sMCDA Tool

sMCDA Tool is a Shiny application for spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (sMCDA). It supports:

• Weighted Sum
• ELECTRE-TRI (Outranking)
• deterministic and uncertain inputs (SMAA-style uncertainty handling)
• export to images, CSV, XLSX, and ESRI shapefiles

Project Layout

The app is now organized in a golem-compatible structure while preserving legacy logic.

• R/run_app.R: main entrypoint
• R/app_ui.R: UI wrapper
• R/app_server.R: server wrapper
• R/legacy_loader.R: loader for legacy app definitions
• inst/app/legacy_definitions.R: legacy ui and server
• inst/app/global.R: legacy global setup and utility functions

Requirements

• R 4.5.x (the lockfile was generated with R 4.5.1)
• internet connection for first restore/install
• enough disk space for the local renv library

OS Setup

Windows (10/11)

1. Install R 4.5.x from CRAN.
2. Install Rtools45 (needed if source compilation is required).
3. Most CRAN binaries should avoid manual system setup for sf/terra.

macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)

1. Install R 4.5.x.
2. Install Command Line Tools:

xcode-select --install

3. If source compilation is needed (especially for geospatial packages):

brew install gdal geos proj udunits

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential gfortran \
  libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev \
  libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libpng-dev libtiff5-dev libjpeg-dev \
  libharfbuzz-dev libfribidi-dev \
  libudunits2-dev libgdal-dev libgeos-dev libproj-dev

Linux (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS Stream)

sudo dnf install -y \
  gcc gcc-c++ gcc-gfortran make \
  libcurl-devel openssl-devel libxml2-devel \
  fontconfig-devel freetype-devel libpng-devel libtiff-devel libjpeg-turbo-devel \
  harfbuzz-devel fribidi-devel \
  udunits2-devel gdal-devel geos-devel proj-devel

Recommended Installation with renv

1. Clone the repository and open R/RStudio in the project root.
2. Activate and restore dependencies:

source("renv/activate.R")
renv::restore(prompt = FALSE)

3. Verify environment consistency:

renv::status()

If everything is correct, renv::status() should report no issues.

Run the App

Option A (recommended, simple bootstrap)

source("app.R")
run_app()

Option B (direct golem entrypoint)

source("R/legacy_loader.R")
source("R/app_ui.R")
source("R/app_server.R")
source("R/run_app.R")
run_app()

Option C (install local package)

install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_local(".")
sMCDATool::run_app()

Option D (legacy app-dir run)

shiny::runApp("inst/app")

renv Workflow in This Project

What renv controls

• renv.lock stores exact package versions.
• The project uses an isolated local library (not your global user library).
• Every collaborator should restore from renv.lock for reproducibility.

Core commands

Restore from lockfile:

renv::restore(prompt = FALSE)

Check lockfile/library consistency:

renv::status()

Update dependencies and record them:

renv::update()
renv::snapshot(prompt = FALSE)

Rebuild a problematic package:

renv::rebuild("sf")

Clean unused packages:

renv::clean()

Team workflow

1. Run renv::restore() after each git pull.
2. Develop normally.
3. If you intentionally change dependency versions, run renv::snapshot().
4. Commit renv.lock (and renv/ files if they changed).

Troubleshooting

CRAN download/network errors

Typical symptom: errors reaching cloud.r-project.org.

• check proxy/firewall settings
• retry on a different network
• configure a company-approved CRAN mirror if required

sf / terra / units installation errors

Usually caused by missing system libraries. Install OS prerequisites above, then run:

renv::restore(prompt = FALSE)

Warning: "package was built under R version ..."

Usually non-blocking if the app starts correctly. For full alignment, use the same R minor version as the team and re-run renv::restore().

webshot / PhantomJS

Map export uses webshot. If needed:

webshot::install_phantomjs()

Root Files (Why They Exist)

• .gitignore: required to avoid committing temporary/local files.
• .Rbuildignore: recommended for R package builds to exclude non-package artifacts.

CI/CD: Deploy to shinyapps.io

This repository includes a workflow:

• .github/workflows/deploy-shinyapps.yaml

It deploys inst/app to shinyapps.io on:

• successful completion of R-CMD-check on main / master
• manual trigger (workflow_dispatch)

This means deploy is gated: if checks fail, deployment does not run.

Required GitHub repository secrets:

• SHINYAPPS_NAME (your shinyapps.io account name, e.g. mspada)
• SHINYAPPS_TOKEN
• SHINYAPPS_SECRET

You can create token/secret from shinyapps.io account settings (Tokens).

License

This project is licensed under GNU GPL v2. See LICENSE.