R & Javascript callbacks

Question

I'm writing a UI to my R script, which asks the user some names of organisms and the location of a folder, using javascript/html that will be local (not hosted, ever).

At the moment, I have just that: a couple of text boxes that take input and pass an executable R script. Originally this UI was being written as a very user friendly option, but slowly I've realized that some nifty tricks can be added such as a textbox that completes the word for the user (so if the user misspells the name of the organism, the UI will correct the input based on the files uploaded. And this would come from a list of organisms text file that R would generate immediately once the files have been added).

Is there a way to make this more efficient? For example, retrieving plots from R (as .pngs) and updating my local webpage and being able to share a log file between R and the UI (mind you, I am aware of the potential File I/O errors)..but for the sake of brainstorming.

I'm aware of Shiny, but what I would like is a simple local UI, as I will be dealing with big data (average ~ 1 gigabyte worth of files that my script will process).

Another way to ask my question that is more to the point:

Here's an example of integrating PHP and R: http://www.r-bloggers.com/integrating-php-and-r/ I am looking to create something similar with javascript/css/html/jquery etc.

Thanks

Answer 1

I have a similar case, and shiny looked like a good idea to me. However, after I did a few first steps, I am no longer sure about this. Note that most of the examples use shiny to display results. When you get into editing some fields and using a database, things can become messy; the reactive-ness gets in the way once fields can be change by program and by the user.

As an example see https://gist.github.com/dmenne/4721235/edit. The main problem for the current state of shiny is that you must use the dynamic UI for this type of work, which kills any separation of ui and server because you have to create the ui elements in the server.

shiny is a great idea, but for anything larger with interaction it is too early now. Knowing that the amazing RStudio team is behind it, I am sure the stress should be on now.

What else is there around to make user interfaces for R? TclTk makes me shudder. I working in c# a lot, and I had been using R(D)COM for interfacing some years ago, but gave up after installation and licensing problems. There is R.DOTNet which works better now; it is the most hazzle-free installation-wise, but it is not a very active project, and tends to crash. Interfacing via RServe/RServeCLI is stable, but is too difficult to install on Windows, for example on hospital computers with their strict security issues.

And there is Qt. With the active RInside community, it would be a good choice and the interface is great. I wish however my programming skills were at the level of the RStudio-guys. The fact that even Dirk is one the proof-of-concept level (using rinside with qt in windows) is not encouraging.

Answer 2

Why wouldn't you be able to use Shiny locally? You design your app on your computer and run it locally with runApp('myapp') from an R-prompt. Unless you are experienced with javascript I would give shiny another look: http://www.rstudio.com/shiny/

The example you linked to can be very easily implemented using Shiny. See link below for a tutorial on how to write the app:

http://rstudio.github.com/shiny/tutorial/#hello-shiny

To run that example locally:

install.packages('shiny')

shiny::runExample('01_hello')

Answer 3

You could definitely use nodejs (nodejs.org) for that. Take a look at https://github.com/elijah/r-node and r-node. Confusingly enough, this is two different projects with the same name. More info on the latter here: squirelove.net/r-node/doku.php

In recent years JavaScript has become one of the fastest programming languages. In one case I know of, JavaScript is faster than C++. See: benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u32/performance.php?test=regexdna

Bear in mind, though, that memory is very difficult to manage in JavaScript, so you should run some sort of memory leak detection program on your code, if you plan to create long running processes. E.I: memwatch (npmjs.org/package/memwatch) or nodeheap (npmjs.org/package/memwatch)

Good luck with your endeavors!

PS. sorry for the lack of real links. I'm apparently not allowed to post more than 2 links.