[rkward-devel] plot history: 3rd attempt: request for feedback

[Prasenjit Kapat]

Hi,

I've just committed another attempt at the plot history feature(s).
Please test it. Some notes follow:

1. Implemented action:
1a. first / prev / next / last
1b. Remove plot
1c. Forcefully append plot, irrespective of its status and type
1d. Clear history
1e. Drop down menu
Insert and Overwrite actions haven't been implemented and I do not
intend them for this release.

2. par (mfrow/mfcol) and split.screen have been accounted for, almost!

3. Although there is limit on the size of individual plots, one
crossing that limit the user is now presented with an option to save
or ignore this over-sized plot... This way, such plot are not "lost."

4. As usual, play around with the icons / menus and make sure the
behavior is _NOT_ harmful and "less confusing." Stuff to try out:

. open multiple new (empty) devices
. add plots using regular plot calls
. update plots using title (), grid () etc...
. duplicate device (with saved and unsaved plots)
. remove plots
. browse using the arrow buttons
. browse using the drop down menu and make sure that the order /
indices are not screwed up
. close device (with saved / unsaved / _no_ plot)
. perform actions on inactive device and make sure that the state of
the device does not change
. perform actions on _one_ device and make sure the display on other
devices are not changed
. exceed the hist limit
. reduce the hist limit from Settings > RKWard > Output to something
below the current hist length
. plot large sized plots (for ease of use, you may reduce the plot
size in settings)
. call par (mfrow = ...) or split.screen (...). It is _not perfect_
but see if is "satisfactory"..
. if you use lattice then mix lattice and standard calls...
. for lattice: try out update (trellis.last.object (), ...) calls
. try preview devices.. they should not be tracked at all
....

5. And MOST importantly, find plotting functions which does not get
recorded (technically, ones that do not call plot.new or persp or
print.trellis). In such cases (even otherwise) try using the "Append
plot" action.

6. By default all debug output is turned off. If you are so inclined
to see (esp on error) call:

    rk.record.plot$.set.rk.rp.debug (TRUE) # FALSE to turn off

This will create a whole lot of messages.

7. The label strings for the drop down menu are by default restricted
to 50 characters. If you need to change it, call:

    rk.record.plot$.set.call.lab.len (60) # or 20 ...

See how the it fares on different screen sizes.

8. Summary of all the saved plots (not of the devices) can be found by:

    rk.record.plot$getSavedPlotsSummary () # this is data.frame

9. Summary of the managed devices can be found by:

   rk.record.plot$getDevSummary () # but this needs debug to be TRUE

Of course, there are a lot debug commands, although no output is
produced, which will be removed once the performance is acceptable.

Regards,
-- 
Prasenjit