Allows some devtools commands to be run in a compilation-mode buffer.

[atheriel]

This is a proof-of-concept implementation of the feature discussed in #528. I've only implemented check(), test(), and document() for now, and obviously the documentation could use some work as well.

How does this general approach look?

(Known issue: compilation mode buffers do not render the shell-escaped characters produced by devtools::test() correctly.)

[vspinu]

Too much copy pasting. I would add a wrapper which would dispatch to ess-r-package-eval-linewise.

[atheriel]

I had a hard time coming up with a design for such a wrapper -- do you have an idea about how to do it nicely?

[vspinu]

I think this extra helper is not warranted. Could be inlined here.

[atheriel]

I was thinking the helper could be used to run non-R commands in the project directory. But perhaps it's premature to build out that feature without an actual use case.

[vspinu]

Indeed. Let's strive for minimal code for now.

[atheriel]

Fixed.

[vspinu]

t instead of nil would result in compilation-shell-minor-mode which should solve the term signals issue.

[atheriel]

Unfortunately this also puts it in comint-mode, which is quite a different experience than the usual compilation-mode. I don't see an obvious way to get term signal handling outside of comint-mode -- do you have any inkling of what could be done?

[vspinu]

Why does that matter? If compilation mode is based on comint this is how it is.

[atheriel]

Hey, sorry for the long silence on this. I've made a minor update to the patch, but I'm not sure how to proceed.

[lionel-]

FYI I have extracted ess-r-eval-in-compile-buffer from ess-r-package-eval-in-compile-buffer:

(defun ess-r-eval-in-compile-buffer (expr)
  "Evalate R expression EXPR in a standalone `compilation-mode' buffer."
  (let* ((procname inferior-ess-r-program-name)
         (command (format "%s --slave --no-readline -e \"%s\"" procname expr)))
    (compilation-start command nil
                       (lambda (name-of-mode)
                         (concat "*" (downcase name-of-mode) "*"))
                       ess-r-error-regexp-alist)))

I use it for rendering markdown documents:

(defun my-ess-rmarkdown-render ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((cmd (format "rmarkdown::render('%s')" buffer-file-name)))
    (ess-r-eval-in-compile-buffer cmd)))

I quite like that this uses a separate process at each time rendering. I haven't tried it yet for devtools commands but I think we should explore compilation-mode further after the next release.

[vspinu]

@atheriel sorry for the late reply. We will merge this after the release in September. A bit more thinking is needed here.

[atheriel]

Yes, I appreciate that. I'd like to get back to it. One thing I hadn't considered (but is pertinent to my own use cases) is how to ensure that this will interoperate with ess-remote correctly.

[jabranham]

What's the status of this? Are we implementing it for 19.04?

[lionel-]

I don't think so. But I'd still like to integrate compilation buffers in ESS at some point.

[atheriel]

I'm still a big fan of this approach, although there are a few outstanding issues mentioned in the thread:

(1) Rendering of escape characters.
(2) Whether to use compilation-mode or comint-mode; and
(3) How this will work with ess-remote.

As well as any actual design questions. Any thoughts on these?

[vspinu]

I had some very concrete thoughts back then but didn't have time to get to it. And now I am even more busy to have a look at this.

One thing for sure, the functionality should be brought in once we have the local cache for prog + params which is also needed for restarts.

[kguidonimartins]

This would be a nice feature! Any update?