Reading an RData file into Shiny Application - r

I am working on a shiny app that will read a few RData files in and show tables with the contents. These files are generated by scripts that eventually turns the data into a data frame. They are then saved using the save() function.
Within the shiny application I have three files:
ui.R, server.R, and global.R
I want the files to be read on an interval so they are updated when the files are updated, thus I am using:
reactiveFileReader()
I have followed a few of the instructions I have found online, but I keep getting an error "Error: missing value where TRUE/FALSE is needed". I have tried to simplify this so I am not using:
reactiveFileReader()
functionality and simply loading the file in the server.R (also tried in the global.R file). Again, the
load()
statement is reading in a data frame. I had this working at one point by loading in the file, then assigning the file to a variable and doing an "as.data.table", but that shouldn't matter, this should read in a data frame format just fine. I think this is a scoping issue, but I am not sure. Any help? My code is at:
http://pastebin.com/V01Uw0se
Thanks so much!

Here is a possible solution inspired by this post http://www.r-bloggers.com/safe-loading-of-rdata-files/. The Rdata file is loaded into a new environment which ensures that it will not have unexpected side effect (overwriting existing variables etc). When you click the button, a new random data frame will be generated and then saved to a file. The reactiveFileReader then read the file into a new environment. Lastly we access the first item in the new environment (assuming that the Rdata file contains only one variable which is a data frame) and print it to a table.
library(shiny)
# This function, borrowed from http://www.r-bloggers.com/safe-loading-of-rdata-files/, load the Rdata into a new environment to avoid side effects
LoadToEnvironment <- function(RData, env=new.env()) {
load(RData, env)
return(env)
}
ui <- shinyUI(fluidPage(
titlePanel("Example"),
sidebarLayout(
sidebarPanel(
actionButton("generate", "Click to generate an Rdata file")
),
mainPanel(
tableOutput("table")
)
)
))
server <- shinyServer(function(input, output, session) {
# Click the button to generate a new random data frame and write to file
observeEvent(input$generate, {
sample_dataframe <- data.frame(a=runif(10), b=rnorm(10))
save(sample_dataframe, file="test.Rdata")
rm(sample_dataframe)
})
output$table <- renderTable({
# Use a reactiveFileReader to read the file on change, and load the content into a new environment
env <- reactiveFileReader(1000, session, "test.Rdata", LoadToEnvironment)
# Access the first item in the new environment, assuming that the Rdata contains only 1 item which is a data frame
env()[[names(env())[1]]]
})
})
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)

Ok - I figured out how to do what I need to. For my first issue, I wanted the look and feel of 'renderDataTable', but I wanted to pull in a data frame (renderDataTable / dataTableOutput does not allow this, it must be in a table format). In order to do this, I found a handy usage of ReportingTools (from Bioconductor) and how they do it. This allows you to use a data frame directly and still have the HTML table with the sorts, search, pagination, etc.. The info can be found here:
https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ReportingTools.html
Now, for my second issue - updating the data and table regularly without restarting the app. This turned out to be simple, it just took me some time to figure it out, being new to Shiny. One thing to point out, to keep this example simple, I used renderTable rather than the solution above with the ReportingTools package. I just wanted to keep this example simple. The first thing I did was wrap all of my server.R code (within the shinyServer() function) in an observe({}). Then I used invalidateLater() to tell it to refresh every 5 seconds. Here is the code:
## server.R ##
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
library(DT)
shinyServer(function(input, output, session) {
observe({
invalidateLater(5000,session)
output$PRI1LastPeriodTable <- renderTable({
prioirtyOneIncidentsLastPeriod <- updateILP()
})
})
})
Now, original for the renderTable() portion, I was just calling the object name of the loaded .Rdata file, but I wanted it to be read each time, so I created a function in my global.R file (this could have been in server.R) to load the file. That code is here:
updateILP <- function() {
load(file = "W:/Projects/R/Scripts/ITPOD/itpod/data/prioirtyOneIncidentsLastPeriod.RData", envir = .GlobalEnv)
return(prioirtyOneIncidentsLastPeriod)
}
That's it, nothing else goes in the global.R file. Your ui.R would be however you have it setup, call tableOutout, dataTableOutput, or whatever your rendering method is in the UI. So, what happens is every 5 seconds the renderTable() code is read every 5 seconds, which in turns invokes the function that actually reads the file. I tested this by making changes to the data file, and the shiny app updated without any interaction from me. Works like a charm.
If this is inelegant or is not efficient, please let me know if it can be improved, this was the most straight-forward way I could figure this out. Thanks to everyone for the help and comments!

