a_start

Create a package

Once the package is installed, you can got to File > New Project… in RStudio, and choose “Package for Shiny App Using golem” input:

If you want to do it directly via the command line, use:

golem::create_golem(path = "path/to/package")

This command allows you to create “illegally-named” package (for example, 1234) by passing the check_name argument to FALSE. Note that this is not recommended and should only be done if you know what you are doing.

Once you’ve got that, a new RStudio project will be launched. Here is the structure of this project:

#> ├── DESCRIPTION 
#> ├── NAMESPACE 
#> ├── R 
#> │   ├── app_config.R 
#> │   ├── app_server.R 
#> │   ├── app_ui.R 
#> │   └── run_app.R 
#> ├── dev 
#> │   ├── 01_start.R 
#> │   ├── 02_dev.R 
#> │   ├── 03_deploy.R 
#> │   └── run_dev.R 
#> ├── inst 
#> │   ├── app 
#> │   │   └── www 
#> │   │       └── favicon.ico 
#> │   └── golem-config.yml 
#> └── man 
#>     └── run_app.Rd

If you’re already familiar with R packages, most of these files will seem very familiar to you. That’s because a {golem} app IS a package.

• DESCRIPTION & NAMESPACE: Package meta-data.

• R/app_config.R: Used to read inside {golem} config file located at inst/golem-config.yml.

• R/app_server.R, R/app_ui.R: Top level UI and server elements.

• R/run_app.R: a function to configure and launch the application.

• dev/: Scripts that will be used along the process of developing your app. You don’t need to fill all the script before starting: use them as a notebook for keeping track of what you’re doing all along the project life.

• inst/app/www: Where you will add external dependencies in www (images, css, etc), notably added with the golem functions used to create external resources.

• man: Package documentation, to be generated by R & {roxygen2}.

Fill the DESCRIPTION

First, fill the DESCRIPTION by adding information about the package that will contain your app. The first function, fill_desc(), can be used to fill your DESCRIPTION file:

golem::fill_desc(
  pkg_name = "shinyexample", # The name of the golem package containing the app (typically lowercase, no underscore or periods)
  pkg_title = "PKG_TITLE", # What the Package Does (One Line, Title Case, No Period)
  pkg_description = "PKG_DESC.", # What the package does (one paragraph).
  authors = person(
    given = "AUTHOR_FIRST", # Your First Name
    family = "AUTHOR_LAST", # Your Last Name
    email = "AUTHOR@MAIL.COM", # Your email
    role = c("aut", "cre"), # Your role (here author/creator)
    set_options = TRUE # Set the global golem options
    ),
  repo_url = NULL, # The URL of the GitHub repo (optional),
  pkg_version = "0.0.0.9000" # The version of the package containing the app
)

About the DESCRIPTION file.

Additionally, fill_desc() sets a series of recommended global options in golem-config.yml that will be reused inside {golem}.

Set common Files

If you want to use the MIT license, README, code of conduct, lifecycle badge, a news file, etc.

## See ?usethis for more information
usethis::use_mit_license("Golem User") # You can set another license here
usethis::use_readme_rmd(open = FALSE)
usethis::use_code_of_conduct()
usethis::use_lifecycle_badge("Experimental")
usethis::use_news_md(open = FALSE)

See {usethis} for more info about these functions.

Init Tests

Create a template for tests:

golem::use_recommended_tests()

About tests in a package.

Use Recommended Packages

This will add {shiny}, {DT}, {attempt}, {glue}, {htmltools}, and {golem} as dependencies to your package:

golem::use_recommended_deps()

Add various tools

• If you want to change the default favicon:

  # Remove current favicon
  golem::remove_favicon()
  # Add a new one
  golem::use_favicon(path = "path/to/favicon")

  Note that you can add an URL, and the favicon will be downloaded to the inst/app/www folder.

Note: If you are deploying your app with ShinyProxy, your favicon should have the .png extension, otherwise it is not going to work.

• Utils: these two functions add two files with additional helper functions for your {golem} project. They can be used along the process of building your app:

  golem::use_utils_ui(with_test = TRUE)
  golem::use_utils_server(with_test = TRUE)

  For a detailed description of the generated functions see the respective files R/golem_utils_server.R and R/golem_utils_ui.R for which also default tests are added in tests/testthat (to suppress this set with_test = FALSE in the above calls).