[R] Is there a way to open R terminal running in the background

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 19/04/2017 11:44 AM, Brad P wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am working on a GUI, which is working well so far.
> I am working on a Windows 7 machine with 64 bit R (Microsoft R Open 3.3.2)
>
> Essentially:
> 1) a VBS executable is used to open the GUI leaving the R terminal running
> in the background but not showing using:
>
> CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run R.exe CMD BATCH MyGUI.R , 0, TRUE

I think this is more of a Microsoft question than anything specific to 
R.  How do you ask VBS to show you a process that it is running?

No idea where to go with VBS questions.

Duncan Murdoch

>
> 2) for the GUI I use code similar to that shown below
>
> My question is, when the GUI is opened, an instance of R runs in the
> background.
> Is there a way to show ('open') that R terminal?  And similarly put it back
> as invisible.
> I am imagining that I can write an R function to either open this directly
> or by using Windows OS commands
>
> I have found  a way to open a terminal using the code at this link, but it
> is not ideal (I want an actual R terminal):
> http://freesourcecode.net/rprojects/104/sourcecode/ex-RGtk2-terminal.R
>
>
>
> # MyGUI.R ##################################################################
> library(RGtk2)
>
> # initiate main window
> main_window <<- gtkWindow(show = FALSE)
> main_window["title"] <- "My GUI"
> main_window$setDefaultSize(800, 600) # (width, height)
>
> # problem: red [X] in top-right leaves underlying R instance open
> main_window$deletable <- FALSE  # makes the top-right [X] delete option not
> work ...
> # Can this button be reprogrammed??
>
> # function to read in data file
> open_cb <- function(widget, window) {
>   dialog <- gtkFileChooserDialog("Choose a CSV file", window, "open",
>                                  "gtk-cancel", GtkResponseType["cancel"],
> "gtk-open",
>                                  GtkResponseType["accept"])
>   if (dialog$run() == GtkResponseType["accept"]) {
>     fileName <<- dialog$getFilename()
>     dat <<- read.csv(fileName, header=TRUE, na.strings=c("","NA"))
>   }
>   dialog$destroy()
>   statusbar$push(info, paste("Dataset", fileName, "is currently loaded."))
> }
>
> # variable to indicate whether it is time to stop R
> StopNOW <<- 0
>
> quit_cb <- function(widget, window){
>   StopNOW <<- 1
>   window$destroy()
>   quit(save = "no")
> }
>
> # Lists actions in dropdown or toolbar menus
> actions <- list(
>   list("FileMenu", NULL, "Input File"),
>   list("Open", "gtk-open", "_Import CSV File", "<control>O",
>        "Select a CSV file to load as a spreadsheet", open_cb),
>   list("Quit", "gtk-quit", "_Quit", "<control>Q",
>        "Quit the application", quit_cb)
> )
> action_group <- gtkActionGroup("spreadsheetActions")
> action_group$addActions(actions, main_window)
>
> ui_manager <- gtkUIManager()
> ui_manager$insertActionGroup(action_group, 0)
> merge <- ui_manager$newMergeId()
> ui_manager$addUi(merge.id = merge, path = "/", name = "menubar", action =
> NULL, type = "menubar", top = FALSE)
> ui_manager$addUi(merge, "/menubar", "file", "FileMenu", "menu", FALSE)
> ui_manager$addUi(merge, "/menubar/file", "open", "Open", "menuitem", FALSE)
> ui_manager$addUi(merge, "/", "toolbar", NULL, "toolbar", FALSE)
> ui_manager$addUi(merge, "/toolbar", "quit", "Quit", "toolitem", FALSE)
>
> menubar <- ui_manager$getWidget("/menubar")
> toolbar <- ui_manager$getWidget("/toolbar")
> main_window$addAccelGroup(ui_manager$getAccelGroup())
>
> # Status bar shown at bottom left of GUI
> statusbar <- gtkStatusbar()
> info <- statusbar$getContextId("info")
> statusbar$push(info, "Ready")
>
> notebook <- gtkNotebook()
> notebook$setTabPos("bottom")
>
> vbox <- gtkVBox(homogeneous = FALSE, spacing = 0)
> vbox$packStart(menubar, expand = FALSE, fill = FALSE, padding = 0)
> vbox$packStart(toolbar, FALSE, FALSE, 0) # Uncomment if toolbar is used
> vbox$packStart(notebook, TRUE, TRUE, 0)
> vbox$packStart(statusbar, FALSE, FALSE, 0)
> main_window$add(vbox)
>
> # open GUI window
> main_window$show()
>
> gtkWidgetGrabFocus(main_window)
>
> # This repeat loop & stopNOW variable keeps the GUI window open until closed
> repeat {
> Sys.sleep(0.001)
>     if (StopNOW == 1) break
>   }
> # End GUI Code
>
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