[R] How to create an executable file from R GUI?

[peter dalgaard]

It's quite platform dependent, but this idea works for tcl/tk on Mac. I don't think it would be too hard to do similar things on Linux, Windows may be a bigger challenge (or not).

Peter-Dalgaards-MacBook-Air:tmp pd$ cat foo.app
#!/usr/bin/Rscript
library(tcltk)
demo(tkfaq)
tkwait.variable("exit")

Make it executable (chmod +x foo.app) and you can double-click it in the Finder. (Notice that as written, there is nothing to shut down the tkwait loop, so you'll have to force quit it.)

Peter D.

> On 19 Feb 2016, at 23:36 , Adrian Dușa <dusa.adrian at unibuc.ro> wrote:
> 
> Your function, buildGui(), what does it use, Tcl/Tk or something else?
> If it's Tcl/Tk, I believe you need a normal R console opened. My .bat file
> only works for a command line, which is fine if the user interface opens up
> in a webpage, but I'm pretty sure it doesn\t work with Tcl/Tk.
> What kind of window does your function return?
> Adrian
> 
> On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Zahra Samadi <simon0098 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> Adriana,
>> My GUI file is a function returning a window. This function is named
>> buildGui(). How should I create this batch file using the piece of code
>> you've written?
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> * From: * Adrian Dușa <dusa.adrian at unibuc.ro>;
>> * To: * Greg Snow <538280 at gmail.com>;
>> * Cc: * simon0098 at yahoo.com <simon0098 at yahoo.com>; r-help at r-project.org <
>> r-help at r-project.org>;
>> * Subject: * Re: [R] How to create an executable file from R GUI?
>> * Sent: * Thu, Feb 18, 2016 9:03:52 PM
>> 
>> Simon, Greg,
>> 
>> That is the very reason why I've given up on Tck/Tk, in favor of shiny.
>> The user interface opens up in a webpage, without opening the normal R
>> console (it only opens a Terminal window).
>> 
>> To exemplify, package QCAGUI has a function called runGUI(), and on
>> Windows it's a simple matter of creating a .bat file,
>> which for my user interface it only contains this:
>> 
>> CLS
>> 
>> TITLE QCA Qualitative Comparative Analysis
>> 
>> C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-3.2.3/bin/R.exe --slave --no-restore -e
>> "setwd('D:/');QCAGUI::runGUI()"
>> 
>> 
>> The double click on the .bat file, and that's it.
>> I hope it helps,
>> Adrian
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 7:24 PM, Greg Snow <538280 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> To give a full answer we need some more detail from you.  For example
>>> what operating system are you on? what do you mean by "users click on
>>> it"? and at what point do you want them to click (after running R,
>>> when looking at the desktop, etc.)
>>> 
>>> But to help get you started you may want to look at the help page
>>> `?Startup` which tells you all the things that R does as it starts up
>>> and how to have it run commands automatically as it is starting up.
>>> 
>>> I have created some GUI examples in the past that clients then wanted
>>> to have on their own computer to play with and demonstrate to others.
>>> I usually would install R on their machine for them and create a
>>> shortcut on the desktop (these were all MS Windows computers) that
>>> pointed to the standard R executable, but started in a specific
>>> directory/folder.  Then in that folder I created a ".Rprofile" file
>>> with the commands to load in the appropriate data and packages and run
>>> the gui demonstration.  The user could then double click on the
>>> shortcut on the desktop and 2 windows would pop up (the regular R
>>> interface and my gui demo), I instructed the client to just minimize
>>> and ignore the regular R window and they were then able to use my demo
>>> and then close everything when they were finished.  You could do
>>> something similar (but exactly how will differ between Windows, Mac,
>>> and Linux computers).
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 9:27 AM, simon0098--- via R-help
>>> <r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> I've created a GUI using RGtk2 package. How can I make an executable
>>> file from my R script so that users click on it and the GUI appears for
>>> them?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>> 
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
>>> 538280 at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Adrian Dusa
>> University of Bucharest
>> Romanian Social Data Archive
>> Soseaua Panduri nr.90
>> 050663 Bucharest sector 5
>> Romania
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Adrian Dusa
> University of Bucharest
> Romanian Social Data Archive
> Soseaua Panduri nr.90
> 050663 Bucharest sector 5
> Romania
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-- 
Peter Dalgaard, Professor,
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Phone: (+45)38153501
Office: A 4.23
Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com