Radiant – Business analytics using R and Shiny

How to install Radiant

Radiant is a platform-independent browser-based interface for business analytics in R, based on the Shiny package. Developed by Vincent Nijs. Please use the issue tracker on GitHub to suggest enhancements or report problems: https://github.com/radiant-rstats/radiant/issues. For other questions and comments please use radiant@rady.ucsd.edu.

Note: User profiles (or usernames or logins) containing non-ASCII characters will likely cause problems during installation. To address this issue please use a profile name (login) that contains ASCII (A-Z, a-z) letters only. For example, c:\users\myprofilename

1. Install R for your system

For mac go to https://cran.rstudio.com/bin/macosx/

For windows get the latest release from https://cran.rstudio.com/bin/windows/base/release.htm

Important: Windows users must install R in directory C:\R\R-3.3.1

On Mac you can accept the default settings. On Windows the R-installer should create 2 shortcuts on your Desktop. Because we will be using Rstudio to start Radiant you can delete these shortcuts after completing step 6 below.

To automate steps 2-5 open R and copy-and-paste the command below, press return, and accept all default settings during the install process:

source("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radiant-rstats/minicran/gh-pages/install.R")

For a step-by-step video tutorial see the Install Radiant on Windows or Install Radiant on Mac below:

Install Radiant on Windows

Install Radiant on Mac

If you used the source(...) command shown above successfully you can now skip to step 6. Otherwise follow steps 2-5 below first.

2. Install Rstudio

Get the latest release of Rstudio for your system from:

https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/

Install Rstudio and accept all default settings. Make sure to put a shortcut to Rstudio on your Desktop or pin it to the taskbar.

3. Use a modern browser

For example, Chrome or Safari. Internet Explorer (version 11 or higher) should work as well. Chrome, however, is the recommended browser. Most browser will, by default, save to the downloads folder. However, it is more convenient if the browser asks you where to save files. In Chrome got to Preferences > Advanced preferences > Downloads and then check “Ask where to save each file before downloading”.

4. Install LaTex

To generate PDF reports in Radiant you will need LaTex installed. For Mac download and install MacTex. For Windows download and install MikTex.

5. Install Radiant

To install Radiant open Rstudio and copy-and-paste the command below into the Console window on the bottom left of the application. Then press return. R(studio) will now install Radiant and several dependencies. This may take a few minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Note: On Windows you may need to start Rstudio by right-clicking on the desktop shortcut and choosing run as administrator.

install.packages("radiant", repos = "https://radiant-rstats.github.io/minicran/", type = "binary")

Important: If you use Windows and are asked where to install R-packages (i.e., “Would you like to use a personal library instead?”) you most likely did not install R in directory C:\R\R-3.3.1 as stated above. You should uninstall and reinstall R in the suggested directory before proceeding. If it already exists, you should also remove the Documents\R directory.

6. Starting Radiant

When you open Rstudio (version 0.99.900 or later) you can start and update Radiant through the Addins menu at the top of the screen. Note that when you first install Radiant you must use the install script or the install.packages command shown above.

When Radiant starts you will see data on diamond prices. To close the application click the icon in the navigation bar and then click Stop. The Radiant process will stop and the browser window will close (Chrome) or gray-out.