Synopsys
R-Node is a web front-end to the statistical analysis package R.
Using this front-end, you can from any web browser connect to an R instance running on a remote (or local) server, and interact with it, similar to how you interact with R through the R console.
The R-Node server supports most standard commands, and should work with any package that provides textual output, or output via the standard graphing mechanisms. The Introduction to R book has been used to test the system.
Graphs are created for the most part on the server, and are presented to the user over the network, where they can be saved by downloading. In some instances simple client-side SVG implementations of the graphing functionality has been implemented (e.g. plot() and hist()), though it is possible this will be replaced with the more complete rwebvis implementation which generates graphs server-side.
You can view the slides for a talk I did to the Palmerston North Linux Users Group if you are interested.
Screenshots
There is nothing like a screenshot teaser, so here you are:
New Screenshots of ExtJS-Based Version:
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Demo
You can try out a demo of R-Node by going to the R-Node Demo Site. Note that if you find that it is not working for you, please try again in a little while - the R-Node demo is frequently updated and while updating, the software is restarted.
Features and Limitations
As R-Node is a young project, integrating with a very feature-rich backend, it is worth recognizing the current features and limitations of R-Node.
Features
- Access to a R server backend via a web browser UI
- The web browser UI works in all modern browsers, including IE 7 and 8 (excluding SVG based graphs).
- Username/password login (both from the browser to the R-Node server, and from the R-Node server to Rserve and R).
- Per-user R sessions. Each user can have their own R workspace, or they can share.
- Support for most R commands that perform statistical analysis and provide textual feedback.
- Support for most standard R commands that provide graphical feedback via server side generation of the graphs. Some graphs (e.g. plot() can be plotted via SVG client-side as well).
- Downloading of generated graphs.
- Accessing R help files using help() and ? commands (Note R v2.10 altered how help is provided, so this currently is not working in R v2.10)
- Uploading files to work with their data in R.
- Many commands will work. Try a command, if it does not work, use the feedback button in the application to let us know.
Limitations
- Various R functions are not supported. These include:
- Installation of new R packages.
- Searching of help via ??.
- Example calls (via example()).
Download
The latest release version (v0.2.0 - updated February 9th 2013) can be downloaded from here:
v0.1.1 fixed a few issues with using later NodeJS releases, and supports R v2.10 help a little better. v0.2.0 fixes the system to work with v0.8.19 of NodeJS (latest stable release at time of writing)
Code
All source code can be found on Gitorious at the R-Node project page.
Contact
R-Node is developed by Jamie Love, a New Zealand based software developer. Looking for great software developers in New Zealand? contact Jamie at N-Squared Software.
Questions, comments or keen to discuss R-Node? please use the Google Group r-node-users.
With Thanks
R-Node wouldn't exist without the availability of a range of high quality Open Source software. The following is used to bring R-Node to life:
Additional thanks goes to the bloggers and developers who share their experiences and code snippets on the web.