Related

List of file paths to iteratively pass through sourced python function in Shiny

I have come up with a python function that I have confirmed works just fine. I am trying to put this into a Shiny app using Shiny's reticulate. I am not super familiar with Shiny but need to use it anyhow.
To give a bit of background on what I am doing, I've written some python code that takes takes multiple files and matches strings based on one common list of strings. This code works fine when I run the python files on my machine.
I need to make this available to others using a shiny app, where they can upload their files, then have the app run the underlying python code.
So far, I have set up the shiny app so that it can take in multiple files. I am having a hard time thinking about how I can use reactive to make a list of the file path names to then send to my python code (which includes a step to open and read the file) so it can do its thing.
This is the code that I have for my app thus far:
library(shiny)
library(shinyFiles)
# define UI
ui <- fluidPage(
titlePanel('Counter of Gendered Language'),
fileInput("upload", "Choose a folder",
multiple = TRUE,
accept = c('text')),
tableOutput('text'),
downloadButton('output', 'Download Count File .csv'))
# define server behavior
server <- function(input, output){
# Setup
#* Load libraries
library(reticulate)
#* Use virtual environment for python dependencies
use_virtualenv('file/path/py_venv', required = TRUE)
#* Source code
source_python('code/counting_gendered_words.py')
#* Load list of words to match raw text against
dictionary <- read.csv('data/word_rating.csv')
text <- reactive(
list <- list.files(path = input$upload[['name']])
)
output$counted <- gendered_word_counter(dictionary, text())
output$downloadData <- downloadHandler(
filename = function(){
paste0(input$upload, ".csv")
},
content = function(file){
vroom::vroom_write(text$counted, file)
}
)
}
# Run the application
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)
What it tells me when I run this app is that:
Error : Operation not allowed without an active reactive context.
You tried to do something that can only be done from inside a reactive consumer.
So what I am wanting to do is basically just pass each file name that someone uploads to the app and pass that file's name into my gendered_word_counter() python function.
How would I go about this?
I'm super confident that I just am being a newbie and it is probably a super simple fix. Any help from those who are more comfortable with Shiny would be much appreciated!
Edit: I notice that my code is only calling the names of the files which is meaningless for me without the contents of the uploaded files! Would it be better if I read the files in the shiny app instead of in my .py file?
I can't reproduce the app without the python code, but i can see that this line:
output$counted <- gendered_word_counter(dictionary, text())
has a reactive object (text()) being called with no reactive context. It should be wrapped in observe or observeEvent.
observe({
output$counted <- gendered_word_counter(dictionary, text())
})
Also let's add the parenthesis here:
content = function(file){
vroom::vroom_write(text()$counted, file)
}

R Shiny Dashboard - Loading Scripts using source('file.R')

Introduction
I have created an R shiny dashboard app that is quickly getting quite complex. I have over 1300 lines of code all sitting in app.R and it works. I'm using RStudio.
My application has a sidebar and tabs and rather than using modules I dynamically grab the siderbar and tab IDs to generate a unique identifier when plotting graphs etc.
I'm trying to reorganise it to be more manageable and split it into tasks for other programmers but I'm running into errors.
Working Code
My original code has a number of library statements and sets the working directory to the code location.
rm(list = ls())
setwd(dirname(rstudioapi::getActiveDocumentContext()$path))
getwd()
I then have a range of functions that sit outside the ui/server functions so are only loaded once (not reactive). These are all called from within the server by setting the reactive values and calling the functions from within something like a renderPlot. Some of them are nested, so a function in server calls a function just in regular app.R which in turn calls another one. Eg.
# Start of month calculation
som <- function(x) {
toReturn <- as.Date(format(x, "%Y-%m-01"))
return(toReturn)
}
start_fc <- function(){
fc_start_date <- som(today())
return(fc_start_date)
}
then in server something like this (code incomplete)
server <- function(input, output, session) {
RV <- reactiveValues()
observe({
RV$selection <- input[[input$sidebar]]
# cat("Selected:",RV$selection,"\r")
})
.......
cat(paste0("modelType: ",input[[paste0(RV$selection,"-modeltype")]]," \n"))
vline1 <- decimal_date(start_pred(input[[paste0(RV$selection,"-modeltype")]],input[[paste0(RV$selection,"-modelrange")]][1]))
vline2 <- decimal_date(start_fc())
.......
Problem Code
So now when I take all my functions and put them into different .R files I get errors indicating the functions haven't been loaded. If I load the source files by highlighting them and Alt-Enter running them so they are loaded into memory then click on Run App the code works. But if I rely on Run App to load those source files, and the functions within them, the functions can't be found.
source('./functionsGeneral.R')
source('./functionsQuote.R')
source('./functionsNewBusiness.R')
source('./ui.R')
source('./server.R')
shinyApp(ui, server)
where ui.R is
source('./header.R')
source('./sidebar.R')
source('./body.R')
source('./functionsUI.R')
ui <- dashboardPage(
header,
sidebar,
body
)
Finally the questions
In what order does R Shiny Dashboard run the code. Why does it fail when I put the exact same inline code into another file and reference it with source('./functions.R')? Does it not load into memory during a shiny app session? What am I missing?
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Travis
Ok I've discovered the easiest way is to create a subfolder called R and to place the preload code into that folder. From shiny version 1.5 all this code in the R folder is loaded first automatically.

