shinysurveyjs

The goal of this package is to integrate the flexible frontend of the SurveyJS library with the reactive backend of Shiny to interface with a PostgreSQL database and create dynamic user experiences. Whether you need a simple feedback form or a complex survey system for your organization, this package is designed to scale with you.

Basic Features

• Host a single survey or multiple surveys in one app

• Store and manage survey data in a PostgreSQL database, including metadata such as the duration to completion, date created and updated, Shiny session ID, and IP address

• Design surveys and create JSON objects with a user-friendly visual editor

• Save survey progress as cookies and resume later

• Change the primary theme color and select from dark and light themes

Advanced Features

• Dynamically populate choices (i.e., response options) from a database table and create dependent inputs (e.g., select a car brand and filter available models)

• Dynamically stage JSON objects in the database to modify surveys using a staging table

• URL query tokens and one-time access tokens for secure survey distribution

• Asynchronous worker to handle database updates without interrupting the survey, including app logging, updating staged JSON objects, and managing tokens

Installation

# Install from GitHub
pak::pkg_install("dylanpieper/shinysurveyjs")

Basic Usage

Single Survey

Read the survey from a json object to host a single survey. Data is stored in a PostgreSQL database table hosted on Supabase.

library(shinysurveyjs)

survey <- '{
  "title": "R Package Feedback",
  "pages": [
    {
      "name": "userInfo",
      "elements": [
        {
          "type": "rating",
          "name": "rating",
          "title": "Please rate the shinysurveyjs 📦:",
          "rateValues": [
            {"value": 1, "text": "⭐"},
            {"value": 2, "text": "⭐⭐"},
            {"value": 3, "text": "⭐⭐⭐"},
            {"value": 4, "text": "⭐⭐⭐⭐"},
            {"value": 5, "text": "⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"}
          ],
          "rateMax": 5,
          "isRequired": true
        },
        {
          "type": "comment",
          "name": "feedback",
          "visibleIf": "{rating} notempty",
          "title": "Why did you rate it {rating} stars?",
          "rows": 2
        },
        {
          "type": "html",
          "name": "lowRatingMessage",
          "visibleIf": "{rating} <= 2",
          "html": "I am sorry you had a poor experience. Please reach me at <b>[email protected]</b> so I can help improve your experience."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}'

survey_single(
  json = survey,
  show_response = TRUE,
  theme_color = "#00AD6E",
  theme_mode = "dark",
  shiny_config = list(
    host = "0.0.0.0",
    port = 3838
  ),
  db_config = list(
    host = Sys.getenv("HOST"), # aws-0-us-east-2.pooler.supabase.com
    port = as.numeric(Sys.getenv("PORT")), # 5432
    db_name = Sys.getenv("DB_NAME"), # postgres
    user = Sys.getenv("USER"), # username
    password = Sys.getenv("PASSWORD"), # password
    write_table = Sys.getenv("WRITE_TABLE"), # survey_package_feedback
    log_table = Sys.getenv("LOG_TABLE") # survey_app_logs
  ),
  cookie_expiration_days = 7
)

By default, the database configuration looks for environmental variables (e.g., Sys.getenv("PASSWORD")) that can be loaded from an .env or .yaml file or a secrets manager. Using encrypted secrets is recommended for production environments.