Cream Text Editor

I'm interested in easing my way into learning VIM by first using the  
Cream
text editor, liking the idea that it will work on both my Linux and  
Windows
computers.  I've installed Cream on my Linux machine, but can't  
figure out
how to make Cream talk to R?  Does anybody know?  I'm using Ubuntu  
if it
makes a difference.  Thanks.

On 2009-May-23  , at 17:40 , Paul Heinrich Dietrich wrote:

I'm interested in easing my way into learning VIM by first using the
Cream
text editor, liking the idea that it will work on both my Linux and
Windows
computers.  I've installed Cream on my Linux machine, but can't figure
out
how to make Cream talk to R?  Does anybody know?  I'm using Ubuntu if it
makes a difference.  Thanks.

You should install the R Vim Plugin and its dependencies:
    http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2628
This creates commands and icons dedicated to the interaction between Vim
and R.


Then switch cream Settings > Preferences > Expert Mode.

This will allow you to work in Cream and have all the simple keyboard
shortcuts (Control-C, Control-V etc.) but still be able to switch
between modes as in vim. By default you are in insert mode. You need to
switch to normal mode (by pressing ESC) to be able to use the commands
of the R-Vim plugin.

The workflow is therefore:
- open a R file
- edit stuff
- press ESC (to switch to non-edit mode)
- start R in a terminal (click the icon or press F2)
- send lines/selection (F9) or document (F5)
- press ESC (to switch back to insert mode)
- edit 2 lines
- ESC
- F9
- F9
- ESC
- edit again
etc...

The terminal opened this way does not work completely as a regular one
and there are some caveats when reading help and using general command
line editing shortcuts (Ctrl-R for backward search for example). I
haven't found a way around them so I usually open a second terminal to
read the help in, or set R to display the help as HTML files in a
browser window.

I must say that those caveats can be quite serious and I often find
myself just using copy-paste from gedit in a terminal:
- set your desktop to "focus follow mouse"
- select text in your editor
- move the mouse to the terminal
- click middle mouse button
- move the mouse back to the editor
etc...
More cumbersome but reliable.

Final note: since you are on ubuntu, you may want to change the terminal
from the default X-term to gnome-terminal. You have to edit the file
.vim/ftplugin/r.vim. There is a line commented with the gnome-terminal
command instead of xterm. Uncomment this one and comment the xterm one.

JiHO
---
http://jo.irisson.free.fr/

Just a note: there is no need of <Esc> before <F9>. Almost all key
bindings work in insert, normal and visual modes.

As pointed by JiHO the biggest disadvantage of using the plugin is that
R is running through a pipe and consequently it is less interactive.
Just a note: there is no need of <Esc> before <F9>. Almost all key
bindings work in insert, normal and visual modes.

The last version of the plugin allows the user to set the terminal
emulator in the vimrc and now all key bindings are customizable. The
details are in the plugin's documentation.

Please write, to me if you find bugs in the plugin.

Jakson

JiHO wrote:

On 2009-May-23  , at 17:40 , Paul Heinrich Dietrich wrote:

I'm interested in easing my way into learning VIM by first using the
Cream
text editor, liking the idea that it will work on both my Linux and
Windows
computers.  I've installed Cream on my Linux machine, but can't figure
out
how to make Cream talk to R?  Does anybody know?  I'm using Ubuntu if it
makes a difference.  Thanks.

You should install the R Vim Plugin and its dependencies:
    http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2628
This creates commands and icons dedicated to the interaction between Vim
and R.


Then switch cream Settings > Preferences > Expert Mode.

This will allow you to work in Cream and have all the simple keyboard
shortcuts (Control-C, Control-V etc.) but still be able to switch
between modes as in vim. By default you are in insert mode. You need to
switch to normal mode (by pressing ESC) to be able to use the commands
of the R-Vim plugin.

The workflow is therefore:
- open a R file
- edit stuff
- press ESC (to switch to non-edit mode)
- start R in a terminal (click the icon or press F2)
- send lines/selection (F9) or document (F5)
- press ESC (to switch back to insert mode)
- edit 2 lines
- ESC
- F9
- F9
- ESC
- edit again
etc...

The terminal opened this way does not work completely as a regular one
and there are some caveats when reading help and using general command
line editing shortcuts (Ctrl-R for backward search for example). I
haven't found a way around them so I usually open a second terminal to
read the help in, or set R to display the help as HTML files in a
browser window.

I must say that those caveats can be quite serious and I often find
myself just using copy-paste from gedit in a terminal:
- set your desktop to "focus follow mouse"
- select text in your editor
- move the mouse to the terminal
- click middle mouse button
- move the mouse back to the editor
etc...
More cumbersome but reliable.

Final note: since you are on ubuntu, you may want to change the terminal
from the default X-term to gnome-terminal. You have to edit the file
.vim/ftplugin/r.vim. There is a line commented with the gnome-terminal
command instead of xterm. Uncomment this one and comment the xterm one.

JiHO
---
http://jo.irisson.free.fr/

On 2009-May-23  , at 20:16 , Jakson Alves de Aquino wrote:

Just a note: there is no need of <Esc> before <F9>. Almost all key
bindings work in insert, normal and visual modes.

Well, without switching to the non-insert mode, I find that pressing F9
prints the commands in the file instead of executing them. Maybe that's
specific to Cream.

Thank you much for the help, I will work on this over the weekend.  Is there
a way in Windows to connect R and Cream?