Assignment B3: Shiny App

Due: Friday Dec 5, 2025 at 11:59pm

Total Points: 100

For this assignment, you will create a Shiny app with three features, deploy it, and include a statement on AI use (see Part C below).

Note that we aren’t expecting a complex app for this assignment – a simple one is all we’re expecting.

Setup

Go to canvas to get your invitation to create a GitHub repository for this project. You can find this in the description of Assignment B-3 on Canvas. Name your repository as you wish, so long as it’s informative. Clone the repository.

Part A) Create a Shiny App (80 points)

You can create any sort of app using any sort of data (aside from the BC Liquor data)! If you’d like, it may be natural to create an app that relates to your Mini Data Analysis, or a data set you’ve enjoyed working with throughout this course.

While we don’t care too much about aesthetics, there will be two points devoted to the overall organization/cleanliness of the app. Avoid neon backgrounds and hard-to-read fonts.

Your Shiny app must include:

See the Appendix at the end of this assignment for some ideas for your third feature!

We used the BC Liquor App as a running example of feature ideas for concreteness. You cannot use this data set for your project.

Part B) Deploy the App to Shinyapps.io (10 points)

Part C) Statement on Gen AI use (10 points)

I encourage you to use Generative AI software (ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot, etc) to help you create your Shiny app. However, there is additional documentation you must provide.

You may not ask Gen AI to build a shiny app from scratch. Use it as an additional tool to help you with the assignment.

    • You must provide a list of prompts/questions provided to the Gen AI chat bot. For example:

      • “I’m trying to build a Shiny app but I keep getting this error: [insert error]. What does this mean?”
      • “I’m building a Shiny app that creates a plot. Here is my code: [insert code]. Can you help me add a second slider that adjusts the transparency of the points?

    • You do not have to provide the responses or any follow-up questions.

    • You can provide the list of statements in a Word, .Rmd, or .txt file. Just be sure we can read it and include it in your repository.

    • If you did not use Gen AI, provide some links to any resources you used instead (i.e., StackExchange).

    • Within the same document, you must provide a short reflection on how you felt the use of Gen AI contributed to your learning. Write a few sentences about how Gen AI helped you with the assignment, and how it impacted your learning (could be positive or negative). Write this in your own words. It can be brief.
    • If you did not use Gen AI, provide a brief statement (a sentence or two) on why you chose not to use it.

Part D) GitHub Repository

  •  This R Shiny called [my title] app does [description]

 There are three main features of this app:

 - FEATURE 1: Plot showing [something] that updates with [some user input]
 - FEATURE 2: Table showing [something] that updates with [some user input]
 - FEATURE 3: [A description of the third feature]

 You can test out the app for yourself at [link_to_shinyapp.io](link_to_shinyapp.io)

Submission

The rubric can be found on Canvas.

Appendix: Ideas

Tables

  • Add an option to sort the table by one of your variables. For example, in the BC Liquor App, sorting the results by price.

    • Hint: Use checkboxInput() to get TRUE/FALSE values from the user.

  • Use the DT package to turn a static table into an interactive table.

    • Hint: Install the DT package, replace tableOutput() with DT::dataTableOutput() and replace renderTable() with DT::renderDataTable().

  • Show the number of results found whenever the filters change. For example, in the BC Liquor app, when searching for Italian wines $20 - $40, show the text “We found 122 options for you”.

    • Hint: Add a textOutput() to the UI, and in its corresponding renderText() use the number of rows in the filtered() object.

  • Allow the user to search for multiple entries simultaneously; for example, in the BC Liquor app, allow the user to search for multiple alcohol types at once instead of wine/beer/etc, one at a time.

    • Hint: There are two approaches to do this. Either change the typeInput radio buttons into checkboxes (checkboxGroupInput()) since checkboxes support choosing multiple items, or change typeInput into a select box (selectInput()) with the argument multiple = TRUE to support choosing multiple options.

Plots

  • Add parameters to the plot.
    • Hint: You will need to add input functions that will be used as parameters for the plot. You could use shinyjs::colourInput() to let the user decide on the colours of the bars in the plot.
  • Allow the user to save/export the plot

Other Features

  • Any other feature that is not a table or a plot.
  • Need some ideas? Check this out or use one of the following options:
    • Add a button that allows the user to download your table as a .csv file, or plot as a .png file.
    • Hint: Look into the downloadButton() and downloadHandler() functions.
    • Add an image to the UI. For example, in the BC Liquor app, add an image of the BC Liquor Store. If you’re building your own app from scratch, an image may make your app more visually interesting or add information!
      • Hint: Place the image in a folder named www, and use img(src = "imagename.png") to add the image.
    • If you know CSS, add CSS to make your app look nicer.
      • Hint: Add a CSS file under the www folder and use the function includeCSS() to use it in your app.
    • Experiment with packages that add extra features to Shiny, such as shinyjs, leaflet, shinydashboard, shinythemes, ggvis.
      • Hint: Each package is unique and has a different purpose, so you need to read the documentation of each package in order to know what it provides and how to use it.
    • If you have both a plot and a table, place them in separate tabs.
      • Hint: Use tabsetPanel() to create an interface with multiple tabs.
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