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CRUD-Capable Mobile Apps with R and shinyMobile: a Case Study in Rapid Prototyping

Nathan Henry

TL;DR

This framework is compared with current alternative frameworks for creating data science apps; it is argued that the shinyMobile package provides one of the most efficient methods for rapid prototyping and creation of statistical mobile apps that require advanced graphing capabilities.

Abstract

"Harden" is a Progressive Web Application (PWA) for Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) developed mostly in R, which runs on all platforms with an internet connection, including iOS and Android. It leverages the shinyMobile package for creating a reactive mobile user interface (UI), PostgreSQL for the database backend, and Google Cloud Run for scalable hosting in the cloud, with serverless execution. Using this technology stack, it was possible to rapidly prototype a fully CRUD-capable (Create, Read, Update, Delete) mobile app, with persistent user data across sessions, interactive graphs, and real-time statistical calculation. This framework is compared with current alternative frameworks for creating data science apps; it is argued that the shinyMobile package provides one of the most efficient methods for rapid prototyping and creation of statistical mobile apps that require advanced graphing capabilities. This paper outlines the methodology used to create the Harden application, and discusses the advantages and limitations of the shinyMobile approach to app development. It is hoped that this information will encourage other programmers versed in R to consider developing mobile apps with this framework.

CRUD-Capable Mobile Apps with R and shinyMobile: a Case Study in Rapid Prototyping

TL;DR

This framework is compared with current alternative frameworks for creating data science apps; it is argued that the shinyMobile package provides one of the most efficient methods for rapid prototyping and creation of statistical mobile apps that require advanced graphing capabilities.

Abstract

"Harden" is a Progressive Web Application (PWA) for Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) developed mostly in R, which runs on all platforms with an internet connection, including iOS and Android. It leverages the shinyMobile package for creating a reactive mobile user interface (UI), PostgreSQL for the database backend, and Google Cloud Run for scalable hosting in the cloud, with serverless execution. Using this technology stack, it was possible to rapidly prototype a fully CRUD-capable (Create, Read, Update, Delete) mobile app, with persistent user data across sessions, interactive graphs, and real-time statistical calculation. This framework is compared with current alternative frameworks for creating data science apps; it is argued that the shinyMobile package provides one of the most efficient methods for rapid prototyping and creation of statistical mobile apps that require advanced graphing capabilities. This paper outlines the methodology used to create the Harden application, and discusses the advantages and limitations of the shinyMobile approach to app development. It is hoped that this information will encourage other programmers versed in R to consider developing mobile apps with this framework.
Paper Structure (18 sections, 2 figures)

This paper contains 18 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. CRUD-Capable Mobile Apps with R and shinyMobile: a Case Study in Rapid Prototyping
  2. Introduction
  3. Mobile app development for statisticians
  4. Progressive Web Apps
  5. The 'Harden' application
  6. Architectural overview of 'Harden' app
  7. Database
  8. User interface and logic
  9. Accessory software
  10. Hosting
  11. Performance
  12. Discussion
  13. Limitations
  14. Internet connectivity
  15. Native functionality
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Recommended Harden app architecture. The transition to Google Cloud SQL will be performed in a future version of the app.
  • Figure 2: Example screenshots of user input tab (left) and graphs tab (right), taken from the Harden app running in Android as a PWA. All sliders and graphs are contained within accordion elements created with shinyMobile::f7Accordion(), and are updated reactively when the accordion item is opened, based on data queried from the PostgreSQL database. Graph elements are interactive, with features such as line selection and date filtering via two-finger zoom.