nvim-r does not work with gui MacVim

[songcai]

I am using the Nvim-R on Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11.3). It works perfectly if I use Neovim or terminal MacVim to open a .R script and send commands to R from there. However, Neovim does not work with the gui version of MaVim. The problem is described as follows:

After openning a .R file from gui MacVim, I used ",rf" to call R console. R was then opened in a separate terminal window. Now the problem started. When I tried to use any command to send code, eg, ",aa", ",rq", etc, nothing was happening in R and I cannot see any command being sent.

Not sure if this is also happening in other operating systems.

[jalvesaq]

Unless you have built MacVim yourself, it should not work. The last MacVim release includes Vim patches up to 1553, and Nvim-R requires 1579. However, you should have seen this error message:

Nvim-R requires either Neovim >= 0.1.2 or Vim >= 7.4.1579.
If using Vim, both +channel and +job features must be enabled.

[songcai]

Hi Jakson,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I am using MacVim unstable 7.4.1589 (installed using brew install -HEAD macvim), and both +channel and +job features are enabled (I checked using :version command inside MacVim). I still get the above problem.

-Song

[jalvesaq]

Unfortunately, in this case, I don't know what might be wrong because I don't have access to a Mac OS X.

[songcai]

I tried Vim unstable + Nvim-R on my Debian stable. The gui vim (gvim) can send R commands without any problem. It seems that the problem is specific to gui MacVim. Hope someone with a Mac OS can figure it out. I will try to solve the problem as well.

[songcai]

Hi Jakson,

Just more information about the same problem. I know that you do not have access to Mac OS, but this information may ring a bell to you or someone else.

(1) With Gui MacVim, after I call a R console using ",rf", I cannot send other commands like ",aa", ",rq" etc. And I also cannot use other plugins that use keyboard shortcuts. For example, I have vim-surround, and typing "yss)" is supposed to put () around a line, but now it does not work after I invoked R. I also have nerdcommenter, and typing ",cc" is supposed to comment the current line; it does not work either now.

(2) I have set the mapping "vmap RDSendSelection", and "nmap RDSendLine" in my .vimrc. Now the magic is that the space bar still works for sending commands to R, and if I send a command using space bar just once, everything goes back to normal: ",aa" works now, and all other plugins work again. This is a mystery.

I think it might be a bug in nvimcom.

Hopefully the above phenomena provide you with some useful information.

Cheers,
-Song

[jalvesaq]

It looks like the channel is waiting for input, and somewhat blocking input from the keyboard. When the first command in the R Console is executed successfully, nvimcom sends a message to Vim telling Vim to update the syntax highlight of functions. You can see this if you put in your .Rprofile:

options(nvimcom.verbose = 4)

Then, after starting R, type in the R terminal any valid command, such as the number 1. The output here is:

> 1
[1] 1
nvimcom_nvimclient(FillRLibList()): '10101' (10101)

[songcai]

I tried that. With gui MacVim, I got

nvimcom 0.9.14 loaded
NVIMR_TMPDIR = /var/folders/mh/v1yyk3sx4nn831fqs_wsynch0000gn/T/Nvim-R-scai
NVIMR_ID = LffBOpXy6Mv8U0R5qZSg
nvimcom port: 10001

nvimcom_eval_expr: 'nvimcom:::nvim.buildomnils('nvimcom')'
nvimcom R: No need to build omnils: nvimcom 0.9-14
... ...
nvimcom_eval_expr: 'nvimcom:::nvim.buildomnils('base')'
nvimcom R: No need to build omnils: base 3.2.4

then it is stuck there. And Vim is using 160% of CPU. If I type 1 in R console, it gives me
1
[1] 1
I think this is not the supposed behaviour.

When using terminal MacVim I got

... ...
nvimcom_eval_expr: 'nvimcom:::nvim.buildomnils('base')'
nvimcom R: No need to build omnils: base 3.2.4
nvimcom Received: [1] 10101

If I type 1 in R console, I get
1
[1] 1
nvimcom_nvimclient(FillRLibList()): '10101' (10101)

This looks like the right behaviour.

[jalvesaq]

The terminal MacVim seems to be OK. What is missing in gui MacVim is

nvimcom Received: [1] 10101

which means that the nclientserver (started by Nvim-R with job_start() function) is running, and Nvim-R has sent its port number to nvimcom. The message FillRLibList() is sent from nvimcom to Nvim-R only when nvimcom knows the clientserver port.
That is, it looks like the +channel and +job features are not working properly in the gui MacVim.

What is the output of

:echo rplugin_jobs

after R is started (in both terminal and gui MacVim)?

[songcai]

The output in terminal MacVim is

{'R': 'no', 'Terminal emulator': channel 0 closed, 'ClientServer': channel 1 open}

The output in gui MacVim is

{'R': 'no', 'Terminal emulator': channel 0 open, 'ClientServer': channel 1 open}

[jalvesaq]

The clientserver application is running in both. The problem seems to be the Terminal emulator job. What happens if you put this in your vimrc?:

let R_silent_term = 1

This will switch to the old code that was already used in the Vim-R-plugin, but which I also don't know if works with gui MacVim.

[songcai]

If I do that, the problem persists and the output of :echo rplugin_jobs is

{'R': 'no', 'Terminal emulator': 'no', 'ClientServer': channel 0 open}

[jalvesaq]

Conclusion: the problem is in the nclientserver running as a job. Since the code works on Linux and even on terminal MacVim, I guess the bug is some kind of undue interaction between the +channel feature and gui MacVim. Perhaps you should report the bug to the MacVim developer.

[songcai]

Many thanks for your help, Jakson. I totally agree with your conclusion, and will bring this to the MacVim developer.

[jalvesaq]

It seems the bugs in MacVim were fixed:
macvim-dev/macvim#281
macvim-dev/macvim#283
Can anyone check if Nvim-R is working on MacVim now, please?

[songcai]

I confirm that Nvim-R is working on MacVim 7.4.1831. However I sometimes (not always) get the following error message after I send some code to R:
"E119: Not enough arguments for function: ROnJobExit "

Cheers,
-Song

[jalvesaq]

I believe it is fixed now: 3c76c67

[songcai]

Yes, Jakson. It fixes the issue. Many thanks.
If you need someone to test on a Mac in the future, I would be glad to help

[jalvesaq]

Thanks!