Supported Platforms and System Requirements
What's New in Spotfire S+ 8.1
Improvements in Spotfire S+ 8.1
Known Issues in Spotfire S+ 8.1
R Compatibility
Module Support
Getting Help in Spotfire S+
Compilers/Linkers
Technical Support
Appendix: New Functions in Spotfire S+ 8.1
You can use Spotfire S+® 8.1 on the following 32-bit Microsoft Windows® platforms:
S-PLUS is now TIBCO Spotfire S+. For more information on this change, please visit http://spotfire.tibco.com/iful/.
This version of Spotfire S+ introduces new packages, expanded package features, and improvements to the Spotfire S+ language, the Big Data library, and other libraries. We have added features to support working remotely with the Spotfire S+ Server. Also, we have updated third-party components, such as Java and Eclipse.
These release notes are intended to provide you with a high-level view of changes. We encourage you to read more detailed descriptions of the new and changed features in the Spotfire S+ documentation.
Spotfire S+ now offers the FlexBayes package. FlexBayes provides tools for modeling data using the Bayesian paradigm for statistical inference. Bayesian modeling offers the following advantages over classical or frequentist modeling:
Spotfire S+ now offers the new resample package, which was previously available as a package from CSAN or from the Insightful research download site. The package is now included with Spotfire S+ 8.1. To load the package, use library(resample)
.
The sjdbc package, formerly available on CSAN, now ships with Spotfire S+. The sjdbc package provides an interface to databases using Java's JDBC connectivity. For more information, from the Spotfire S+ prompt, type
library(sjdbc)
help(sjdbc)
The rtftools package contains Spotfire S+ functions for writing out RTF files, including initialization, writing paragraphs, modifying text styles, writing tables, and writing WMF files to RTF. See RTFCodeExample.ssc for examples of some of the package functionality.
The Wavelets, Environmental Statistics, and Spatial Statistics modules are now included with core Spotfire S+ as packages.
library(wavelets)
.library(envstats)
.library(spatialstats)
. (Note that typing library(spatial)
loads the spatial package, not the Spatial Statistics package.) Spotfire S+ now offers on the CSAN Website (http://spotfire.tibco.com/csan) the Sweave package. Sweave is a convenient way for package authors to integrate Spotfire S+ code and Latex documentation for vignettes, analyses, and reports.
The Spotfire S+ Workbench and the Spotfire S+ Windows GUI now provide user interface support for finding packages from a Web server (via URL) or from a specified local repository. They also provide support for updating packages that you currently have on your system. (The Spotfire S+ Workbench also provides support for exporting a package.) See the Spotfire S+ Workbench User's Guide and the Spotfire S+ User's Guide for more information.
The Guide to Packages is updated to include information about creating grapical user interfaces for packages on Windows. The pkgutils package has been enhanced to support building these on Windows.
The Spotfire S+ Workbench now supports sending a remote script request to a Spotfire S+ Server. Using the interface provided in the Workbench, you can send:
You must have access to a Spotfire S+ Server to use remote script execution. For more information about using this new feature, see the Spotfire S+ Workbench User's Guide.
The Big Data library now includes three functions:
bd.assoc.rules()
bd.assoc.rules.get.item.counts()
bd.assoc.rules.graph()
x_1:10
) is deprecated in this version of Spotfire S+. Use "<-"
or "="
instead. For()
is deprecated in Spotfire S+ 8.1; it is obsolete (that is, will not work) in the Spotfire S+ Workbench. (NOTE: Not to be confused with the for()
function.)commandArgs()
function was removed.For a list of bugs fixed since the last release (S-PLUS 8.0.4), see the file FIXEDBUG.TXT in the help directory of your installation.
Spotfire S+ now ships with version 1.6 of the JRE.
java.graph()
now interprets file extensionjava.graph()
required the format
argument for file types other than JPEG. Now, if you specify a file extension in the file
argument, java.graph()
interprets that extension to produce the specified format. If no extension, or an unsupported extension is specified, java.graph()
defaults to JPEG.
You can set the graphics display to open or close multiple tabbed graph windows programmatically using the new Spotfire S+ function java.new.plot.action()
. (Previously, to change to or from tabbed graphics, you had to use the Graph Options dialog.)
Spotfire S+ now includes the function RNGkind()
for specifying the type of random number generator to use. Also, Spotfire S+ supports using the
Mersenne-Twister random number generator. See the RNGkind Help file for details.
