News

Maintenance releases 0.4.9a and 0.5.0b - tfry - On the 20 April 2008 -

Both the KDE 3 and KDE 4 versions of RKWard have been updated today. Most importantly RKWard now compiles with R 2.7.0 (which is due to be release, officially, soon). Both releases are available from the download page.

For the KDE 3 version (RKWard 0.4.9a), the only changes are:

• Support from compilation with R 2.7
• New plugin: Hodrick-Prescott Filter
• Fixed some lockups during startup

The KDE 4 version (RKWard 0.5.0b) has the following changes:

• Support compilation with R 2.7
• New plugin: Hodrick-Prescott Filter
• Fix a problem with plugin help pages not loading correctly
• Better resize handling in progress and R input (readline()) dialogs
• Somewhat better handling of the R event loop (esp. when calling "require(not_yet_installed_package)")

As usual, your feedback is welcome on our mailing list.

Bugfix release 0.5.0a (for KDE4) - tfry - On the 23 January 2008 -

A simple but important bug in RKWard 0.5.0 was discovered a bit too late (in most plugins no objects were selectable at all). This is corrected in version 0.5.0a, which is available for download, now. Please use this version instead of RKWard 0.5.0. Other than the correction there are virtually no changes since 0.5.0.

RKWard 0.5.0 for KDE4 is released - tfry - On the 21 January 2008 -

The first version of RKWard for KDE4 is available for download, now. The list of actual enhancements (see below) is relatively small, but internally a lot of code has been rewritten. The move to KDE4 / Qt4 provides a new foundation for RKWard, and offers a number of promising opportunities for further development, which we hope to put to good use, soon. The list of current changes over 0.4.9 (as far we kept track of them):

• Bugfixes and internals: * make sure that R only handles SIGSEV, when the R thread is active. Should give better backtraces and less hangs * port to KDE 4
• UI enhancements and new features: * object viewer was redesigned to use space better, and only fetch the print-representation when needed * add support for a focus-follows-mouse activation behavior of the MDI windows (Settings->General) * ability to mark arbitrary "blocks" in script editor and run them with a shortcut * more icons added * data.frame editor can be set to read-only mode * code completion in script editor shows icons for the different object types * settings dialog is now shown in "page tree" mode

Please note that this release has seen considerable code changes. This should fix a lot of small bugs not listed above, but also, of course, we expect there are a number of new bugs that we did not discover during testing. If you find some, or would like to share your opinions on RKWard, please contact us on the mailing list.

NOTES:

• Versions of RKWard 0.5.0 or higher are designed for KDE 4, and cannot be used with KDE 3. For KDE 3 use the 0.4.x versions.
• The build system was changed to CMake. Read INSTALL (also provided in the source .tar.gz) for details on how to build RKWard.
• Due to clashes with kate default shortcuts, the shortcuts for Run->Run Line, Run Selection, and Run All were changed to Shift+F7, Shift+F8, Shift+F9, respectively.
• The tabs in the main workplace view no longer have a close button that is shown when hovering the mouse over the respective icon. Rather, there is a single button to close the current tab, shown at the right of the tab bar

RKWard 0.4.9 is released - tfry - On the 14 January 2008 -

Version 0.4.9 of RKWard is now available for download. The following changes are contained in the new release:

• Enhancements: * Improved user interface for CSV import plugin * Support drawing grids in histogram and stripchart plots * New plugin: Levene test * New plugin: Jarque-Bera test (by Germán Márquez Mejía) * Use the KDE default fixed spacing font for command log and object viewer
• Bugfixes: * Fixed: Crosstabs plugin produces better output * Fixed: use.value.labels option was wrong in SPSS import plugin * Fixed: SPSS tables would only be imported to the workspace, when the edit option was checked * Fixed: correct installation of rkward.desktop file

In case you are wondering why the list of changes is shorter than usual: This release is one of the last releases of RKWard for KDE 3. Meanwhile we've been working hard to produce a version which will run natively in the newly released KDE 4. This will be released as RKWard 0.5.0 in - according to plan - roughly one week. We will continue to support KDE 3 versions of RKWard for some time to come, and probably also provide some new or improved plugins, but the main development will focus on KDE 4 versions of RKWard from now on.

Remember: Your feedback is always welcome on the mailing list.

