NEWS

shinyscholar 0.4.5 (2026-04-03)

Migrate from {devtools} to {pak} for installation
Set R_USER_CACHE_DIR in tests
Import app dependencies in global.R instead of via Depends
Fixed bug in global.R due to missing function
create_module() updates the module .yml and global.R so that the app runs
reset_data(), show_loading_modal(), close_loading_modal(), show_map(), show_results() and show_table() have been moved from R/helper_functions to inst/shiny/ui_helpers.R and are no longer exported

Various tweaks to ensure that created apps pass R CMD check
Removed {magrittr} dependency and migrated to native pipes, increasing R dependency to v4.1.0
create_module() now creates skeleton functions that include {roxygen2} tags

Fixed core_code module when no function exists
Break up very long lines in the markdown so that they can be read in again
Disabled register_module() as it has not been refactored to work for created apps
Made loading process more robust by adding the app name
Made loading fault-tolerant if deprecated common objects exist

Entries in the logger are now restored on load and made available in testing
Added plot_auto and plot_semi modules to the example app that run automatically and semi-automatically respectively
Added ability to control generated markdown chunks using asis chunks and example to plot_hist.Rmd
Added common$reset() and reset_data() to reset the common object and remove all outputs
Added an area to the UI for including global options available inside all modules
Added an options to create_template() and create_module() to include a downloadButton and downloadHandler to modules that is only visible once the module runs successfully
Rewrote create_template() and create_module() so that create_module() creates the module function and tests
Switched to use shinyWidgets::radioGroupButtons() for module selection menu
Added a description of the package structure to the README

Simplified and improved printVecAsis() by using dput to support improved reproducibility e.g. by including dataframes directly
Removed all remnants of map when include_map is FALSE in create_template()
Install packages created by create_template() in tests
Only run markdown tests when pandoc is installed

Removed run_module() as it was not maintainable.
Moved all packages to Suggests unless they are required for development of new applications.
Added asyncLog() to improve logging from inside async functions.
Updated run_<app name>() to take a load file as an argument which is loaded automatically.
Creating load_file_path containing the path to a save file will attempt to load it on app start up.
Made create_template(), metadata() and save_and_load() more robust.

The select_query and select_async modules in the demonstration app have been re-written to use a different API.

Added ability to run functions asynchronously using shiny::ExtendedTask().
Modules that do not produce results now have a placeholder informing the user.
Updated writeLog() to use icons for different events.
Updated save_and_load() to ignore manually added lines and fix indenting.
Added metadata() to semi-automate adding code for reproducibility.
Module function file names now take the form of <identifier>_f.R to prevent confusion between the function and module file.
Objects are all passed to printVecAsis() when generating the Rmarkdown, removing the need to manually wrap strings in the .Rmd files.
Use {shinyAce} to display formatted code in core_code module.

Moved mapping, introduction, code, save and load functionality out of server into core_ modules.
Passed parent_session to the modules enabling switching to the results, map and table tab from within modules and added show_table(), show_results() and show_table() to simplify code.
Added rep_renv module to enable capturing dependencies.

Added save_and_load() to automate adding the lines to modules which facilitate saving and loading of input values.
Added an introduction using {rintrojs} which is only shown to users on their first visit.

The template has been created mainly through the removal of functionality from Wallace and the addition of basic functionality to demonstrate how modules can be used.
These are the key features which have been retained:

Automatic loading of modules
Saving and loading of the current app state
Creating Rmarkdown files for reproducing the workflow outside of the application
Logging errors

common - the data structure passed between modules - has been changed from a list() containing spp <- reactiveValues() to an R6::R6Class().
Due to objects inside common not being inherently reactive, event triggers have been added using {gargoyle}
A Code tab has been added to the Visualization panel to allow the code for each module and the function that each module calls to be viewed.
Unit tests for each module have been created using {shinytest2} in addition to unit tests for the function that the module calls.
~~Added a new function run_module() which can be used to run a single module.~~ Removed in 0.2.2 use run_<app name>() or load_file_path
Added a new function create_template() which can be used to create a skeleton app.
Added a Dockerfile which can be used to run the app on a shiny-server.
Added show_loading_modal() which uses {shinybusy} to display a modal whilst slow functions are running.