The function emf.graph()
was added to Spotfire S+ for creating EMF graphics. This is an alternative to using wmf.graph()
.
You can use importData()
and exportData()
to import from and export to Microsoft© Access and Excel 2007 files.
These file types also appear in the Spotfire S+ GUI dialog boxes for importing and exporting.
STATA
version 10 data files are now supported for import and export.Support for STATA export includes the new type STATASE
, which can handle exporting datasets with up to 32,767 variables. (The number of observations is limited only by the amount of RAM in your computer.) Note that exporting using the type="STATA"
limits the number of variables to 2,047.
When you import regular Stata or Stata/SE files, just use type="STATA"
. Specify type="STATASE"
only when you call exportData
to export data having more than 2,047 variables.
splus.home
in your Eclipse installation.)For more information on using these new features, see the Spotfire S+ Workbench User's Guide.
<bdFrame>$newcol <- newvals
is now faster.bd.unique()
: Now uses less memory.bd.univariate()
: Now much faster when calculating only cached values like mean
, min
, and max
.
Performs faster quantile calculation.matrix(<bdVector>, byRow=F)
: Now uses less memory and is faster.rep(1,1e7,bigdata=T)
: Now much faster.rep(<bdVector>,<bdVector>,bigdata=T)
: Now much faster.bdFrame(Col=<long vector>)
: Now uses less memory.bd.object.info()
: Use for examining a bdVector
or bdFrame
.bd.tally()
: Use to measure internal Big Data operations.bd.cache.temp.dir()
: Use to set the temporary cache file directory.bd.block.apply()
:"out.object"
, documented in the Help."args"
argument in Help.bd.remove.missing()
: if key.columns
is not given, methods="last"
uses the previous row value.bd.univariate()
: fix calculated values of mode
, quantile
.bdFrame
, as.bdFrame
: handle AsIs
and model.matrix
objects.importData()
: Has a new argument colStringWidths
(used only when bigdata=T
).ifelse()
now works with Big Data.The following functions have been added to Spotfire S+ to provide density, cumulative probability, quantiles, and random generation for a discrete distribution. See their Help topic for more information.
ddiscrete()
pdiscrete()
qdiscrete()
rdiscrete()
isTRUE()
function. tempdir()
function, which returns the name of the directory in which temporary files will be made.summary.lm()
now can output the adjusted multiple R-squared statistic for the model.rect()
function, like R's rect()
function.preplot.gam()
has been modified to allow plot.gam()
to work with choxph models that contain pspline terms.type="binary"
.data.dump()
now writes to "dumpdata.sdd"
instead of just "dumpdata"
, and dump()
now writes to "dumpdata.q"
instead of just "dumpdata"
.weights
and freq
:
hist()
qqnorm()
qqline()
quantile()
mean()
, median()
, and tabulate()
now contain the weights
argument.nclass.fd()
, nclass.scott()
, and nclass.sturges()
) now contain the freq
argument.library()
now contains the dependencies
and warn.conflicts
arguments.ltsreg()
and lmsreg()
is now called formula
instead of object
.PROC CPORT
. Branding Update In this version, you might see inconsistencies in product names, images, and branding as we migrate to our new name and identity. We appreciate your patience as we work though the name and branding processes.
Access 2007 requires ODBC Windows® only: Note that if you import Access 2007® files, you must have ODBC drivers. These are available on the Microsoft Web site and installed by default with Windows Vista®.
Removing Spotfire S+ program group can result in empty TIBCO program group. If you remove Spotfire S+ and have no remaining programs in the TIBCO program group, the TIBCO program group is not removed. That is, the empty TIBCO program group remains under Start > All Programs.
McAfee VirusScan slowdown. Virus scanning software such as McAfee can easily slow down Spotfire S+, whether Spotfire S+ is run directly or from a Spotfire S+ node within Spotfire Miner. With System Scan enabled (the default), each time Spotfire S+ reads or writes to a file in its .Data directory, McAfee scans that file for viruses. How much Spotfire S+ is slowed depends on the number and types of processes Spotfire S+ is using at that time.
Big Data library does not convert variable names on import. When you import data using the
argument bigdata=T
, variables containing characters considered "illegal" by the standard S language are retained.
