[R] Building static HTML help pages in R 2.10.x on Windows

[Michal Kulich]

On 7.1.2010 12:18, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> You don't need Rgui, you could run Rterm, which would have a smaller
> footprint. It's not very hard to start it and minimize it, but if you
> want it running invisibly, you'll need to figure out how to hide the icon.

This works. Not entirely invisible but not a big deal about that.
The R code run within Rterm is

options(help_type="html",help.ports=6800)
help.start()
library(audio)
wait(-1)

[couldn't find another way to hang R indefinitely in batch mode]

 
> A disadvantage of doing this is that you won't see help relevant to your
> current session, you'll see help relevant to the background task.  In
> 2.10.x there aren't many differences, but you'll find it more limiting
> in 2.11.x and later.

Not a problem if one is not switching between different versions of R. The current version is on the path and the path will get updated (manually) after a new version is installed. Thus, the relevant help will be always displayed.

Thanks, this is a kind of solution. Now I can use bookmarks to HTML help for the favorite libraries when working in ESS - the impossibility to set those and the need to start Rgui was the big nuisance. 

I am sure the new help system will get gradually improved in the future.

Best,

Michal

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michal Kulich, PhD
Dept. of Probability and Statistics
Charles University
Sokolovska 83
186 75 Praha 8
Czech Republic
Email: kulich at karlin.mff.cuni.cz