ESS-plot

Display ESS/R plots in a dedicated Emacs window

Installation

Emacs

Add the "ess-plot" folder to your load-path.

Straight

Add the following to your init.el

(use-package ess-plot
  :straight (ess-plot :recipe (:host github :repo "DennieTeMolder/ess-plot"))
  :defer t)

Doom

Add the following to your package.el:

(package! ess-plot
  :recipe (:host github :repo "DennieTeMolder/ess-plot"))

And add the following to your config.el

(use-package! ess-plot :defer t)

Usage

Call M-x ess-plot-toggle to start redirecting plots. Gg-plots should be redirected automatically, base-R plots require calling dev.flush() to push the plot to the window. If the plot window was closed call M-x ess-plot-show to redisplay the last plot. Plots are displayed in PNG format thus plot history can be navigated using image-mode bindings (i.e. image-previous-file).

Limitations

• After reloading the process the user needs to call ess-plot-toggle twice to restore functionality
• Only implemented for the R dialect (help is welcome for others)
• Can only be active for one process at a time

Alternatives

• httpgd (R package) & xwidget-webkit-browse-url: This does provide a more RStudio like experience, allowing the user to zoom and export plots. However, in contrast to ESS-plot, this combination requires Emacs to be compiled with xwidget support and forces the user to install additional packages into their environment.