shinypayload • Accept POST Data in Shiny • shinypayload

Bring data into Shiny on the same port 🚀

Seamlessly integrate POST requests and query parameters into your existing Shiny apps as reactive values. Zero configuration - works with your current UI on the same port.

✨ Key Features

🔌 Same-port integration - No need for separate servers or ports
📡 RESTful API endpoints - Accept POST requests alongside your Shiny UI
🔄 Reactive data streams - POST data automatically becomes reactive values
🛡️ Built-in authentication - Token-based security for your endpoints
📱 Multiple data formats - JSON, form data, query parameters
🌐 Cross-session sharing - Data shared across all connected clients
🚦 Production ready - Comprehensive testing and CRAN-quality code

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

# Install from CRAN (when available)
install.packages("shinypayload")

# Install development version from GitHub
remotes::install_github("PawanRamaMali/shinypayload")

# For local development
devtools::load_all()

Basic Example

library(shiny)
library(shinypayload)

# Your regular UI - no changes needed!
base_ui <- fluidPage(
  titlePanel("🚀 shinypayload Demo"),
  
  fluidRow(
    column(6,
      h4("📊 Live Data"),
      verbatimTextOutput("live_data")
    ),
    column(6,
      h4("🔗 URL Parameters"),
      verbatimTextOutput("url_params")
    )
  ),
  
  hr(),
  h4("📡 POST Endpoint"),
  verbatimTextOutput("endpoint_info")
)

# Wrap your UI to handle POST requests
ui <- payload_ui(
  base_ui,
  path = "/api/data",
  token = Sys.getenv("API_TOKEN", "demo-token")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  # Get URL parameters
  output$url_params <- renderPrint({
    params <- params_get(session)
    if (length(params) > 0) params else "No URL parameters"
  })
  
  # Show endpoint URL
  output$endpoint_info <- renderText({
    url <- payload_endpoint_url(session, "/api/data")
    paste("Send POST requests to:", url, "?token=demo-token")
  })
  
  # React to incoming POST data
  live_data <- payload_last("/api/data", session, intervalMillis = 200)
  
  output$live_data <- renderPrint({
    data <- live_data()
    if (is.null(data)) {
      "Waiting for data... 📡"
    } else {
      list(
        timestamp = data$meta$timestamp,
        payload = data$payload,
        source = data$meta$remote_addr
      )
    }
  })
}

# IMPORTANT: Use uiPattern = ".*" for POST routing
shinyApp(ui, server, uiPattern = ".*")

Send Data to Your App

# Send JSON data
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3838/api/data?token=demo-token" \\
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
  -d '{"sensor": "temperature", "value": 23.5, "unit": "celsius"}'

# Send form data  
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3838/api/data?token=demo-token" \\
  -d "name=sensor01&status=active&reading=42"

# Response: {"ok": true}

📖 Documentation

Core Functions

Function	Purpose	Example
`payload_ui()`	Wrap UI to handle POST requests	`payload_ui(my_ui, "/api", "token")`
`payload_last()`	Get reactive with latest POST data	`data <- payload_last("/api", session)`
`params_get()`	Extract URL query parameters	`params <- params_get(session)`
`payload_endpoint_url()`	Get full endpoint URL	`url <- payload_endpoint_url(session, "/api")`

Authentication Methods

# Query parameter (recommended)
POST /api/data?token=your-secret-token

# HTTP Headers
POST /api/data
X-Ingress-Token: your-secret-token
# OR
Authorization: your-secret-token

Supported Content Types

application/json - Parsed with jsonlite::fromJSON()
application/x-www-form-urlencoded - Parsed with shiny::parseQueryString()
Fallback: Attempts JSON parsing, returns raw text if failed

💡 Use Cases

📊 Real-time Dashboards

IoT sensor data streaming
Live monitoring systems
Real-time analytics

🤖 API Integration

Webhook receivers
External service integration
Microservice communication

📱 Mobile/Web Apps

React/Vue.js → Shiny data flow
Progressive web apps
Cross-platform integration

🔄 ETL Pipelines

Data ingestion endpoints
Batch processing triggers
Workflow automation

📂 Complete Examples

Explore our comprehensive examples in inst/examples/:

basic_example.R - Core functionality demo
real_time_monitor.R - Live data monitoring
form_handler.R - Form submission processing
existing_app_integration.R - Add to existing apps

Each example includes ready-to-run code and curl commands for testing.

🛡️ Security Best Practices

Always use tokens in production

ui <- payload_ui(base_ui, "/api", Sys.getenv("API_SECRET"))

Validate and sanitize input data

observeEvent(payload_last("/api", session), {
  data <- payload_last("/api", session)()
  if (!is.null(data)) {
    # Validate required fields
    if (is.null(data$payload$user_id)) return()
    # Sanitize inputs before use
    clean_data <- DBI::dbQuoteString(pool, data$payload$message)
  }
})

Use HTTPS in production
Implement rate limiting if needed
Monitor and log API usage

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Multiple Endpoints

# Handle different data types on different paths
ui <- payload_ui(base_ui, "/sensors", "sensor-token")

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  # Different reactives for different endpoints
  sensor_data <- payload_last("/sensors", session)
  user_data <- payload_last("/users", session)
  
  # Process accordingly...
}

Custom Polling Intervals

# High-frequency updates (100ms)
fast_data <- payload_last("/live", session, intervalMillis = 100)

# Low-frequency updates (5 seconds) 
slow_data <- payload_last("/batch", session, intervalMillis = 5000)

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details.

Development Setup

# Clone and install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/PawanRamaMali/shinypayload.git
cd shinypayload

# Install in development mode
devtools::load_all()

# Run tests
devtools::test()

# Check package
devtools::check()

📊 Package Status

✅ 132 tests with comprehensive coverage
✅ Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)
✅ Multiple R versions supported (R ≥ 4.1)
✅ CRAN ready - passes all checks
✅ Production tested - used in real applications

📋 Requirements

R ≥ 4.1
shiny ≥ 1.7.4
jsonlite (any version)

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built on the amazing Shiny framework
Inspired by the need for seamless data integration in web applications
Thanks to the R community for feedback and contributions

📞 Support

📖 Documentation: Package website
🐛 Bug reports: GitHub Issues
💬 Questions: GitHub Issues
📧 Email: prm@outlook.in

Made with ❤️ for the R and Shiny community

⭐ Star this repo • 🍴 Fork it • 📢 Share it