Warning: Error in as.vector: cannot coerce type 'environment' to vector of type 'character' in R while running on the shiny. What can i do?

Question

I am trying to run a R program on shiny by fetching Google Analytics data, but I am getting this error:

Warning: Error in as.vector: cannot coerce type 'environment' to vector of type 'character'

Stack trace (innermost first):
100: as.character.default
99: as.character
98: tagList
97: as.tags.default
96: as.tags
95: inherits
94: isTag
93: rewriteTags
92: tagify
91: func
90: FUN
89: lapply
88: FUN
87: lapply
86: rewriteTags
85: tagify
84: func
83: rewriteTags
82: tagify
81: findDependencies
80: resolveDependencies
79: lapply
78: processDeps
77: origRenderFunc
76: output$viewid
1: runApp

What can I do to solve it? Here is the code:

---

#server.r
library(googleAnalyticsR)
library(googleAuthR)
library(dplyr)
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)

server <- function(session,input,output){
  output$histogram <- renderPlot({
    ga_auth()
    account_list <- ga_account_list()
    View(account_list)


    observe({

    print(input$accountname)
    x <- account_list$webPropertyName[account_list$accountName == input$accountname]
    updateSelectInput(session, "propertyname","Select your property of the above account",choices =  unique(x))
    })

    observe({

    print(input$propertyname)
    y <- c(account_list %>% filter(webPropertyName == input$propertyname) %>% select(viewName))
    updateSelectInput(session, "viewname","Select your view of the above account",choices = y)
    })

    observe({
    z <- c(account_list$viewId[account_list$viewName == input$viewname])
    updateTextInput(session, "viewid", "view ID of the selected table is:",value = z)

    }) 


output$viewid <- renderUI({

  #idd <- input$viewid
  #print(idd)

  temp_ga_data = google_analytics_4(viewId= input$viewid,date_range = c("2017-11-06","2017-11-10"),
                                   metrics = "sessions", dimensions = "date")

  ggplot(data = temp_ga_data, mapping = aes(date,sessions)) + geom_line()

})

})

}

---

#ui.r

library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
library(googleAnalyticsR) 
library(googleAuthR)
library(ggplot2) 
library(datasets)
library(dplyr)

ui <- fluidPage(

  titlePanel  (title = "Insight of pageviews"), 
    sidebarPanel (
      selectInput("accountname","Select your Analytics account",choices =  c(account_list$accountName), selected = account_list$accountName[1]),

      selectInput("propertyname","Select your property of the above account",choices = NULL),

      selectInput("viewname","Select your view of the above account",choices =  NULL),

      textInput("viewid", "view ID of the selected table is:","")

     # dateRangeInput("daterange3", "Date range:",
         #            start  = "2017-01-01",
          #           end    = "2017-12-31",
          #           min    = "2017-01-01",
          #           max    = "2017-12-31",
          #           format = "mm/dd/yy",
          #           separator = " - ")
    ),
    mainPanel(

        plotOutput("histogram"),
        textOutput("viewid")


    )


  )

Answer 1

The plotOutput() in the ui.R expects a plot object, but you are providing it lots of reactive objects instead. The end object of the renderPlot() function in server.R must be a plot.

You are also asking it do to a lot of work which already has functions that can do it for you, such as creating an account dropdown to choose the Google Analytics view ID. A working version of this is available on the googleAnalyticsR website which is replicated below:

in server.R

library(googleAuthR)
library(googleAnalyticsR)
library(shiny)
library(highcharter)

function(input, output, session){

  ## Get auth code from return URL
  token <- callModule(googleAuth, "login")

  ga_accounts <- reactive({
    req(token())

    with_shiny(ga_account_list, shiny_access_token = token())

  })

  selected_id <- callModule(authDropdown, "auth_menu", ga.table = ga_accounts)

  gadata <- reactive({

    req(selected_id())
    gaid <- selected_id()
    with_shiny(google_analytics,
               id = gaid,
               start="2015-08-01", end="2017-08-02", 
               metrics = c("sessions"), 
               dimensions = c("date"),
               shiny_access_token = token())
  })

  output$something <- renderHighchart({

    ## only trigger once authenticated
    req(gadata())

    gadata <- gadata()

    ## creates a line chart using highcharts
    hchart(gadata, "line" , hcaes(x = date, y = sessions))

  })

}

ui.R

library(googleAuthR)
library(googleAnalyticsR)
library(shiny)
library(highcharter)

shinyUI(
  fluidPage(
    googleAuthUI("login"),
    authDropdownUI("auth_menu"),
    highchartOutput("something")

  ))