cur-dir (file-name-directory (buffer-file-name)))
(rnw-name (file-name-nondirectory (buffer-file-name)))
(tex-name (concat (file-name-base (buffer-file-name)) ".tex"))
;; Create knit command
(cmd (format "require(knitr); setwd('%s'); knit('%s')" cur-dir rnw-name))
;; Time the knitting
(start-time (float-time))
(wait 60) ; Lifeboat to exit loop if smt wrong
)
;; Save rnw buffer... you are lazy, I know)
(save-buffer)
;; Send string to R at low-level
;;(setq rproc (ess-get-process ess-current-process-name))
;;(process-send-string rproc c)
;; or Send line with the ESS wrapper
(ess-eval-linewise cmd)
;; While loop to check when
(setq start-time (float-time)
wait 60) ; Lifeboat to exit loop after x secs
;; Wait for 'busy property nil, nut not more than wait seconds
(setq rproc (ess-get-process ess-current-process-name))
(while (< (- (float-time) start-time) wait)
(sleep-for .5)
;; (accept-process-output rproc .5) ;alt. way for process-send-string
(redisplay)
(if (not (process-get rproc 'busy))
(setq wait 0)
(message "Knitting... ")))
(message "Knitting finished, starting latexing")
;; Set LaTeX your fav options. See TeX-expand-list for % pars
(setq LaTeX-command-style '(("" "%(PDF)%(latex) -file-line-error %S%(PDFout)")))
;; TeX-command requires a 'file function (anonymous here) returning the filename.
;; TeX-command/TeX-expand-list say 'file has one opt arg: extension.
;; Actually they are 2, despite the second seems always passed true.
(TeX-command "LaTeX" (lambda (&optional ext dummy) tex-name))))

How to stop emacs from replacing underbar with <- in ess-mode

ess-mode is "Emacs speaks statistics." This mode is useful for editing programs for R or Splus (two separate statistics packages).
In my buffer, when ever I type _ the character is replaced with <-, which is very frustrating. Is there an emacs lisp statement to turn off this behavior?
emacs: 22.1.1
ess-mode release (unknown)
From ESS's manual (look under "Changes/New Features in 5.2.0"):
ESS[S]: Pressing underscore ("_") once inserts " <- " (as before); pressing underscore twice inserts a literal underscore. To stop this smart behaviour, add "(ess-toggle-underscore nil)" to your .emacs after ess-site has been loaded
Since the feature is useful. You can assign it to other key which is less used by you in R it will automatically unassign it from underscore. I personally assign it to ";" by adding following line in .emacs file.
(setq ess-smart-S-assign-key ";")
My version of emacs is 24.3 All-in-one installation file by Vincent Goulet.(Installed on windows 7)
hope this helps
Edit
In emacs 25.2 above do not work instead add following in the .emacs file
(setq ess-smart-S-assign-key ";")
(ess-toggle-S-assign nil)
(ess-toggle-S-assign nil)
A more recent version which seemed to work for me, and is a lot less verbose (you essentially keep normal underscores, but can set your own key for this smart behaviour!):
(global-set-key (kbd "C-;") (lambda () (interactive) (insert " <- ")))
(ess-toggle-underscore nil)
Insert your shortkey choice instead of C-;.
From http://www.r-bloggers.com/a-small-customization-of-ess/ and
How to change smart assign key ("_" to "<-") binding in ESS
To assign ":" to "<-" and to stop the assignment of underscore (underbar) "_" to "<-" put the following in .emacs (yes, the repeated line is correct)
(setq ess-smart-S-assign-key ":")
(ess-toggle-S-assign nil)
(ess-toggle-S-assign nil)
(ess-toggle-underscore nil) ; leave underscore key alone!
Like Michał Marczyk and this R mailing list thread suggested, add this line to ~/.emacs:
(ess-toggle-underscore nil)
Then reload it with M-x load-file and type ~/.emacs.
But if you load the file again, e.g. if you add another customization, then it toggles it back to the original state. So toggle it twice, the first one forcing it to the default:
(ess-toggle-underscore t)
(ess-toggle-underscore nil)
That being said, I like Drummermean's solution better, but it also reverts back to default if you add it to ~/.emacs and load it twice. So force a toggle to the default before:
(ess-toggle-underscore t)
(global-set-key (kbd "M--") (lambda () (interactive) (insert " <- ")))
(ess-toggle-underscore nil)
I bound the smart assignment to Opt-[minus] like RStudio (on a Mac).
As a follow-up on #mmorin answer. To set keybinding for the assignment operator the same way as in Rstudio add the following in your .emacs file
(ess-toggle-underscore t)
(ess-toggle-underscore nil)
(define-key ess-mode-map (kbd "M--") (lambda () (interactive) (just-one-space 1) (insert "<-") (just-one-space 1)))
(define-key inferior-ess-mode-map (kbd "M--") (lambda () (interactive) (just-one-space 1) (insert "<-") (just-one-space 1)))

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