Package Review --- `AustraliaCOVID19`

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Overview of the package — `AustraliaCOVID19`

The package written by Yiwen Liu is called AustraliaCOVID19.

User can install the released version of AustraliaCOVID19 from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("etc5523-2020/r-package-assessment-yliu0320")

What does the package do

The goal of AustraliaCOVID19 is to see the coronavirus data of daily cases and cumulative cases of different types in different states of Australia between 2020-01-12 to 2020-10-02. Besides,the shiny app in this package will give people the whole information about the data with the interactive plots and table.

Possible improvements

1. pkgdown website

The package does have a pkgdown website and pass the pkgdown check in Action tab, but author forgets to set the GitHub Pages setting to correct source. Anyway, I create the pkgdown website by myself. The website is clear and gives some example of how to use the Shiny App. The possible improvements could be don’t forget to change the GitHub setting next time 😄.

2. documentation and README.md

They are all clear and readable. The possible improvement could be enriching them in the future by adding more details.

3. refactor

Refactor functions are simple but effective, which are good. The possible improvement could be that Yiwen can try to refactor some more complicated functions in the future.

4. `test_that` function

There is only on unit test. I hope there should be more in the future.

test_that("check the date range", {
  expect_error(dateselection(starttime>endtime))
  
})

5. Shiny app

All plots within the Shiny app are interactive and functional. And the Shiny has clear UI and understandable plots. The possible improvement could be adding more tabs in the Shiny app, in order to make the whole Shiny app page fit to user’s screen.

What I learned from reviewing the package

It is funny to review other’s package. I understand it’s not enough to just ensure the package passing all the test. I also realise the importance of documentation. Good documentation can promote the package, teach users how to use the package, and inspire others while poor documentation will confuse users.

Package Review

Please check off boxes as applicable, and elaborate in comments below.

Documentation

The package includes all the following forms of documentation:

Installation instructions: for the package is found in README
Vignette(s) demonstrating major functionality that runs successfully locally
Function Documentation: for all exported functions in R help
Examples for all exported functions in R Help that run successfully locally

Functionality

Installation: Installation succeeds as documented.
Functionality: Any functional claims of the software been confirmed.
Automated tests: Unit tests cover essential functions of the package and a reasonable range of inputs and conditions. All tests pass on the local machine.

Shiny App -- Covid-19 Viewer

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Introduce `Covid-19 view`

This App is used to monitor global covid-19 cases and deaths, and it can compare the covid-19 cases in different countries.

There are four tabs: Map, Table, Graphs, and `About.

Map: This tab has two leaflet maps. The first one shows the global cumulative_cases. The second one shows the global cumulative_deaths. Because the dataset contains huge amount of values, the leaflet maps take much time to run. So, please be patient.
Table: This tab shows the latest covid-19 new_cases, cumulative_cases, new_deaths, and cumulative_deaths of selected countries. User can select multiple countries to compare them.
Graphs: There are one column plot and one line plot in this tab. The column plot help user compare the latest cumulative_cases and cumulative_deaths of selected countries. The line plot tells user the new_cases and new_deaths of selected countries. With these two plots, user can understand how successful selected countries control the coronavirus pandemic.
About: This tab has short introduction about Covid-19 viewer and its creator. It also contains the Acknowledgments and References sections.

You can download this App from Github.

This screenshot is an overview of Covid-19 Viewer.

Self Review

What did I do well

First, this is my first time to do shiny, I did a lot of self study and complete it without any bugs.

Second, it spends me 3 nights to deal with leaflet output for shiny app. During the process, I have trouble to create circle markers within leaflet maps. Thanks Stuart for helping me solve this problem!

What are the points I can improve on?

Loading my leaflet map in the first tab is time-consuming. Every time a user change the slide bar, it would take at least 10 seconds to show the results.

After completion of my About tab, I know a better way to write texts/paragraphs in shiny.

What are some things that I’d like to add that’s plausible?

First, I want to make the line plot in Graph tab animated. The animated plot would look more entertaining.

Second, I want to make users be able to upload csv file in a tab called “Upload file”; after uploading the csv file, the App will draw maps and plots based on the latest dataset. This function can release the app maintainer from updating the covid-19 dataset every day.

What are some things that I’d like to add that cannot be done yet due to limitation in data or technology?

In my plan, the leaflet map will look like the plot below, this plot is from WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. But after several-days tries, I still could not figure it out.

I also plan to make it available for users to upload csv files by themselves. But after two days, I still cannot solve it.

Shiny | Yuheng's Blog