reactiveFileReader in Shiny for .RData

My current workflow in a shiny application is to run a R script as a cron job periodically to pull various tables from multiple databases as well as download data from some APIs. These are then saved as a .Rdata file in a folder called data.
In my global.R file I load the data by using load("data/workingdata.Rdata"). This results in all the dataframes (about 30) loading into the environment. I know I can use the reactiveFileReader() function to refresh the data, but obviously it would have to be used in the server.R file because of an associated session with the function. Also, I am not sure if load is accepted as a readFunc in reactiveFileReader(). What should be the best strategy for the scenario here?
This example uses a reactiveVal object with observe and invalidateLater. The data is loaded into a new environment and assigned to the reactiveVal every 2 seconds.
library(shiny)
ui <- fluidPage(
actionButton("generate", "Click to generate an Rdata file"),
tableOutput("table")
)
server <- shinyServer(function(input, output, session) {
## Use reactiveVal with observe/invalidateLater to load Rdata
data <- reactiveVal(value = NULL)
observe({
invalidateLater(2000, session)
n <- new.env()
print("load data")
env <- load("workingdata.Rdata", envir = n)
data(n[[names(n)]])
})
## Click the button to generate a new random data frame and write to file
observeEvent(input$generate, {
sample_dataframe <- iris[sample(1:nrow(iris), 10, F),]
save(sample_dataframe, file="workingdata.Rdata")
rm(sample_dataframe)
})
## Table output
output$table <- renderTable({
req(data())
data()
})
})
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)
A few thoughts on your workflow:
In the end with your RData-approach you are setting up another data source in parallel to your databases / APIs.
When working with files there always is some housekeeping-overhead (e.g. is your .RData file completed when reading it?). In my eyes this (partly) is what DBMS are made for – taking care about the housekeeping. Most of them have sophisticated solutions to ensure that you get what you query very fast; so why reinvent the wheel?
Instead of continuously creating your .RData files and polling data with the reactiveFileReader() function you could directly query the DB for changes using reactivePoll (see this
for an example using sqlite). If your queries are long running (which I guess is the cause for your workflow) you can wrap them in a future and run them asynchronously (see this post
to get some inspiration).
Alternatively many DBMS provide something like materialized views to avoid long waiting times (according user privileges presumed).
Of course, all of this is based on assumptions, due to the fact, that your eco-system isn’t known to me, but in my experience reducing interfaces means reducing sources of error.
You could use load("data/workingdata.Rdata") at the top of server.R. Then, anytime anyone starts a new Shiny session, the data would be the most recent. The possible downsides are that:
there could be a hiccup if the data is being written at the same time a new Shiny session is loading data.
data will be stale if a session is open just before and then after new data is available.
I imagine the first possible problem wouldn't arise enough to be a problem. The second possible problem is more likely to occur, but unless you are in a super critical situation, I can't see it being a substantial enough problem to worry about.
Does that work for you?

