the operation of help pages in side bar ignore the vscode setting before I run a help command in R terminal

[Yunuuuu]

Thanks for your all work in developing such good extension!

Describe the bug
I changed the View column in vscode setting, and here is my setting.json concerned these setting:

    "r.session.viewers.viewColumn": {
        "plot": "Active",
        "helpPanel": "Active"
    }

when I opened a new vscode window and selected a R function (such as options), then I ran command r.helpPanel.openForSelection or click the command in the sidebar, the help page viewer didn't follow what I set in vscode. Only when I ran a help function in the R terminal, my setting in vscode could take effect.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Change the R column view setting (helpPanel) to "Active", if need , we can restart vscode,
2. Open a new vscode window and a editor
3. Input a R function in the editor and select it then Click Open Help page for Seleccted Text in sidebar.
4. See error
5. Run help function with a random text (such as help("options")) in the R terminal then repeat 3, this time, the setting in vscode can function.

Do you want to fix by self? (We hope your help!)

Yes, but I only learned R language. I guessed these may be caused by the delayed options read by vscode Command (r.helpPanel.openForSelection) until the help function in R terminal ?

(If related)setting.json

   "[r]": {
        "editor.rulers": [
            80 
        ],
        "editor.wordWrap": "bounded",
        "editor.wordSeparators": "`~!@#%$^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:'\",<>/?",
        "rewrap.autoWrap.enabled": true,
        "rewrap.wrappingColumn": 80,
        "rewrap.doubleSentenceSpacing": true
    },
    "r.lsp.debug": true,
    "r.alwaysUseActiveTerminal": true,
    "r.bracketedPaste": true,
    "r.rterm.windows": "C:\\Users\\*****\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\Scripts\\radian.exe",
    "r.rterm.option": [
        "--no-save",
        "--no-restore",
        "--r-binary=C:\\*****\\R\\R-4.1.1\\bin\\x64\\R.exe",
        "--local-history"
    ],
    "r.rpath.windows": "C:\\*****\\R\\R-4.1.1\\bin\\x64\\R.exe",
    "r.plot.useHttpgd": true,
    "r.session.levelOfObjectDetail": "Detailed",
    "r.session.objectLengthLimit": 100,
    "r.session.viewers.viewColumn": {
        "plot": "Active",
        "helpPanel": "Active"
    }

Expected behavior
All operation should follow the internal setting in vscode.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 19042.1237
• VSCode Version: 1.60.2
• R Version: 4.1.1
• vscode-R version: v2.3.0

[renkun-ken]

Thanks for reporting! I could reproduce this. Looks like the setting r.session.viewers.viewColumn.helpPanel is not used at all.

Let me do a quick fix.

[Yunuuuu]

Thanks for your prompt reply and fixes! Especial appreciation for your blog which introduced the vscode-r and help me a lot in regulating the settings.