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Export Shiny Application as Electron Desktop Application

Source: R/export.R
export.Rd

Main entry point function that wraps the conversion, building, and optionally running of a Shiny application as an Electron desktop application.

Usage

export(
  appdir,
  destdir,
  app_name = NULL,
  app_type = NULL,
  runtime_strategy = NULL,
  sign = FALSE,
  platform = NULL,
  arch = NULL,
  icon = NULL,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  build = TRUE,
  run_after = FALSE,
  open_after = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

appdir

Character string. Path to the directory containing the Shiny application.

destdir

Character string. Path to the destination directory where the Electron app will be created.

app_name

Character string. Display name of the application. If NULL, uses app.name from _shinyelectron.yml, then the name of the app directory. Unless app.slug is set, this argument also gives the app's slug, its identity for installed copies and updates; without it the slug comes from the name of the app directory, never from app.name.

app_type

Character string or NULL. Language of the Shiny app: "r-shiny" or "py-shiny". If NULL (default), the type is autodetected from files in appdir. The legacy values "r-shinylive" and "py-shinylive" are accepted with a deprecation warning and translate to the canonical language plus runtime_strategy = "shinylive".

runtime_strategy

Character string or NULL. How R or Python reaches the end user: "shinylive", "bundled", "system", "auto-download", or "container". Default "shinylive" when neither argument nor config sets one.

sign

Logical. Whether to enable code signing for the built application. When TRUE, electron-builder will attempt to sign the app using credentials from environment variables or the config file. Default is FALSE.

platform

Character vector. Target platforms: "win", "mac", "linux". If NULL, uses build.platforms from _shinyelectron.yml, then the current platform. macOS apps build only on macOS, so a "mac" target stops the export on Windows and Linux unless build = FALSE.

arch

Character vector. Target architectures: "x64", "arm64". If NULL, uses build.architectures from _shinyelectron.yml, then the current architecture. Each of platform and arch replaces only its own list, so platform = "win" still builds for every architecture in build.architectures.

icon

Character string. Path to application icon file, absolute or relative to the working directory. A PNG (1024x1024 or larger) or an .icns file serves every platform; an .ico file serves Windows only. Overrides icon and icons in _shinyelectron.yml, whose paths are relative to appdir.

overwrite

Logical. Whether to overwrite existing output directory. Default is FALSE.

build

Logical. Whether to build distributable packages. Default is TRUE.

run_after

Logical. Whether to run the application in development mode after export. Default is FALSE.

open_after

Logical. Whether to open the generated project directory after export. Default is FALSE.

verbose

Logical. Whether to display detailed progress information. Default is TRUE.

Value

List containing paths to the converted app and built Electron app (if built).

Details

This is the main function of the package that orchestrates the entire process:

  • Validates the input Shiny application

  • Converts the Shiny app to the specified format (shinylive by default)

  • Sets up the Electron project structure

  • Optionally builds distributable packages

  • Optionally runs the application for testing

Supported Combinations

Two languages, five delivery strategies.

  • r-shiny or py-shiny plus runtime_strategy = "shinylive": app compiles to WebAssembly and runs inside the Electron window with no runtime on disk.

  • r-shiny or py-shiny plus "auto-download", "bundled", "system", or "container": app runs against a real R or Python process supplied by the chosen strategy.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # interactive()
# Simplest call: app_type autodetects, runtime_strategy defaults to shinylive
export(
  appdir = "path/to/shiny/app",
  destdir = "path/to/electron/output"
)

# Run against a real R process instead of shinylive
export(
  appdir = "path/to/shiny/app",
  destdir = "path/to/output",
  runtime_strategy = "bundled"
)

# Pin language explicitly when autodetection is ambiguous
export(
  appdir = "path/to/shiny/app",
  destdir = "path/to/output",
  app_type = "r-shiny",
  runtime_strategy = "system"
)
}