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Hands-On Dashboard Development with Shiny
Hands-On Dashboard Development with Shiny

Hands-On Dashboard Development with Shiny: A practical guide to building effective web applications and dashboards

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Hands-On Dashboard Development with Shiny

Layout Functions in Shiny

In the first chapter, we got introduced to the basics of Shiny applications and the various Shiny commands. The layout functions in Shiny describe the different functions that is available in order to review the applications with each of the layouts with the same content. This chapter explains in detail about producing the different layout functions. We will be covering the following topics throughout the chapter:

  • Bootstrap and how it works for Shiny
  • How to produce layouts using rows and columns
  • The different layout functions available with Shiny
  • Navigation bar and navigation list layouts
  • Using conditional UI elements, as well as how to take control of the UI

Bootstrap framework

In this section, we will learn about Bootstrap and its framework as well as its usage and the concepts that it brings to web design in the Shiny applications. We will also see how to add a theme to a Bootstrap setup.

Bootstrap is an open source toolkit that makes use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is of particular interest to web developers because it enables them to make responsive websites that can seamlessly scale up or down depending on the screen it's viewed on, including PC monitors, tablets, and even mobile phones.

Shiny was built on Bootstrap version 3. However, Bootstrap version 4 is available with minor changes. The main content that attracts Shiny developers about Bootstrap is the grid system.

The grid system is a way of organizing content in a sample format, and is initially done by organizing rows and then by columns. Familiarity with...

Adding themes to Bootstrap

There are many free and open source themes available online if you do not want to use the default theme of Bootstrap.

Using them is as simple as putting the theme inside a www folder, which is at the same level as your application, and providing the filename. For example, sandstone.css as the theme argument to fluidPage, fixedPage, bootstrapPage, or navbarPage.

Producing layout in rows and columns

As we already know, Shiny uses the grid system from Bootstrap to lay out content. There are a couple of ways to carry this out, but built-in Shiny functions are always involved. The differences between the functions are minor and the basic idea of each is the same.

This section will cover the server installation steps of the following functions:

  • fluidPage()
  • bootstrapPage()
  • fixedPage()

fluidPage()

The most standard way of using the grid layout within Shiny is to use the fluidPage() function. The following code snippet illustrates the fluidPage() function:

server = function(input, output){    

# server code
}
ui = fluidPage(

fluidRow(
column(2, wellPanel(p("Column width 2")))...

Navigation bar and the navigation list based layout

Shiny allows you to layout your application using navbars and navlists. These are layouts that come from the Bootstrap framework. However, navlist has disappeared as a named class in Bootstrap 3.

Navbar panel application

From the following screenshot, in the first tab (Budgets over time), we have the year, title, and genre controls, as well as the graph underneath containing content from the Movies explorer application:

Budget over time tab

On the next tab (Movie picker), we have a table with the movie selector combo box. The navbar layout gives you buttons along the top, which allows you to select different tab panels, as shown in the following screenshot:

Movie picker...

Summary of layout functions

In this section, we will look at all of the layout functions to give an overview of what is available. We will review applications with each of the layouts with the same content to give an idea of how they all compare.

flowlayout

The following screenshot illustrates the flowlayout function of the setup. Elements are ordered left to right and top to bottom, as seen in the following screenshot:

flowlayout

Resizing the application window causes the elements to reorder themselves so that they fit left to right and top to bottom.

sidebarlayout

The...

Conditional UI

Shiny provides a lots of ways to make the user experience as simple and easy as possible. By controlling what the user sees, taking control of the user's inputs, and giving the user feedback about what the application is doing and why, it is possible to make the experience easy to follow for everyone.

So, in this section, we will look at the following topics:

  • Using the conditional UI function
  • Controlling the user interface with observe()
  • Using modals to give messages to the user

The first thing to note here is that the movie selector does not show on the graph screen, as shown in the following screenshot:

Conditional UI function under Movie picker tab

It is often useful in a large application to show the user only those controls that can currently be used. This prevents your UI from being cluttered and helps show how the application works.

As you can see...

Summary

In this chapter, we looked at the Bootstrap framework and how Shiny makes use of it, and how to build an application layout using rows and columns. We explored the navigation bar, navigation list—based layouts, and also looked at an overview of all of the layout functions. Lastly, we looked at using conditional UI elements and how to control the UI.

In the next chapter, we will be taking a look at dashboards and how to put together our very first dashboard.

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Key benefits

  • Write a Shiny interface in pure HTML
  • Explore powerful layout functions to make attractive dashboards and other intuitive interfaces
  • Get to grips with Bootstrap and leverage it in your Shiny applications

Description

Although vanilla Shiny applications look attractive with some layout flexibility, you may still want to have more control over how the interface is laid out to produce a dashboard. Hands-On Dashboard Development with Shiny helps you incorporate this in your applications. The book starts by guiding you in producing an application based on the diamonds dataset included in the ggplot2 package. You’ll create a single application, but the interface will be reskinned and rebuilt throughout using different methods to illustrate their uses and functions using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You will also learn to develop an application that creates documents and reports using R Markdown. Furthermore, the book demonstrates the use of HTML templates and the Bootstrap framework. Moving along, you will learn how to produce dashboards using the Shiny command and dashboard package. Finally, you will learn how to lay out applications using a wide range of built-in functions. By the end of the book, you will have an understanding of the principles that underpin layout in Shiny applications, including sections of HTML added to a vanilla Shiny application, HTML interfaces written from scratch, dashboards, navigation bars, and interfaces.

Who is this book for?

If you have some experience writing Shiny applications and want to use HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap to make custom interfaces, then this book is for you.

What you will learn

  • Add HTML to a Shiny application and write its interfaces from scratch in HTML
  • Use built-in Shiny functions to produce attractive and flexible layouts
  • Produce dashboards, adding icons and notifications
  • Explore Bootstrap themes to lay out your applications
  • Get insights into UI development with hands-on examples
  • Use R Markdown to create and download reports

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Aug 31, 2018
Length: 76 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789611557
Vendor :
RStudio
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Product Details

Publication date : Aug 31, 2018
Length: 76 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789611557
Vendor :
RStudio
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Frequently bought together


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Web Application Development with R Using Shiny
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Table of Contents

4 Chapters
HTML and Shiny Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Layout Functions in Shiny Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Dashboards Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(4 Ratings)
5 star 75%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 25%
Harold May 12, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Fast track to learning to use R, Shiny and Bootstrap to make a information dashboard using Google Charts.
Subscriber review Packt
Jennifer Calvert Aug 08, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Not much to say here, you do need to know a bit about R and shiny prior to reading/using this book but it is a good one.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
alba1988 Apr 24, 2021
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Muy interesantes para trabajar con fata cience
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Denzil Ferreira Jan 17, 2020
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
I should have checked the page count. This is a very brief introduction to Shiny... Which I could have gotten the same info on Shiny documentation... Not worth it :(
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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