Do I need a special server to run Rmd docs with shiny widgets?

[dougfir]

I'm running hosted rstudio on linux centos with a webserver. I was able to generate website files using rmarkdown::render_site().
I then added some interactive widgets using shiny per instructions here.
Over on rstudio documentation I found a paragraph:

I wanted to verify I've understood this correctly, since I'm not generating a regular static html file but hosting my .Rmd file as a website on a server.

Am I able to use shiny widgets here or do I need Shiny Server?

[cderv]

Your document content has interactive component (shiny element) so you would need to host a server that allows this. It is not just a static website as you need a server side with R runtime.

The options mentioned in the doc you linked to seems ok. I would add RStudio Connect as a new (awesome) product for this (but only pro product).
You can also try to add R on your server and maybe able to build a launch script that would run the document.

Hope it helps

[dougfir]

@cderv

You can also try to add R on your server and maybe able to build a launch script that would run the document

Hi, when you say "You can also try to add R on your server and maybe able to build a launch script that would run the document", would you be able to expand on that?

I have R on my server in that I'm currently hosting my Rmd site on the same server as where I am using hosted RStudio (Linux Centos6).

What do you mean by launch script?

[cderv]

rmarkdown::run() is the function that allows to render and run a Rmd with shiny component.
I think you can use this function and pass option to serve the document on a port on your server. (look at the documentation and the option host and port). This could even been served from a docker container on a server. I have never done it but it seems possible.

The best way to deploy is with RStudio product because you'll have a lot of option and it reduce the but at the end it is just code, and you should be able to serve this kind of document from a server with R.

[dougfir]

Thanks a lot for the information!