
batchfiles 0.4-1 consists of a set of Windows Vista .bat and
other scripts used as front ends to R CMD ... and for other
purposes.

Whereas Version 0.4-0 of batchfiles eliminated the need to
set any paths when running R, version 0.4-1 now eliminates
the need to set any paths when building and installing R
packages.  It does this by using the registry to find R and
rtools and uses a heuristic to find MiKTeX (since MiKTeX
does not have a reliable registry key) and temporarily sets
the path to include rtools and MiKTeX.

Version 0.4-1 also includes an rtools.bat utility which will
set the paths that would have otherwise had to be set in
case you want to use rtools and MiKTeX with other programs
-- this is not needed if you only want to use R or if you
only want to build and install R packages.

Also there is a new el utility (el.js) which runs the
command given as its argument in elevated mode.  e.g.
    el cmd
spawns a cmd session which is elevated.

The scripts Rcmd.bat, R.bat, Rterm.bat, Rscript.bat,
#Rscript.bat, Rgui.bat, RguiStart.bat, Rjgr.bat are actually
all the same script which query the name by which it was
called to determine the appropriate action.  These scripts
are each self containd single file scripts which do not
depend on each other or on other software.  To install any
of them just copy it to any place on your PATH and it can be
immediately used.  Uninstall by deleting it.  Atlhough they
query the registry they do not set the registry (except for
Rversions.hta which calls RSetReg.exe, a program that comes
bundled with R, that in turn sets the registry.)

Version 0.4-0 of these utilities and later have only been
tested on Vista.  Version 0.3-2 and earlier have only been
tested on XP.

More information is available on the home page:
http://batchfiles.googlecode.com

---

batchfiles 0.4-0 consists of a set of Windows Vista .bat, .hta and .pl
files.

More information is available on the home page:
http://batchfiles.googlecode.com

CHANGES

- now tested with Vista exclusively (use 0.3-2 instead on XP)

- sweave.bat now has no dependencies on the other batch
  files.  With this change all .bat and .hta files now 
  have no dependencies except possibly for R.

- RguiStart.bat is like Rgui.bat but takes a single argument
  which may be an .Rdata file or a folder.  It can be 
  placed in your SendTo folder in which case you can 
  right click in Windows Explorer choosing 
   SendTo | RguiStart.bat

- Rversions.hta now elevates RSetReg automatically (but
  you will still be prompted for confirmation)

- new toggleDoc.pl perl program from Dieter Menne which
  unclutters 00Index.html Help files in packages.  See
  sample output at:
  http://www.menne-biomed.de/download/toggleDoc/00Index.html
  and try toggling the Show All checkbox to see what it does.

- Rversions.bat, Rfind.bat, makepkg.bat and withgs.bat 
  are no longer part of the package but are still available
  in version 0.3-2.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION

batchfiles is a collection of .bat, .hta and .pl scripts
that are useful when using R or developing R software.

The .bat and .hta files are easy to install as they have no
dependencies other than R and they automatically look up R
in the registry so no paths have to be set.  Just place them
all or just those you want anywhere in your path.  There are
utilities for running R, creating packages, switching the
current R version, R scripting and runing sweave as well as 
others.  

- Rcmd.bat, R.bat and Rgui.bat are all the same file which
query what name it was called by and acts in a similar way
to the R .exe files of the same name except that they first
attempt to find R by checking the registry and common
locations so to use them all you do is put them anywhere in
your path.  

- RguiStart.bat is the same as Rgui.bat except it accepts
a single argument that is an R directory or .Rdata file
so if you place it in your SendTo folder and right click
any folder in Windows Explorer choosing SendTo | RguiStart.bat 
it will start up R in that folder.  If an .Rdata file is
right clicked then R starts up loading that file.

- sweave.bat will run sweave and the pdflatex and then display
the pdf file (or some subset of those depending on switches).
It has builtin makefile functionality so it will not proceed
to the next step if the prior step has failed.  It also
creates and displays a backup copy of the pdf with a unique
name so two versions of the same pdf file can be simultaneously
displayed.

- #Rscript.bat can be used as the first line of an R script to
make it callable as a batch file.  Rscript.bat is a variation
of it used differently.

- Rtidy.bat reformats R programs.  Its primarily included as
a simple example of #Rscript.bat .

- Rversions.hta - if there are multiple versions of R installed
this program locates all versions in the registry and
provides a GUI interface with a drop down menu to choose 
which one you wish to make current.  

- copydir.bat/movedir.bat copy or move packages from one library 
to another such as would be done when upgrading R.  They will
create new copies but will never overwrite any files that are
already there so they should be safe to use.

- toggleDoc.pl is a perl program which unclutters HTML help
files contributed by Dieter Menne.  For an example see:
http://www.menne-biomed.de/download/toggleDoc/00Index.html

