How do I pass datetime as a parameter in Opencpu?

Question

I have created a function Input in R to plot graph against the date parameters Date1 and Date2. The function runs successfully in R and gives desired output. Next I try to execute the same on OpenCPU by providing the URL with the curl command and function parameters. At this point, the instruction fails with error.

I am trying to pass parameters like this:

curl http://localhost:5656/ocpu/library/InputParam/R/Input -d '{"Date1": "2018-04-25 05:45:00" & "Date2": "2018-05-27 21:45:00 AM"}'

error : unused argument (`'{Date1:` = NA)
In call:
Input(`'{Date1:` = NA)
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
'"Date2":' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

This is the function code:

Input <- function (Date1,Date2){

library('dplyr')

library('lubridate')

test <- data[data$ShiftStartTime >= Date1 & data$ShiftEndTime <= Date2,]


library('plotly')
p <- plot_ly(test, x = ~test$Equip, y = ~test$DTDuration, name = test$Description) %>%
    add_trace(y = ~test$DTDuration, name = test$Description) %>%
    layout(yaxis = list(title = 'DTDuration'), barmode = 'stack')

p

}

library('opencpu')
ocpu_start_server()`

Something like this:

curl https://cloud.opencpu.org/ocpu/tmp/x0468b7ab/graphics/last/png
curl https://cloud.opencpu.org/ocpu/tmp/x0468b7ab/graphics/1/png?width=1000
curl https://cloud.opencpu.org/ocpu/tmp/x0468b7ab/graphics/last/svg
curl https://cloud.opencpu.org/ocpu/tmp/x0468b7ab/graphics/last/pdf?width=8`

Answer 1

You need to coerce the string to a date in your R function using 2018-04-25 05:45:00 like this:

input <- function (Date1,Date2){
  Date1 <- as.POSIXct(Date1)
  Date2 <- as.POSIXct(Date2)
  test <- data[data$ShiftStartTime >= Date1 & data$ShiftEndTime <= Date2,]
  ...

And then just pass the date as a string in the http request.

Also don't use library() in the function but instead declare those packages as dependencies in your package DESCRIPTION file.