How can I get a button in Shiny to call both JavaScript and R code in parallel?

Question

I have an HTML button in Shiny that when clicked, calls the JavaScript function geocodeAddressStreet(...) in a .js file in the /www directory:

tags$body(tags$input(type = "button", 
                     value = "Next", 
                     id = "button1", 
                     onClick = "geocodeAddressStreet(houseNumber,streetName,addressCity,addressState)"))),

However I cannot figure out how to get this button to call a second file when clicked, let's say foo.R. Both procedures run independently, but it seems like there's no way to add an inputId to an HTML element in Shiny. We currently have two different buttons, one of which calls R code and the other of which calls JavaScript code, but this is clearly an impractical solution.

In server.r can't you just set up an observe() that will call the script when the button is clicked? — John Paul
– John Paul, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 17:24
Don't you need an inputId though? This button just has a standard HTML ID as far as I can tell. — Brandon Sherman
– Brandon Sherman, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 17:35
What's wrong with the standard actionButton shiny function? — nicola
– nicola, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 17:36
We couldn't get it to call the JavaScript code we needed, which is in a different file. — Brandon Sherman
– Brandon Sherman, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 17:37
actionButton("name","This is a Button",onClick="geoCodeAddressStreet") — Mark
– Mark, Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 16:01

DeanAttali · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-10 19:03:41Z

7

So you want to have a button and when you click it, both a javascript function and some R code get called? I was able to do this with the onclick function from the shinyjs package (disclaimer: I wrote the package)

library(shinyjs)

jsCode <- "
shinyjs.geocodeAddr = function(params) {
  alert('JavaScript called!');
  // geocodeAddressStreet(...)
}
"

runApp(shinyApp(
  ui = fluidPage(
    useShinyjs(),
    extendShinyjs(text = jsCode),
    actionButton("btn", "Click me")
  ),
  server = function(input, output, session) {
    onclick("btn", {
      js$geocodeAddr()
      cat("R called as well")
    })
  }
))

Basically, the onclick function is an R function that will run when the button is clicked. Within it you can obviously call R code easily, but you can also call JS code using the shinyjs package -- that's how I made a call to js$geocodeAddr. Look at the extendShinyjs function. Alternatively, instead of using extendShinyjs(), you can also use the usual approach of session$sendCustomMessage(...)

answered Jul 10, 2015 at 19:03

DeanAttali

26.5k10 gold badges104 silver badges122 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Brandon Sherman Over a year ago

Thanks! I'm about to try this. How can I do this while keeping the JavaScript in a separate file though? Like instead of jsCode <- "(javaScript code)", so jsCode <- load(blah.js)

DeanAttali Over a year ago

extendShinyjs(script = "path/to/js") instead of the text parameter. Hence my suggestion "Look at the extendShinyjs function -- read its documentation, it'll take 5 minutes, but might make your life easier :)(hopefully)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How can I get a button in Shiny to call both JavaScript and R code in parallel?

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related