Configure the user interface

You can build several user interfaces into the resulting Docker image. This is controlled with various configuration files.

JupyterLab

You do not need any extra configuration in order to allow the use of the JupyterLab interface. You can launch JupyterLab from within a user session by opening the Jupyter Notebook and appending /lab to the end of the URL like so:

http(s)://<server:port>/lab

To switch back to the classic notebook, add /tree to the URL like so:

http(s)://<server:port>/tree

For example, the following Binder URL will open the pyTudes repository and begin a JupyterLab session in the ipynb folder:

https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/norvig/pytudes/HEAD?urlpath=lab/tree/ipynb

The /tree/ipynb above is how JupyterLab directs you to a specific file or folder.

To learn more about URLs in JupyterLab and Jupyter Notebook, visit starting JupyterLab.

nteract

nteract is a notebook interface built with React. It is similar to a more feature-filled version of the traditional Jupyter Notebook interface.

nteract comes pre-installed in any session that has been built from a Python repository.

You can launch nteract from within a user session by replacing /tree with /nteract at the end of a notebook server’s URL like so:

http(s)://<server:port>/nteract

For example, the following Binder URL will open the pyTudes repository and begin an nteract session in the ipynb folder:

https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/norvig/pytudes/HEAD?urlpath=nteract/tree/ipynb

The /tree/ipynb above is how nteract directs you to a specific file or folder.

To learn more about nteract, visit the nteract website.

RStudio

The RStudio user interface is automatically enabled if a configuration file for R is detected (i.e. an R version specified in runtime.txt). If this is detected, RStudio will be accessible by appending /rstudio to the URL, like so:

http(s)://<server:port>/rstudio

For example, the following Binder link will open an RStudio session in the R demo repository.

http://mybinder.org/v2/gh/binder-examples/r/HEAD?urlpath=rstudio

Shiny

Shiny lets you create interactive visualizaions with R. Shiny is automatically enabled if a configuration file for R is detected (i.e. an R version specified in runtime.txt). If this is detected, Shiny will be accessible by appending /shiny/<folder-w-shiny-files> to the URL, like so:

http(s)://<server:port>/shiny/bus-dashboard

This assumes that a folder called bus-dashboard exists in the root of the repository, and that it contains all of the files needed to run a Shiny app.

For example, the following Binder link will open a Shiny session in the R demo repository.

http://mybinder.org/v2/gh/binder-examples/r/HEAD?urlpath=shiny/bus-dashboard/

Stencila

Note

Stencila support has been removed due to changes in stencila making it incompatible. Please get in touch if you would like to help restore stencila support.