ShinyApp reactive error while trying to select variables from imported data set

I am very new to Shiny and R in general and I am building an app that allows users to import data, select their variables, number of trees.. ect and then run that through a random forest script and have it display the outputs. Right now I am just working on the inputs, however, I am running into a problem. The user can import a CSV but then they cannot select their variables (headers from csv). I am trying to make it reactive so the user first must import their csv before the option of selecting their variables pops up (seems simple).
Here is my code right now:
ui.R
server.R
Error in Console
I am probably just making a silly mistake because I am unfamiliar with Shiny but your help would be much appreciated.
A little background info
First off, I recommend you read this through to get a good understanding of reactivity in Shiny: Shiny Reactivity Overview. This helps a lot with variable scoping in a Shiny context too: Scoping Rules in Shiny Apps.
The issue
I believe this issue is due to you defining the variable file_to_read within the scope of shiny output: output$input_file in your server.R file. When the function read.table() looks for the variable file_to_read, it doesn't exist since it is only defined within the scope of the shiny output.
Try making a reactive value and then assigning the input$file value to it once it is uploaded by the user. You'll also have to convert your dat1 variable to a shiny reactive since you can only read reactive values in the context of other reactive sources (e.g. observe(), reactive(), observeEvent(), etc.)
file_to_read <- reactiveVal(NULL) # Set the value to NULL to initialize
output$input_file <- renderTable({
if (is.null(input$file)) return () # Check there is an input file
file_to_read(input$file) # Set the reactiveVal to the input file
})
# Make dat1 a reactive so it can be read within a shiny reactive
dat1 <- reactive({
if(is.null(file_to_read()) return (NULL) # Check for input file in reactiveVal
read.table(file_to_read()$datapath, sep = input$sep, header = input$header)
})
# Make an eventReactive to capture when there is read.table() data from dat1
reactive1 <- eventReactive(dat1, {
if (is.null(dat1)) return ()
D <- colnames(dat1)
return (list(D, D[1]))
})
I didn't test this code since you posted your data in image format and I don't have an input file, but hope this helps your error.

How to update the file related to a `fileInput` variable in R Shiny without user interaction?

I'm working on an app in R where the users need to choose a file from their computer, with a RShiny fileInput button. I want to modify this, so that the associated variable can be assigned (i.e. a file can be loaded) automatically by the programm, without having the user click on the button and choose the file.
The problem I'm facing is that a fileInput has 4 fields, amongst which I only can know 3. For instance, when I load the file hello.csv in the variable inFile through the normal procedure, here is what I get :
inFile$name = hello.csv
inFile$size = 8320
inFile$type = text/csv
inFile$datapath = C:\\Users\\MyName\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\Rtmpkh8Zcb/7d5f0ff0111d440c7a66b656/0
Though I could have guessed the second and the third one knowing the file, I have no idea how the datapath field is assigned...
I've tried to declare inFile as a NULL global variable, then to assign one by one the different fields, but I'm stuck with this last one. Is there an other way to do, like a function that mimics the behaviour of a user who clicks on the file input button and choose a specified file ?
Thank you very much.
If all you're looking to do is load a file initially, you don't have to rely on Shiny functions to do that. You can just rely on R functions. Set up your app like this:
ui <- shinyUI(
fileInput("inFile", label="Choose a file", multiple=F)
)
server <- shinyServer(function(input, output, session) {
values <- reactiveValues()
dat <- reactive({
if (is.null(inFile$datapath)) {
dat <- read.csv("path/to/your.csv")
values$file_name = "your.csv"
values$file_type = "csv"
values$file_size = file.size("path/to/your.csv")
values$file_path = "path/to/your.csv"
} else {
dat <- read.csv(inFile$datapath)
values$file_name = inFile$name
values$file_size = inFile$size
values$file_type = inFile$type
values$file_path = inFile$datapath
}
})
})
shinyApp(ui=ui, server=server)
In the above code, the Shiny app will start and see that inFile$datapath is NULL and will load a predefined file of your choosing. It won't run again until inFile changes, at which point it will load the file that the user pointed to.
Hope that helps.
Update
I changed the code above to use reactiveValues to store the pieces of information that need to be used throughout the app. If you just set those and then do a find/replace for input$inFile$datapath and replace it values$file_path, your code should work just fine.
Here is how I figured it out :
I edited the original code, so that all the read.csv(...) are replaced with calls to a data.frame global variable. I also added a small button that you need to click on before you continue. This button saves what you just loaded in the Database (if you chose a file with the fileInput) and assigns the right values to the global variables that will be needed for the following operations. If you chose no file at all, it will directly assign the variables from the data found in the Database.
So I did not find a proper solution to the problem, but this is a workaround that will do the job in my case.
#brittenb I couldn't get your reactive solution to work as I wanted to, that's why I ended up doing this another way. Thanks for having taken the time to think about it though.
I'm still open to suggestions on how to update the file in a fileInput without user interaction.

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