Can I deploy and run shiny in windows. If not please what kind of virtual machine can I install in my windows machine to develop , run and deploy shiny applications?
Yes of course, shiny is just an R package. Follow the installation procedure here for example:
https://www.r-project.org/nosvn/pandoc/shiny.html
This is what confuses me:
Download Shiny Server for other platforms
Other Linux distributions require building the program from its source code. To do this, follow the instructions here.
Windows, Mac OS X, and other operating systems are not currently supported as server platforms.
Next Steps
Once installed, view the Administrator’s Guide to learn how to manage and configure Shiny Server.
The shiny package and the shiny-setver service are two separate things.
You can install the R package, develop and test shiny apps in Windows but you can't deploy them (in a native way) in a Windows server, although, you could use virtual machines or containers running Linux.
Could you recommend a virtual machine/container to run The shily-server?
I have never used that kind of setup myself so I can't speak by experience but you can try yourself for free using open source tools like VirtualBox or Docker.
Also, be aware that there are other deployment options that migth be simpler, like using RStudio's specific hosting service shinyapps.io or deploying into a cloud computing service like AWS.
Do you mean that if I create an application using Shiny server in windows, I can deploy in shinyapps.io or into a cloud computer service like AWS
You
You do not create applications using shiny-server, you do it using the shiny R package, which runs in any operating system with R installed on it, and then you can deploy on any of the options I have mentioned and even some others.
Thank you very much!!
In which situation would it be appropriate to use shiny-server?
I don't quite understand your question. shiny-server is a service you install in a Linux server to "serve" shiny applications so others can access them trough a web browser, think of it as the equivalent of a web server but for shiny apps.
I understand, Thank you!!!
Once, I installed the Shiny server and the shiny package in my Linux machine. I had the impression that I was interacting with a local server (Shiny server) in my computer. Is that incorrect?
If you deployed your app in shiny-server and accessed it on port 3838 trough a web browser, then, yes, you where interacting with Shiny server, but if you executed the app interactively from RStudio or the R console, then, no, you were not interacting with the server
So when I write the server part of my application, what am I communicating with. Should not that be a local server?
That part defines the server response, yes, but you have to distinguish among developing, testing, and deploying an app.
For developing and testing (running the app locally) you don't need a server, but when you need to grant access to your app to many users at a time, over the public internet in a reliable and scalable way, then you do need a server.
Maybe your confusion comes from the fact that you can execute the app in your local system, and in some sense you could say it is been served from a 'local server' but that is not the same as using shiny-server which is an specialized service for deployment.
Thank you very much for your great explanation. I understand.
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