Introduction

This page provides a summary of the commands needed to install Distance for Windows and its pre-requisites.

As there can be problems with spaces in paths, non-space alternatives for paths are given in brackets.


Distance for Windows

Download and install:

  • Download Distance
  • Double-click d62setup.exe
  • Click About
  • Click OK
  • Click Setup
  • Click Next
  • Click I agree
  • Select Destination Folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Distance 6 (or C\Programs\Distance6)
  • Click Next
  • Select Backup File Destination Folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Distance BACKUP (or C\Programs\Distance6\BACKUP)
  • Click Next
  • Select Program Manager Group
  • Enter Distance
  • Select Common group (all users)
  • Click Next
  • Click Next
  • Click Next
  • Click Finish

Check:

  • Click Start Menu
  • Click Distance 6.2

Create shortcut:

  • Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Distance 6 (or C:\Programs\Distance6)
  • Right-click Distance.exe
  • Select Create shortcut

Select default project folder (optional):

  • Start Distance
  • Select Tools => Preferences…
  • Click General
  • Enter Default project folder C:\Users\you\Local Documents\DISTANCE\My Distance Projects
  • Click OK

R

Download and install:

  • Download R
  • Double-click R-3.1.0-win.exe
  • Select English
  • Click OK
  • Click Next
  • Click Next
  • Select C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.0 (or C:\Programs\R\R-3.1.0)
  • Click Next
  • Select:
  • Core Files
  • 32-bit Files
  • 64-bit Files
  • Message translations
  • Click Next
  • Select No (accept defaults)
  • Click Next
  • Select R
  • Click Next
  • Select:
  • Create a desktop icon
  • Save version number in registry
  • Associate R with .RData files
  • Click Next
  • Click Finish

Check:

  • Double-click R i386 3.1.0
  • Double-click R x64 3.1.0

Update PATH (optional):

  • Select Start => Control Panel
  • Enter ‘environment’ in the search box and press RETURN
  • Click Edit the system environment variables
  • Click Advanced tab
  • Click Environment Variables…
  • Under User variables select PATH
  • Click Edit…
  • Add ;C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.0\bin\i386 (or ;C:\Programs\R\R-3.1.0\bin\i386) to end of Variable value, taking care to remove trailing spaces
  • Click OK
  • Click OK
  • Click OK
  • Right-click on desktop
  • Select New => Shortcut
  • In Type the location of the item, enter ‘Rterm’
  • Click Next
  • In Type a name for this shortcut, enter ‘Rterm i386’
  • Click Finish

Check:

  • Double-click Rterm i386

If you experience problems with installing libraries into the default library location, library, under your R installation folder, then set library path (optional):

  • Create a library folder e.g. C:\Users\you\My Documents\R\win-library
  • Select Start => Control Panel
  • Enter ‘environment’ in the search box and press RETURN
  • Click Edit the system environment variables
  • Click Advanced tab
  • Click Environment Variables…
  • Under User variables, Click New…
  • In New User Variable, enter
  • Variable name: R_LIBS
  • Variable value: e.g. C:\Users\you\My Documents\R\win-library
  • Click OK
  • Click OK
  • Click OK

RStudio

Download and install:

  • Download RStudio
  • Double-click RStudio-0.98.1062.exe
  • Select Destination Folder: C:\Program Files\RStudio (or C:\Programs\RStudio)

Check:

  • Double-click RStudio

Distance R packages

Install:

  • Start R i386 3.1.0 icon on desktop
  • RGui (32-bit) appears.
  • Run:

install.packages("mrds")
install.packages("Distance")
install.packages("dsm")  
install.packages("DSsim")

packageVersion("mrds")
packageVersion("Distance")
packageVersion("dsm")
packageVersion("DSsim")

Configure Distance for Windows and R

Set R:

  • Select Tools => Preferences…
  • Click Analysis
  • Enter Folder containing R: C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.0 (or C:\Programs\R\R-3.1.0)
  • Click OK

Check:

  • File=>Open Project…
  • Select Golftees.dst
  • Click Analyses in Project Browser
  • Select FI - MR dist
  • Click Show details for selected analysis
  • Click Run
  • Select Logs tab
  • Check there are R commands.
  • Select Help => MRDS Engine R help (html)
  • Check that an HTML help page appears.

Run Distance R MarkDown files

Run:

  • Select File => Open File…
  • Select golftees-MRDS.Rmd
  • Click OK
  • Click Knit HTML
  • Install Required Packages appears
  • Click Yes

Check:

  • Check that an HTML page appears.

Examples of paths with spaces causing problems

Distance 6, in log tab:

C:\Program Files (x86)\DISTAN~1\ec "C:\Program Files
(x86)\DISTAN~1\MCDS.exe 0,
C:\Users\mjj\AppData\Local\Temp\dstEB57.tmp  \options
2>C:\Users\mjj\AppData\Local\Temp\dstEB56.tmp"   
-- Start of Analyis Engine Log File -- 
-- End of Analyis Engine Log File -- 
** Warning: Analysis engine wrote some output to the console error stream, reproduced below. **
-- Start of Console Error Stream -- 
'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

RStudio, in Install Required Packages window:

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Warning messages:
1: running command '"C:/Program Files/R/R-31~1.0/bin/x64/R" CMD
INSTALL -l "C:\Users\mjj\Local Documents\R\win-library"
"C:/Program
Files/RStudio/R/packages/rmarkdown_0.3.3_fd8dafdea0b4cc68b9dc3da0557a506e60e77ee2.tar.gz"'
had status 1