From 70a4c0ec11b6eb4a6e67cd3ab5fd89df4ef260d7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Teun van den Brand <49372158+teunbrand@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2023 11:07:39 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] early exit for null device (#5567)

---
 R/utilities-checks.R | 15 ++++++++++-----
 man/check_device.Rd  |  3 ++-
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/R/utilities-checks.R b/R/utilities-checks.R
index 418268a832..db5fee2353 100644
--- a/R/utilities-checks.R
+++ b/R/utilities-checks.R
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ check_inherits <- function(x,
 #'   either `"blending"` or `"compositing"`. If `NULL` (default), support for
 #'   all known blending or compositing operations is queried.
 #' @param maybe A logical of length 1 determining what the return value should
-#'   be in case the device capabilities cannot be assessed.
+#'   be in case the device capabilities cannot be assessed. When the current
+#'   device is the 'null device', `maybe` is returned.
 #' @param call The execution environment of a currently running function, e.g.
 #'   [`caller_env()`][rlang::caller_env()]. The function will be mentioned in
 #'   warnings and error messages as the source of the warning or error. See
@@ -186,6 +187,14 @@ check_device = function(feature, action = "warn", op = NULL, maybe = FALSE,
 
   check_bool(maybe, allow_na = TRUE)
 
+  # Grab device for checking
+  dev_cur  <- grDevices::dev.cur()
+  dev_name <- names(dev_cur)
+
+  if (dev_name == "null device") {
+    return(maybe)
+  }
+
   action <- arg_match0(action, c("test", "warn", "abort"))
   action_fun <- switch(
     action,
@@ -233,10 +242,6 @@ check_device = function(feature, action = "warn", op = NULL, maybe = FALSE,
     return(FALSE)
   }
 
-  # Grab device for checking
-  dev_cur  <- grDevices::dev.cur()
-  dev_name <- names(dev_cur)
-
   if (dev_name == "RStudioGD") {
     # RStudio opens RStudioGD as the active graphics device, but the back-end
     # appears to be the *next* device. Temporarily set the next device as the
diff --git a/man/check_device.Rd b/man/check_device.Rd
index cc09a1de67..906d3ce6e9 100644
--- a/man/check_device.Rd
+++ b/man/check_device.Rd
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ either \code{"blending"} or \code{"compositing"}. If \code{NULL} (default), supp
 all known blending or compositing operations is queried.}
 
 \item{maybe}{A logical of length 1 determining what the return value should
-be in case the device capabilities cannot be assessed.}
+be in case the device capabilities cannot be assessed. When the current
+device is the 'null device', \code{maybe} is returned.}
 
 \item{call}{The execution environment of a currently running function, e.g.
 \code{\link[rlang:stack]{caller_env()}}. The function will be mentioned in