Calling R functions from VC++

Question

I need to run statistical functions from R within my C++ code. Is there a way to call them from my C++ code? I'm using VS 2005, do I need to include any header files or link any libraries? I installed R using the standard Windows installer provided from their website.

Regards,

Answer 1

Briefly:

• As has been stated fairly frequently, R itself does not build under VS* making the linking of C code hard-but-possible and C++ code impossible (as function header information is not standardized).

• Both Rcpp and RInside work perfectly well on Windows, given the standard Windows toolchain. (RInside did have a bug but this is now fixed.)

  The Rcpp FAQ has more to say about VS* (ie that you cannot expect this to work if R itself can't work with the compiler)

• If you must use VS* then your best bet may be looser coupling via networking and using Rserve.

  If you can switch compilers then Rcpp / RInside can be of interest; and the rest of the R API is also at your disposal.

• Rcpp et al have copious documentation, including an Rcpp-introduction pdf (which is also peer-reviewed article) and the aforementioned Rcpp-FAQ --- as well as a dedicated mailing list.

And please do not cross-post. I also just answered this on r-help.