Getting Started with {golem}

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 through command line, you can 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 package containing the App
  pkg_title = "PKG_TITLE", # The Title of the package containing the App
  pkg_description = "PKG_DESC.", # The Description of the package containing the App
  author_first_name = "AUTHOR_FIRST", # Your First Name
  author_last_name = "AUTHOR_LAST", # Your Last Name
  author_email = "AUTHOR@MAIL.COM", # Your Email
  repo_url = NULL # The (optional) URL of the GitHub Repo
)

About the DESCRIPTION file.

Add {golem} options

Please DO run this line of code, as it sets a series of global options inside golem-config.yml that will be reused inside {golem}.

golem::set_golem_options()

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 a dependency 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 a file with various functions that can be used along the process of building your app.

See each file in details for a description of the functions.

golem::use_utils_ui()
golem::use_utils_server()