ess-rdired: I get this error "no ESS process is associated with this buffer now"

Question

To use ess-rdired to browse objects, I followed the ESS manual and added the following to my .emacs:

(autoload 'ess-rdired "ess-rdired"
  "View *R* objects in a dired-like buffer." t)

When I do M-x ess-rdired, a buffer listing the objects in your current environment appears.

However, when I press shortcuts like p, v I get this error:

"no ESS process is associated with this buffer now."

Besides, can ess-rdired update info of objects when they are changed?

Answer 1

I had the same problem and sure enough C-c C-s solves it. I added the following function to my dot emacs file to automate this. I mapped the function to C-c o which will load rdired or refresh it. Any improvements would be very welcome!

(defun ess-R-show-objects ()
  "Calls rdired and associates with R process"
  (interactive)
  (if (get-buffer "*R*") ;;Only run if R is running
      (progn
        (ess-rdired)
        (ess-rdired-switch-process))
    (message "No R process")
    )
  )
(global-set-key (kbd "\C-co") 'ess-R-show-objects)