Can Shiny handle the HTTP request directly from other platform like JAVA applications ?
Our web application are now using java server as the server side. We want to intall the Shiny server and some communication would be happen between JAVA and R by using HTTP request.
Can I just use the server program with no UI layout ?
It sounds like you want to build an API in R; is that right? It might be worth looking in to the plumber package which should be able to do that for you.
You could, but it wouldn't exactly be the best tool for the job. You'd be better off with a lighter and more general purpose web framework, like plumber suggested above.
The Web Technologies and Services Task View has a good overview of different libraries to look into and compare. See the section on Web and Server Frameworks.
Yes, always check the CRAN task views!
I'm going to push my blog post on this issue since i think it's what the OP is looking for:
Thanks for your detail post that was very helpful indeed, will stay tuned for part II.