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Set window title for plot on any OS

6 messages · Duncan Murdoch, Rolf Turner, Simon Zehnder +1 more

Original
Simon Zehnder
# 
Dear R-Users,

I am writing a package using S4 classes. In the generic method "plot" I want to set the title for the plotting window as I will have several windows and window titles help the users to distinguish the graphics without putting a title into the plot itself (this can be done by users whenever they want) 

So I created a helper function .setDeviceTitle which I called after the plot has been done:

".setDeviceTitle" <- function(title = "title", dev = dev.cur()) {
	dev <- names(dev)[1]
	
	## check for OS ##
	if (dev == "windows") {
		windows(title = title)
	} else if (dev == "X11") {
		X11(title = title)
	} else {
		quartz(title = title)
	}
}

The result is a new device with the title in addition to the old. Is it possible to give a window a title after the plot has been done? If not: Before I plot the device I cannot know what device it will be, so I thought about a check via capabilities():

if (any(names(capabilities()) == "X11")) {
	X11(title = title)
}
else if (any(names(capabilities)) == "windows") {
	windows(title = title)
} else {
	quartz(title = title)
}

I want to have a safe method, which works on each OS R can run. How would you solve the problem? 


Best 

Simon
Duncan Murdoch
#
On 13-07-13 1:33 PM, Simon Zehnder wrote:
Use dev.new() rather than picking a particular device.  If all the 
possible devices support the "title" argument, then

dev.new(title=title)

will be fine.  If you might need more customization (or want to protect 
against a user who chooses a device that doesn't have "title" as an 
argument), use getOption("device") to examine the call that will be used.

Duncan Murdoch
Simon Zehnder
# 
Hi Duncan,

thank you very much for your advice! That makes it all work. 

I check in addition for a "title" argument in the device via

if (any(names(getOption("device")) == TRUE)) {
	dev.new(title = "title")
} 

Thanks again!

Simon
On Jul 13, 2013, at 2:40 PM, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan at gmail.com> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Rolf Turner
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
I think you ought to take a look at

     fortune("Lewis Carroll")

     cheers,

         Rolf Turner

        
On 14/07/13 01:45, Simon Zehnder wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Simon Zehnder
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
Haha, good point!

So, the correct code is:

any(names(formals(getOption("device"))) == "title") {
	dev.new(title = "title")
}

Thanks for correcting my approach Rolf!


Best 

Simon

        
On Jul 14, 2013, at 1:02 AM, Rolf Turner <rolf.turner at xtra.co.nz> wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      David Winsemius
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
On Jul 14, 2013, at 3:42 AM, Simon Zehnder wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        
This might be easier to read:

"title" %in% names(formals(getOption("device")) )