Bugfix release 0.4.8a - tfry - On the 11 November 2007 -

While development continues on the next versions of RKWard (including a port to the upcoming KDE 4), we would like to address some bugs that were discovered since the release of RKWard 0.4.8. This release (download) does not add new user features, but fixes several problems. The changes in detail:

• Bugfixes: * More reliable C stack limit detection on some systems * Fixed: Console accepted pasted input while a command is running * Fixed: Analysis->Moments->Moment plugin did not use the order-parameter * Fixed: Crash on simple assignments in globalenv() with R < 2.4.0 * Fixed: Meta information (labels) did not get shown correctly in the data editor * Fixed: Pressing the add button in a varslot with no object selected could crash RKWard
• Internal changes: * Add command line option "--debugger" for debugging purposes

As usual, we welcome your feedback on the mailing list.

Version 0.4.8 is released - tfry - On the 03 October 2007 -

Version 0.4.8 of RKWard is available for download, now. The new release features changes all over the place, including new plugins, an integrated filesystem browser, and several bug fixes. Also optimizations were done to speed up some aspects, slightly, and to reduce typical memory usage, considerably. Many thanks to all who helped with the release. The full list of changes:

• User visible additions / improvements: * New plugins: pie chart, dot chart, crosstabulation, two time-series tests, and basic linear regression * barplot plugin allow specification of custom labels * graphics export plugin gains option for EPS compatibility * CLT plugins allow drawing grid * commands run through the console from the script editor will now be added to the command history (this can be turned off in the settings) * object viewer also shows summary information, gains an update button, and MDI integration * add max.print option to R-Backend settings dialog * all file selection line edits gain filename-completion * add a basic file selector window * show the focus indication (thin red border) also for detached windows * tool windows can be closed and detached in the same way as regular windows * Messages, warnings, and errors for plugin commands are shown in the output, instead of in a dialog * new translation: Simplified Chinese (contributed by Roy Qu)
• Bug fixes: * fixed: promise objects (created by delayedAssign()) directly in globalenv() would be forced early * make wrapper script work, when konsole is not installed * correct syntax highlighting for ::: and NA_integer_ and others * fixed: crash when editing a data.frame with logicals (logicals are still mishandled, but less severe) * fixed: would not work with R 2.6 * more compilation fixes for GCC 4.3 * fixed: inserting / removing rows in the data editor in the presence of invalid fields in later rows would lead to a crash * fix some internal problems with enabledness/disabledness of plugin components * fixed: sometimes detecting created X11() windows would fail, esp. under high load * fix a crash with detached tool windows
• Optimizations: * syntax highlighting is minimally faster for long outputs * some complex plotting plugins now start up noticeably faster * create the workspace browser only when it is first shown * add possibility to blacklist packages from fetching structure information. Package GO is blacklisted by default. * when fetching the structure of "promise" R objects, don't keep them in memory * optimize the function to retrieve the structure of R objects (for display in the object browser, and completion)
• Miscellanious / internal: * silence some GCC 4.2 warnings * support for including files and snippets in xml files * add command line option --disable-stack-check for systems where R C stack checking is buggy * the modifier "not" for boolean properties returns a (negated) boolean sub-propery instead of just a string

NOTES:

• R 2.6.0: Previous releases of RKWard will not work with the upcoming R 2.6.0. You need RKWard 0.4.8 (i.e. this release) in order to work with R 2.6.0. Note that when upgrading R after RKWard, you will need to recompile.
• With the addition of the new filesystem browser, the shortcuts to show/hide the main tool windows have changed. The filesystem browser window can be toggled using Alt+2, the shortcuts for command log, pending jobs, console, and help search are now Alt+3 through 6, respectively, instead of Alt+2 through 5.
• All commands run through the console are now added to the command history of the console, by default. This setting can be changed back to the old behavior (only commands *entered* in the console are added to the history) under Settings->Configure RKWard->Console.

Enthusiastic? Disappointed? Need help with RKWard? Your feedback is welcome on the mailing list.

Bugfix release 0.4.7a - tfry - On the 07 May 2007 -

Recently, some problems have been discovered related to resolving some fortran symbols, on at least some systems. Since these can make RKWard crash even on simple operations, and not compile on some systems, a bugfix release dealing with these issues has been prepared. While at it, a number of additional bugfixes contained in the development version have been included, here, as well.