(That is, while the S language does not recognize any character other than a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and period, the Big Data library
allows all characters.) When standard Spotfire S+ converts input data to a data frame, it modifies any variable names containing
an illegal character, replacing any illegal characters with a period (".") character. For example, if a variable name includes a
space ("a b") or an underscore ("a_b"), then in standard Spotfire S+, a period replaces the space or underscore ("a.b"). The
Big Data library does not follow this convention; rather, it retains variable names on import.
If you are upgrading from S-PLUS version 8.0 to Spotfire S+ 8.1, the following items do not apply; however, certain improvements to Spotfire S+ 8.1 might result in scripts written for versions of S-PLUS prior to 8.0 not working as expected. This is especially true for workarounds for pre-existing issues, or for the new graphics enhancements.
The par("col")
value is now a character string representing an RGB value. Previously,
par("col")
was an integer. If you have code that did numeric operations on the par("col")
value (for
example, col=par("col")+1
), the code now fails. Note that you can still set col
to a number (for example,
par(col=3)
).
Changes to cex
, font
, and col
If you specify display
characteristics using the cex
, font
, and col
arguments, they apply only to the plot's
data representation.
Setting color maps can produce unexpected results. Device-specific colormap settings and manipulations
apply only when use.device.palette(T)
(or when use.legacy.graphics(T)
because it sets
use.device.palette(T)
). Because of this issue, by default, setting Color Schemes from the
Options menu does not affect command-line graphics. See the help topic for use.device.palette()
for more information.
Big Data library section no longer loaded by default The S-PLUS 7 Enterprise Developer edition
included the Big Data library section, and this library section was loaded by default. In Spotfire S+ 8.1, it is no longer loaded
automatically. To load it at startup, add library(bigdata)
to your SHOME/local/S.init
. Note
that SHOME/S.init
should not be used. Instructions for editing this S.init
file are in
SHOME/local/README
.
Graphics functions no longer accept list values. Previously, the graphics system accepted
single-element lists as arguments for many functions. For example, the labels
argument to the axis()
function could be a list, such as the following:
axis(side=3, at=c(2,6), labels=list(c("a","b")))
The new graphics system no longer supports this behavior, and the above example causes an error. If your existing code
breaks because of this change, call the unlist()
function to transform the list value.
Workarounds for importing missing columns could cause problems. If you have implemented custom code to work around the pre-existing issues, you could encounter problems importing data in Spotfire S+ 8.1.
Changes to substituteString()
's replacement
argument. Treatment of backslashes
(\\) in substituteString()
's replacement
argument in Spotfire S+ 8.1 has changed, so it is no longer compatible
with previous versions of S-PLUS (7.0 and earlier). This change accommodates R's implementation of string replacement. See the
help for substituteString()
for more information.
For a more thorough listing of R versus Spotfire S+ comparisons, see the TIBCO Spotfire support Web site FAQ.
aggregate.rts()
has new arguments for R compatibility.Previously, aggregate.rts()
was defined as follows:
aggregate(x, nf=1, fun=sum, ndeltat=1)
Now it is:
aggregate(x, nfrequency=1, FUN=sum, ndeltat=1, ts.eps = .Options$ts.eps, ..., fun)
For more information, see its Help file.
Logical values are now printed as TRUE
and FALSE
, not T
and F
. (Note that Expressions involving T
and F
still print them as T
and F
, because they are stored by name, not by value, in expressions.)
Spotfire S+ 8.1 supports the following Spotfire S+ modules. For module version information, see the module's release notes in the SHOME/module/modulename directory.
Module | Platform |
S+FinMetricsTM | Windows, Solaris, Linux 32/64-bit |
S+NuOPT | Windows, Solaris, Linux 32/64-bit |
S+SeqTrialTM | Windows |
Spotfire S+ offers an online HTML Help system to make learning and using Spotfire S+ easier.
help(importData)
at the Spotfire S+ prompt to invoke help on the importData()
function.
Spotfire S+ 8.1 has the following manuals, available in your help directory:
Book Name | File Name |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Application Developer’s Guide | adg.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Installation and Administration Guide | admin.pdf |
Big Data Library User’s Guide for TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 | bigdata.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Function Guide | functionguide.pdf |
Getting Started with TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 for Windows | getstart.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Guide to Graphics | graphics.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Guide to Packages | spluspackages.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Programmer's Guide | pg.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Guide to Statistics, Volume 1 | statman1.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Guide to Statistics, Volume 2 | statman2.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 for Windows User’s Guide | uguide.pdf |
TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Workbench User's Guide | workbench.pdf |
Also, you can find the TIBCO Spotfire S+ 8.1 Installation and Administration Guide (admin.pdf) at the root level of your installation media.
