library(flowWorkspace)
fcsdir <- "/loc/no-backup/mike/JJ/"
wsfile <- list.files(fcsdir,pattern="*.xml", full =T)
ws <- openWorkspace(wsfile)
ws
## FlowJo Workspace Version  2.0 
## File location:  /loc/no-backup/mike/JJ 
## File name:  JJ_FlowJo_.xml 
## Workspace is open. 
## 
## Groups in Workspace
##                      Name Num.Samples
## 1             All Samples          47
## 2      CompensationPanel2          12
## 3             FMO Panel 2          11
## 4                    Test           6
## 5 FMO Compensation Panel2          13

You want to AVOID the first group ‘All Samples’

suppressMessages(gs <- parseWorkspace(ws, name =  "FMO Panel 2"))#here select the third group instead
## mac version of flowJo workspace recognized.
## Warning in .parseWorkspace(xmlFileName = file.path(obj@path, obj@file), :
## Due to the different gating tree structures, a list of GatingSets is
## returned instead!

Be aware of the warning message

gs
## [[1]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[2]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[3]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[4]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[5]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[6]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[7]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[8]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[9]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[10]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples
## 
## [[11]]
## A GatingSet with 1 samples

Examine the difference by checking the nodes

getNodes(gs[[1]], path = "auto")
##  [1] "root"         "Cells"        "SSC-Singlets" "FSC-Singlets"
##  [5] "FL1xFL2"      "FL3xFL4"      "FL5xFL6"      "FL7xFL8"     
##  [9] "FL9xFL10"     "FL11xFL12"    "CD10pos"
getNodes(gs[[2]], path = "auto")
##  [1] "root"         "Cells"        "SSC-Singlets" "FSC-Singlets"
##  [5] "FL1xFL2"      "FL3xFL4"      "FL5xFL6"      "FL7xFL8"     
##  [9] "FL9xFL10"     "FL11xFL12"    "CD150"
getNodes(gs[[3]], path = "auto")
##  [1] "root"         "Cells"        "SSC-Singlets" "FSC-Singlets"
##  [5] "FL1xFL2"      "FL3xFL4"      "FL5xFL6"      "FL7xFL8"     
##  [9] "FL9xFL10"     "FL11xFL12"    "CD19pos"

They seem to differ by the last node

plot the tree and gates

gh <- gs[[1]][[1]]
plot(gh)

plot of chunk unnamed-chunk-5

plotGate(gh)

plot of chunk unnamed-chunk-5

compare the stats

getPopStats(gh)
##     flowCore.freq flowJo.freq flowJo.count flowCore.count         node
##  1:   1.000000000   1.0000000        33742          33742         root
##  2:   0.985655859   0.9864264        33284          33258        Cells
##  3:   0.727343797   0.7046629        23454          24190 SSC-Singlets
##  4:   0.477842084   0.4920696        11541          11559 FSC-Singlets
##  5:   1.000000000   0.0000000            0          11559      FL1xFL2
##  6:   0.998788823   0.0000000            0          11545      FL3xFL4
##  7:   1.000000000   0.0000000            0          11559      FL5xFL6
##  8:   0.999826975   0.0000000            0          11557      FL7xFL8
##  9:   0.999740462   0.0000000            0          11556     FL9xFL10
## 10:   1.000000000   0.0000000            0          11559    FL11xFL12
## 11:   0.003027944   0.0000000            0             35      CD10pos