Type: Package
Title: Easily Add Markdown Help Files to 'shiny' App Elements
Version: 0.3.2
BugReports: https://github.com/cwthom/shinyhelper/issues
Description: Creates a lightweight way to add markdown helpfiles to 'shiny' apps, using modal dialog boxes, with no need to observe each help button separately.
License: GPL-3
Imports: shiny, markdown
RoxygenNote: 6.1.1
Encoding: UTF-8
NeedsCompilation: no
Packaged: 2019-11-09 12:10:41 UTC; chris
Author: Chris Mason-Thom [aut, cre]
Maintainer: Chris Mason-Thom <christopher.w.thom@outlook.com>
Repository: CRAN
Date/Publication: 2019-11-09 12:30:02 UTC

shinyhelper.

Description

Easily add markdown helpfiles to your shiny apps, by adding a single function around a shiny app element. This adds a small icon (a question mark, by default) which presents content in a modal dialog box when clicked. The content can be passed inline or given in a markdown file.

Details

There is also a convenient function to initialise a directory of markdown files given a vector of filenames.

A demo is available at https://cwthom94.shinyapps.io/shinyhelper-demo/

For further reference on how to use the package, please refer to https://github.com/cwthom/shinyhelper

Create Directory of Help Files

Description

Helper function to be run interactively - it will initialise a directory of help files (.md files) in help_dir, using the vector of files. Pass it a vector of filenames which you which to use with type = "markdown" in your calls to helper.

Usage

create_help_files(files, help_dir = "helpfiles")

Arguments

files

A character vector of names to use in creating help files.

help_dir

A character string of the directory to use for help files.

Examples

create_help_files(files = c("Clusters", "Columns", "PlotHelp"), 
                  help_dir = "helpfiles")

Augment a shiny.tag with a question mark helper button

Description

Add an action button to your shiny UI with a question mark help icon (by default). In combination with observe_helpers this icon will produce a modal dialog box in the app, with content and title as specified. You may pass inline content for the modal, or else specify the name of a markdown file to include.

Usage

helper(shiny_tag, icon = "question-circle", colour = NULL,
  type = "markdown", title = "", content = "", size = "m",
  buttonLabel = "Okay", easyClose = TRUE, fade = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

shiny_tag

A shiny element, such as an input or output (but any shiny tag will do).

icon

A character string of the name of the icon to display (font awesome).

colour

Any valid CSS colour for the icon.

type

Either 'markdown' to include a helpfile, or 'inline' to specify text.

title

The title to use for your modal. Leave as "" to have no title (for example, if your markdown document has a header you wish to use instead).

content

If type = "markdown", the name of your markdown file; if type = "inline", a character vector of text/HTML to include. This will be pasted together with line breaks. You need not add '.md' to the markdown filename.

size

Either 's', 'm' or 'l' - the size of the modal dialog to display.

buttonLabel

The text for the modal button - "Ok" by default.

easyClose

Whether the modal can be dismissed by pressing Escape, or clicking outside the modal. Defaults to TRUE.

fade

Whether the modal has a fade in animation. Defaults to FALSE.

...

Other arguments to pass to the div containing the icon.

Examples

helper(shiny::actionButton("go", "click me!"),
       icon = "exclamation",
       colour = "red",
       type = "markdown",
       content = "ClickHelp")  # looks for 'helpfiles/ClickHelp.md'

Observe Helper Action Buttons

Description

Function to show a modal dialog, observing each of the help icons in the app.

Usage

observe_helpers(session = shiny::getDefaultReactiveDomain(),
  help_dir = "helpfiles", withMathJax = FALSE)

Arguments

session

The session object in your shiny app.

help_dir

A character string of the directory containing your helpfiles.

withMathJax

If TRUE the MathJax library is added to allow for math expressions in markdown content.

Examples

server <- function(input, output, session){

  # use anywhere in your server.R script
  observe_helpers()
  
  # rest of server.R
  # ...
  # ...
}

Launch the Example App

Description

An example app demonstrating the use of the shinyhelper package.

Usage

shinyhelper_demo()

Examples

## Not run: 
if (interactive()) {
  shinyhelper_demo()
}

## End(Not run)