In detail, the changes are:

• add sanity check for the detected stack limits
• fixed: one some systems rkward would crash or not compile due to missing fortran symbols
• fixed: starting the scatterplot plugin in wizard mode would crash rkward
• tab-completion in the console will do partial completion, if all potential completions have a common start
• fixed: file-name completion would always assume the home directory as the current directory
• update turkish translation
• compilation fix for FreeBSD (thanks to Thierry Thomas)
• fixed: when executing commands line by line from the script editor, line breaks would be omitted

If you are experiencing any of the above problems, please download and upgrade to version 0.4.7a of RKWard.

RKWard 0.4.7 released - tfry - On the 11 April 2007 -

Version 0.4.7 of RKWard is now available for download.

Once again the list of new features and improvements is long. Most importantly, a large number of plugins has been added, making more R statistics features available via graphical dialogs. Many thanks to all who contributed to this release!

The changes in detail:

• New and improved plugins: * t-test plugin now also allows to calculate a paired test * new plugin: Phillips-Perron test * new plugin: Mood test * new plugins: CLT plots for most distributions * new plugins: variance tests (F test (var.test), Bartlett test, Fligner test) * new plugin: generic plot * new plugin: Add grid to plot * new plugin: pareto chart * new plugin: stem-and-leaf plot * new plugins: outlier tests (chisq.out.test, dixon.test, grubbs.test, outlier) * new plugins: support of all tests from moments package * import SPSS and import CSV plugins gain option to open object for editing, automatically (checked by default) * several existing plugins have been improved in various ways
• Bug fixes: * some fixes for GCC 4.3 * fixed: the presence of user objects called "missing", "assign", or "get" would confuse some RKWard internals * fix a crash that occurred during startup under some circumstances * when flushing the output, also delete all graphs * make sure not to run parts of an incomplete user command. It would lead to all sorts of subtle problems * fixed: changing the type of a column in the data editor was broken * fixed: quitting while a plugin was still active would sometimes crash rkward * better error handling in PHP backend * fixed: depending on some buffer sizes, plugins could get stuck while generating code * fixed: plugin browser type="dir" would not work correctly * fixed: graph previews would stop working when the interface is switched from dialog to wizard or vice versa
• Other user visible improvements: * use maximum permissible width in the object viewer * show current working directory in the statusbar * add run selection action to all HTML windows * add custom icons for run line/selection/all * if an incomplete command was piped through the console, the console does not become blocked for piping * make "run current line" advance the cursor to next line after running * warnings and errors are highlighted in command log / console (warnings only for R >= 2.5.x) * also support filename completion in the console (mode of completion is determined by heuristic means) * the currently active window is now highlighted using a thin red border * new shortcuts for window navigation: next/previous window, activate console, activate command log, etc. * make readline dialog store last size and position * several new help pages * warn when opening very large objects (with more than 250000 fields; this limit is configurable) * new options for plugin dialogs: Configure whether code display is shown by default, and at what size
• Internal improvements: * add option to enable / disable single options of a radio or dropdown control in plugins * new functions rk.describe.alternative () and rk.print.literal () for use in plugins * in help files, a short title for sections (for the navigation bar) can be defined * add support for a "technical details" section in plugin help files * initial support for R's Sys.setlocale(), and encoding of CHARSXPs * plugin generated commands are run in a local() environment, allowing for more concise code * support R's mechanism for checking the C stack limits (only with R 2.3.x or greater, and not on all platforms) * add a "copy" tag to facilitate writing plugins with both dialog and wizard interfaces

We're looking forward to your feedback on the mailing list.

New mailing list: rkward-users - tfry - On the 04 April 2007 -

The past few months there has been a lot of active development on RKWard. The outcome of this - version 0.4.7 - is scheduled for release, next week. As a side effect, our main mailing list has become rather busy, with lots of discussion about development details. At the same time, the stats show a nice number of downloads, and hence a considerable increase in the RKWard user base.

For these reasons, it's time to create a dedicated users' mailing list. This list will be read by most active developers, and it will receive notifications about the most important steps of development (new testing versions and releases). However, instead of discussing low level details, this list will provide a better forum for discussing usage questions, but also for providing suggestions and feedback.