Spotfire S+ 8.1 is built with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0® and Compaq/DEC FORTRAN® 6.0. All samples shipped with Spotfire S+ 8.1 have been tested with Visual C++ 6.0 and Compaq/DEC FORTRAN 6.0. If you use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 and Compaq/DEC Fortran 6.0 in your projects that link to Spotfire S+, use the import libraries in SHOME\lib. For example, sqpe.lib is the import library for sqpe.dll containing the core Spotfire S+ interpreter, and sconnect.lib is the import library for sconnect.dll containing the CONNECT/C++ class library.
Previous builds of S-PLUS (versions 6 and 7) for Win32® used Visual Studio® 6.0 Service Pack 3 to build the engine, GUI, and all samples and utilities shipped with the program. To fix some issues in MFC (the Microsoft Foundation Classes) that Spotfire S+ is based on, we updated the compiler to Service Pack 6. If you have built any C/C++ or Fortran applications using CONNECT/C++ or have modified one of the sample applications for your own purposes, you should install the Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 6 update, and recompile and relink these applications to ensure there are no runtime problems related to changes that might have occurred in shared *.dll files.
File input and output is fully supported in C code called from Spotfire S+, but input and output directed to the
standard streams STDIN
, STDOUT
, and STDERR
requires special handling. This special handling
is provided by the header file newredef.h, which is included in S.h and sconnect.h.
If you need to disable this behavior, define NO_NEWIO
before S.h or sconnect.h. For example:
#define NO_NEWIO
#include "S.h"
For technical support, please visit http://spotfire.tibco.com/support and register for a support account.
Function name(s) | Description |
bd.assoc.rules | Generates association rules. |
bd.assoc.rules.get.item.counts | Counts association rule items. |
bd.assoc.rules.graph | Creates a plot of a set of association rules. |
bd.cache.temp.dir | Sets and retrieves the directory used for creating temporary cache files. |
bd.object.info | Extracts internal information about a bdFrame or bdVector object. |
bd.run.iminer.worksheet | From the Spotfire S+ Server, runs an Insightful Miner worksheet in batch mode. |
bd.tally | Measures internal Big Data operations. |
combinations | Returns all combinations or permutations of size k elements out of n . |
combn | Generates combinations of m elements out of x . |
contentsData | Gets the names of all data sets, sheets, or tables in a specified data file or database. |
ddiscrete | Gets the density for a discrete distribution. |
emf.graph | Creates an enhanced metafile file. |
groupAlls, groupAlls.data.frame, | Computes group sums, means, variances, standard deviations for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupAnys, groupAnys.data.frame, | Computes group sums, means, variances, standard deviations, or other summaries for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupMaxs, groupMaxs.data.frame, | Computes group max for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupMeans, groupMeans.data.frame, | Computes group means for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupMins, groupMins.data.frame, | Computes group mins for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupProds, groupProds.data.frame, | Computes group products for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupRanges, groupRanges.data.frame, | Computes group ranges for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupStdevs | Computes group standard deviations for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupSums, groupSums.data.frame, | Computes group sums for a vector or columns of an array. |
groupVars, groupVars.data.frame, | Computes group variances for a vector or columns of an array. |
isTRUE | Test for logical object of length one with value TRUE. |
java.new.plot.action | Java graphics action on a new plot. (winjava package) |
packageDescription | Gets the description of the specified package. |
panel.hexbin | Panel function for hexbins |
panel.hexbin.lmline | Panel function for hexbins |
panel.hexbin.loess | Panel function for hexbins |
panel.hexbin.smooth.spline | Panel function for hexbins |
pdiscrete | Gets the cumulative probability for a discrete distribution. |
permutations | Returns all combinations or permutations of size k elements out of n . |
qdiscrete | Gets the quantiles for a discrete distribution. |
rdiscrete | Gets the random generation for a discrete distribution. |
rect | Draws and shades rectangles |
RNGkind | Sets and inspects the state of the random number generator. |
strwrap | Wraps character strings for paragraph formatting. |
subtractMeans | Subtract group means from each entry for a vector or columns of an array. |
Sys.setenv | Sets environment variables for use by other processes called from S-PLUS. |
tempdir | Returns the name of the directory in which temporary files will be made. |
write.dcf | Reads and writes data in DCF format. |