executablePackeR

Dependency

• R
• Node.js
• Electron Forge (using npm)

Currently, Windows and macOS(with Apple Silicon processors) are tested and supported.

This package may work with Mac with Intel processors, but not tested. Test

You should use appropriate OS for your purpose. For example, if you want to make a Windows Executable File(EXE), you should use Windows. Same to macOS.

Installation

Run

remotes::install_github("ChangwooLim/executablePackeR")

or

install.packages("executablePackeR")

Before start

Run npm i -g @electron-forge/cli in your terminal to install electron in your system.

(macOS) If your account don't have proper permission, run sudo npm i -g @electron-forge/cli

Packages used in your application not available at CRAN should be installed at your computer.

How to use

Run executablePackeR::pack() at the same directory of your app.R

To check where you are, run getwd().

For example, if your 'app.R' is located at "/Users/ChangwooLim/Desktop/my-app/app.R", you should run executablePackeR::pack() at "/Users/ChangwooLim/Desktop/my-app".

Options

You can pass some parameters to adjust settings.

App Name

You can pass app name like below. If you don't set, default is "myapp"

executablePackeR::pack(
#'     app_name = "myapp",
#'     [... more options]
#'   )

Electron Settings

Electron Settings are passed like below.

You can pass 5 parameters. If you don't pass anything, below is default.

The most important option is 'product_name_template', because it shows on the program window.

Now, version is fixed to '0.0.1'. It will be available to change version soon.

#'   executablePackeR::pack(
#'     electron_settings = list(
#'       c("product_name_template", "My Own Product Name"),
#'       c("app_description_template", "App Description"),
#'       c("author_name_template", "Author Name"),
#'       c("author_email_template", "Author E-mail"),
#'       c("repository_url_template", "Repository URL")
#'     ),
#'     [... more options]
#'   )

Icons

You can apply your custom icons. However, some limitations apply.

1. Make assets/icon folder on the level of your directory. For example, if your "app.R" is located at /User/yourdirectory/app.R, there should be /User/yourdirectory/assets/icon folder.

2. Put your icon at icon folder. Icons should be named icon.ico (for Windows) or icon.icns (for macOS).

If you don't place your icons at assets/icon, default icon will be used.

Please note that icon files with another extensions(i. e. png) may not work.

For more information, please refer to electron documents.

See option_description.md for more information.(Not yet prepared)

Troubleshooting

• Executable built successfully, but infinite loading after running.

-> Run executablePackeR::pack(option=list(is_dev=TRUE)) -> with is_dev option, processed file will not be deleted, and tempdir path will be printed at last. -> Open terminal, run cd <tempdir path printed at your cosole> -> Run electron-forge start and see what is the problem.

For another issues not described above, use Issue tab for reporting issues and requesting features.

When you stuck at after "Installing R Complete" and see warning(or error) "Could not parse R code in", Run

Sys.setlocale(category = 'LC_ALL' , locale = '')

or

Sys.setlocale(category = 'LC_ALL' , locale = 'en_US.UTF-8')

at your R Console.

It might be a encoding problem, and may occurs at Windows Server Environment.

Credit

This package is developed under support of Zarathu Corporation

Thanks to Jinhwan Kim and Travis Hinkelman, Dirk Shumacher for making shiny-electron-template #macOS #Windows

(Windows) This package downloads Innoextract for unpacking R setup file. See GitHub for source code.

Contact

Contact limcw@zarathu.com for non-public inquiry.