If you'd like to keep informed on all development details (and perhaps provide insights and contributions on that), you may want to subscribe to our "old" development mailing list. If you're mostly interested in questions of daily use, the new users' mailing list is the best choice. Or subscribe to both, if you don't want to miss a thing.

RKWard 0.4.6 is out - tfry - On the 15 February 2007 -

Version 0.4.6 of RKWard is available for download.

Most prominently, this release features many new plugins, making more of the power of R available via graphical dialogs. A big thank you goes to all volunteers who contributed to this release. The full list of changes:

• New and improved plugins: * support for calculating p-values in correlation matrix plugin * simplified CSV import plugin * new plugin: import SPSS files * various improvements to existing distribution and distribution plot plugins * new plugins: distribution plots: beta, binomial, cauchy, exponential, gamma, geometric, hypergeometric, logistics, lognormal, negative binomail, tukey, uniform, weibull, wilcoxon * new plugin: Ansari-Bradley two-sample test * support for preview functionality in graphing plugins * new plugin: barplot * new plugin: export contents of an X11 device to several different file formats * plugins can now be context sensitive (e.g. work on a particular x11 device) * new plugin: Wilcoxon Rank Sum test and Wilcoxon Exact Rank Sum test * new plugin: scatterplot matrix * new plugin: correlation matrix plot * new plugin element to select name of an R object to save to * add possibility to use dropdown lists in plugins * improvements to spinbox: step size is adjusted dynamically, and no arbitrary limits in real mode * fixed problem with specifying y axis limits in several plugins * single line input fields in plugins no longer accept new-lines * pressing tab changes focus while in a single line text input field
• Other new features and improvements: * new documentation pages: console * place internal objects .rk.rkreply and .rk.available.packages.cache into rkward package environment * safer destruction of R backend on quitting * show full error message for syntax errors (only if compiled with R 2.4.0 or newer) * add ability to search command history context sensitively
• Bugfixes and corrections: * make sure any LC_ALL environment setting will not be applied by SCIM plugin (if installed on the system) * fix crash after changing storage type of an object in the data editor * fixed: pressing F8 in the console would remove input focus from the console * fix several small problems with detached windows * fix a problem with keeping the list of objects up to date * fixed: installing packages as root would not work, when $R_HOME is not defined * fix compilation for the upcoming R 2.5.0 * more correct auto-printing of values for user commands (only if compiled with R 2.4.0 or newer) * more correct handling of user commands consisting of several statements (only if compiled with R 2.4.0 or newer)

For feedback on the new release, and RKWard in general, contact us on the mailing list.

RKWard 0.4.5 is released - tfry - On the 21 January 2007 -

Once again, it's time to announce a new release of rkward. Version 0.4.5 is available for download.

Note that a few aspects of the user interface have changed for this release. We hope these changes will make RKWard's user interface easier to learn and use, but existing users will have to adapt to the following UI changes:

• changed shortcuts for Open/Save Workspace to Ctrl+Shift+O/S to avoid clash with Open/Save Script File
• removed "Configure Packages" option from Workspace menu, as it is also in Settings menu
• removed the "output" menu; entries were moved to "Edit" and "View"
• added refresh output and flush output as toolbar actions
• always show all top level menus

Further changes in RKWard 0.4.5:

• Bugfixes / corrections: * fixed: non-local workspaces would not be loaded * fixed: specifying a workspace to load on the command line would only work for full urls * fix: the output window would not refresh changed plot images (unless closed and reopened) * fixed: integer spinboxes with starting values greater than 1 would get unreasonable change steps * fix several minor issues as identified by the "krazy" source code checker * small improvements to syntax highlighting definition * fix compilation with some versions of KDE / GCC * assorted cleanups
• Plugins: * added plugin for skewness and kurtosis * added several plugins for distribution analysis * added plugins for stripchart & density plot * enhancements to existing plot plugins * code generated for most plugins cleaned and simplified * new function rk.results () for use in plugins
• Other new features / improvements: * new Console RMB actions: "copy selection cleaned" and "run selection" * added a basic help system, and some introductory help pages * allow varslots to request objects of specified dimensionality and length * in console, make cursor go to empty next line after pressing enter, before there is output (more like in the real console) * add "run selection" option to command log * script editor commands are piped through the console (by default; this is configurable)

Got feedback about the new release or RKWard in general? Please contact us on the mailing list.