Information for the Intro to Shiny & R Markdown workshop

Conferences & Events posit::conf
1

I'm looking forward to meeting everyone joining the Intro to Shiny & R Markdown Workshop next week!

The workshop starts Weds Jan 31st at 9am in Seaport D, but you may want to arrive a little before 9am to get set up. Our wonderful TAs, Amanda Gadrow and Gabriela de Queiroz, and I will be there to help you if you need it.

Equipment

Please bring a laptop with a web browser and a power cord.

Setup

RStudio Cloud :cloud:

We have set up an RStudio Cloud space for the workshop, with all the packages you will need pre-installed. The space will also include all the starter code you will need for the exercises.

If you choose to use this space, you should not need to install any software or packages (and you don't need to worry about the rest of the instructions listed below).

Local Installation :computer:

However if you would like to use your own setup, please make sure that you have R and RStudio installed.

It is also recommended that you pre-install the packages we will use at the workshop. The package installation instructions are:

# Install

from_cran <- c("shiny", "rmarkdown", 
               "DT", "devtools", "flexdashboard", "gapminder",
               "rticles", "shinydashboard", "shinythemes", 
               "tidyverse", "tufte", "xaringan")

install.packages(from_cran, repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com")

# Load

library(shiny)
library(rmarkdown)
... # load the remaining packages similarly

The install.packages command may install additional packages, which can take some time. Hence it is recommended that you install them ahead of time, if possible.

If you will be using your own setup, and especially if you have never used R Markdown or Shiny before, please try the following before you arrive:

  • In RStudio, go to File :arrow_right: New File :arrow_right: R Markdown... Then, click on the Knit button on the upper left, which should, by default, knit the sample document to HTML. If you can successfully knit the document to HTML, you're ready to get started with the R Markdown portion of the workshop.
  • In RStudio, go to File :arrow_right: Shiny Web App to to create and click on the Run App button. If this works without any issues, you're ready for the Shiny part!

If you have any questions, reply to this thread (recommended), or email mine@rstudio.com. See you soon in San Diego!