Quarto / Positron working directory incompatibilities

[manncz]

Hi all -- apologies if this is a repeat question or issue, I just have not been able to find an answer to this issue that is honestly keeping me from switching to Positron myself and with my students.

With the change in Positron to not run code inline, but rather in the console, the working directory is different when rendering a Quarto document and running chunks through the console to test code etc. RStudio recognizes the working directory that Quarto would use when rendering to run code inline, which was convenient and clear for students.

I understand that there are a couple of possible solutions to this, but I wanted to check if these are indeed the only solutions. It appears that you can:

1. Make sure you are working in a Quarto project and change the execute-dir option in the _quarto.yml file, or
2. Use the here package
3. Always open the folder with the .qmd file you are working with in Positron.
4. Change the working directory in the console in Positron depending on the document you are working in.

Is it correct that these are the only solutions? Or is there another way to force either Positron to recognize the .qmd working directory or Quarto to render using the Positron working directory?

[jmcphers]

Positron now has the option to run code inline! When you use the option, it does change how working directories are treated; code will run in the Quarto document's folder by default. If you prefer inline output, and your project is set up such that your documents are in the directory where you want code to run, turning on inline output by itself might do what you want. More info here:

https://positron.posit.co/quarto-inline-output.html

Make sure to enable both inline output and notebook consoles if you want the RStudio-like experience of seeing your code run in a console as well as in the document. Does that do what you want?

Currently Positron doesn't read Quarto project-level options like execute-dir when you're using interactive execution, however. That's tracked here: #16000

[manncz]

Thank you!! This answered my question -- thanks for adding inline code :)

[jmcphers]

You're welcome, let us know if it gives you any trouble!