Unable to attach active R terminal: `could not find function ".vsc.attach"`

[pehkawn]

Describe the bug I updated R to the most recent version (4.2.0). As a consequence, I had to reinstall several packages, including languageserver. After this I am no longer able to attach the active R terminal to the active VS Code session. Instead, when I click the "R" button in the bottom right corner, I get the error Error in .vsc.attach() : could not find function ".vsc.attach" I tried reinstalling the R extension in VS Code as well, without any luck.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Upgrade R to version 4.2'
2. Install package languageserver
3. Reinstall R extension (REditorSupport)
4. Start new R terminal
5. Click on R button in the bottom left corner
6. See error

Do you want to fix by self?

If it's just a tweak of settings, I might be able to do it myself.

setting.json (I doubt it's related, but I can't say for sure.)

"r.rterm.linux": "/opt/anaconda3/bin/radian",

// R command line options (i.e: --vanilla)
"r.rterm.option": [--no-save, --no-restore],

// Keeping focus when running
"r.source.focus": "editor",

// Use active terminal for all commands, rather than creating a new R terminal
"r.alwaysUseActiveTerminal": false,

// Use bracketed paste mode
"r.bracketedPaste": false,

// Enable R session watcher
"r.sessionWatcher": true,

// Delay in milliseconds before sending each line to rterm (only applies if r.bracketedPaste is false)
"r.rtermSendDelay": 8,

Expected behavior Start R kernel and and attaching to current session. R Help, plots, etc. opens in tab.

Screenshots

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
• VSCode Version: 1.66.2
• R Version: 4.2.0
• vscode-R version: 2.4.0

Additional context In addition to reinstalling languageserver, a wide number of packages had to be updated/reinstalled. In addition, when starting a new R terminal in R, it started and Anaconda's (much) older R version. I had to copy the R executable from /bin/R to opt/anaconda3/envs/renv/bin/R to load the newly updated R version.

[eitsupi]

What happens if radian is not used? R installed with conda?

[pehkawn]

What happens if radian is not used? R installed with conda?

I get the same error. No, I installed from the official CRAN repositories through apt.

[eitsupi]

Is there ~/.vscode-R/init.R file in your home directory? If present, what is written? If the file references another file, does the referenced file exist?

[pehkawn]

Yes, ~/.vscode-R/init.R references another file /home/user/.vscode/extensions/reditorsupport.r-2.4.0/R/session/init.R.

Contents ~/.vscode-R/init.R:

local(source("/home/user/.vscode/extensions/reditorsupport.r-2.4.0/R/session/init.R", chdir = TRUE, local = TRUE))

Contents ~/.vscode/extensions/reditorsupport.r-2.4.0/R/session/init.R:

# This file is executed with its containing directory as wd

# Remember the working directory (should be extension subfolder that contains this script)
dir_init <- getwd()


# This function is run at the beginning of R's startup sequence
# Code that is meant to be run at the end of the startup should go in `init_last`
init_first <- function() {
  # return early if not a vscode term session
  if (
    !interactive()
    || Sys.getenv("RSTUDIO") != ""
    || Sys.getenv("TERM_PROGRAM") != "vscode"
  ) {
    return()
  }

  # check requried packages
  required_packages <- c("jsonlite", "rlang")
  missing_packages <- required_packages[
    !vapply(required_packages, requireNamespace,
      logical(1L), quietly = TRUE)
  ]

  if (length(missing_packages)) {
    message(
      "VSCode R Session Watcher requires ",
      toString(missing_packages), ". ",
      "Please install manually in order to use VSCode-R."
    )
  } else {
    # Initialize vsc utils after loading other default packages
    assign(".First.sys", init_last, envir = globalenv())
  }
}

old.First.sys <- .First.sys

# Overwrite for `.First.sys`
# Is used to make sure that all default packages are loaded first
# Will be assigned to and called from the global environment,
# Will be run with wd being the user's working directory (!)
init_last <- function() {
  old.First.sys()

  # cleanup previous version
  removeTaskCallback("vscode-R")
  options(vscodeR = NULL)
  .vsc.name <- "tools:vscode"
  if (.vsc.name %in% search()) {
    detach(.vsc.name, character.only = TRUE)
  }

  # Source vsc utils in new environmeent
  .vsc <- new.env()
  source(file.path(dir_init, "vsc.R"), local = .vsc)

  # attach functions that are meant to be called by the user/vscode
  exports <- local({
    .vsc <- .vsc
    .vsc.attach <- .vsc$attach
    .vsc.view <- .vsc$show_dataview
    .vsc.browser <- .vsc$show_browser
    .vsc.viewer <- .vsc$show_viewer
    .vsc.page_viewer <- .vsc$show_page_viewer
    View <- .vsc.view
    environment()
  })
  attach(exports, name = .vsc.name, warn.conflicts = FALSE)

