Introduction to R Shiny

Dates
27-28 January 2025
To foster international participation, this course will be held online.

Overview

Strictly speaking, Shiny is an R package; however, it surpasses this classification. It stands as a framework that empowers R users to craft sophisticated, responsive web applications, even with a modest grasp of web development. But why do we consider it a framework? The reason lies in the multitude of packages that expand Shiny’s functionality, enabling the execution of intricate processes. Moreover, this ecosystem continues to expand daily. To fully harness the capabilities of Shiny, one must grasp its fundamental principles. In this workshop, we will delve deeply into these concepts. By the conclusion of the session, you will be well-equipped to confidently create web applications directly from within R.

Target Audience

This workshop is targeting a broad audience:

  • Data Analysts
  • Data Scientists
  • Researchers
  • Biologists
  • Economists

Among others. These participants all share the benefit of enhanced productivity and insight through the implementation of web applications.

Prerequisites

  • A basic proficiency in R is required.
  • Some knowledge of dplyr and ggplot2 would be beneficial as we’ll use them to build our applications.
  • Familiarity with the RStudio IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is preferable.
  • No knowledge of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript is required.

Tools

The following tools need to be installed beforehand:

  • R: Available at R download. It’s ok if you don’t have the latest version.
  • RStudio: Download RStudio
  • Shiny: Install the latest stable release via install.packages("shiny")
  • Tidyverse: Install via install.packages("tidyverse")
  • Additional R packages from CRAN: Install via install.packages(c("rsconnect", "bslib", "palmerpenguins", "DT", "bsicons", "RColorBrewer", "plotly", "thematic", "showtext", "terra", "sf", "leaflet", "viridis", "shinyWidgets", "rnaturalearth", "mapview", "webshot2", "pagedown", "curl", "remotes"))
  • Additional R package from GitHub: Install via remotes::install_github("r-spatial/leafem")
  • Additional R package from R-Universe: Install via install.packages("rnaturalearthhires", repos = "https://ropensci.r-universe.dev", type = "source")
  • A modern web browser (preferably Google Chrome).

Learning Outcomes

After completing the workshop, you’ll be able to:

  • Understand the structure of a Shiny application.
  • Read and understand the code used to create a Shiny app.
  • Gain a solid knowledge of Shiny reactivity concepts.
  • Create a Shiny app and deploy it to shinyapps.io.

Program

Day 1 (2-8 pm Berlin time)

  • Structure of a Shiny application
  • Using HTML with {htmltools}
  • Reactivity – Basics
  • Shiny Input widgets
  • Shiny Outputs
  • Shiny app layout

Day 2 (2-8 pm Berlin time)

  • Shiny apps theming and customization
  • Basics of interactive mapping with {leaflet}
  • Example: Creation of interactive spatial dashboard
  • Deploying a Shiny app to shinyapps.io