  # overwrite S3 bindings from other packages
  suppressWarnings({
    if (!identical(getOption("vsc.helpPanel", "Two"), FALSE)) {
      # Overwrite print function for results of `?`
      .vsc$.S3method(
        "print",
        "help_files_with_topic",
        .vsc$print.help_files_with_topic
      )
      # Overwrite print function for results of `??`
      .vsc$.S3method(
        "print",
        "hsearch",
        .vsc$print.hsearch
      )
    }
    # Further S3 overwrites can go here
    # ...
  })

  # remove this function from globalenv()
  suppressWarnings(
    rm(".First.sys", envir = globalenv())
  )

  # Attach to vscode
  exports$.vsc.attach()

  invisible()
}

init_first()

[eitsupi]

Then, as a workaround, the following configuration may work by loading init.R immediately after R is started. https://github.com/REditorSupport/vscode-R/wiki/R-Session-watcher#advanced-usage-for-self-managed-r-sessions

[pehkawn]

Thanks, for the tip! Adding the following code snippet

source(file.path(Sys.getenv(
   if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") "USERPROFILE" else "HOME"
 ), ".vscode-R", "init.R"))

at the beginning of "~/.Rprofile the solved the problem. =)

[renkun-ken]

@pehkawn The init.R should only be sourced in interactive sessions. I updated the wiki:

if (interactive() && Sys.getenv("RSTUDIO") == "") {
  source(file.path(Sys.getenv(if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") "USERPROFILE" else "HOME"), ".vscode-R", "init.R"))
}

If the R session is non-interactive or is an RStudio session, then it should not source init.R.

[pehkawn]

Thanks! I've updated my user .Rprofile with your changes.

[gowerc]

@pehkawn , can this be closed then or is it still an active issue ?

[jiangfenglyu]

it works, so much thks

[Qi2098]

finally works, thx a lot

[gowerc]

@renkun-ken , I think this can be closed now

[pehkawn]

Sorry for the late reply.

Yesterday I encountered the same issue when trying to start an R terminal in an existing workspace or by just opening the folder. However, it the issue was solved by opening a command line terminal and starting radian from the command line. After this the kernel will attach as expected, also later when I open an R terminal from the terminal menu.

What didn't work:

1. Open folder/project with existing files
2. Open "Terminal>New Terminal"
3. Choose "R Terminal" from bottom right drop-down menu. Will not attach R session in active terminal.

What worked:

1. Open "Terminal>New Terminal" before opening a folder or workspace.

2. Choosing "R Terminal" from bottom right drop-down menu will attach R session correctly.

3. Open folder/project with existing files

4. Open "Terminal>New Terminal"

5. Start radian from shell in the new terminal (% radian). .vsc.attach now attaches R session to active terminal correctly.

6. Choosing "R Terminal" from bottom right drop-down menu will now also attach R session correctly.

---

It's also necessary to add these lines to ~/.Rprofile. It's an easy fix, but nice if it wasn't necessary.

[yasunorikogure]

I am experiencing a problem similar to the one discussed in this issue. Due to certain circumstances, I want to use R with "r.alwaysUseActiveTerminal": true. Actually, I am using a supercomputer environment (Grid Engine) and need to use R while securing computing resources. When I launch R/Radian in that environment, the indicator in the bottom right corner of VS code shows "R: (not attached)." Even if I manually execute .vsc.attach() as told in this issue, it returns an error "Error in .vsc.attach(): could not find function ".vsc.attach".

I have confirmed that I can execute .vsc.attach() without any problems/error messages when "r.alwaysUseActiveTerminal": false", and the the bottom right indicates R is successfully attached. This might be off-topic, but I would really appreciate your help.

[black-snow]

I suddenly see this in my r-base devcontainer. Used to work fine about 3 weeks ago.

	"customizations": {
		"vscode": {
			"extensions": [
				"REditorSupport.r"
			]
		}
	}

[pehkawn]

Today, I experienced the same issue mentioned in my previous post after running routine updates to my system, which included updating VS Code. Again, .vsc.attach() did not attach the current R session. Updating R packages didn´t help.

In order to get it to work, I had to do the following steps:

1. Close the current workspace,
2. Open a new terminal. .vsc.attach() now correctly attached the current R session.
3. Open the folder with the current project, while the (correctly attached) R session running in terminal. (Note that simply reopening the saved workspace did not work. Neither did opening the project folder prior to opening a new terminal and attaching the R kernel.)
4. Overwrite the old workspace ("File > Save Workspace As...").
5. Close and reopen the freshly saved Workspace. The R session is now correctly attached.

Needless to say, but having to undertake these steps whenever there's an update shouldn't be unnecessary.

[rrodrigueznt]

I've recently updated to R version 4.4.0 (2024-04-24) -- "Puppy Cup", Platform: aarch64-apple-darwin23.4.0 (64-bit), and faced the same issue. I didn't need to close the currently open workspace, but only launching a new R terminal clicking on the + symbol and selecting R terminal here:

And saving the workspace. The next time I opened the workspace, the terminal attached correctly.

Does anybody what this is working? Thanks!