How do i include input widgets under menuSubItem in shiny dashboard sidebar? - r

Question

How is it possible to include a control widget under the menuSubItem in the sidebar of a shiny app?
This is my trial:
library(shiny)
library(shinyWidgets)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
### Header -----
dashboardHeader(title = "Example App"),
### Sidebar -----
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenu(
menuItem(
text = "A",
tabName = "analytics",
icon = icon("signal"),
startExpanded = TRUE,
menuSubItem(text = "a",
icon = NULL,
pickerInput(
inputId = "Id086",
label = "Placeholder",
choices = c("a", "b", "c", "d"),
options = list(
title = "This is a placeholder")
)
),
menuSubItem(text = "b",
icon = NULL)
)
)
),
dashboardBody(
)
)
## Server-function -----
server <- function(input, output) {
}
# Run the application
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)
However, the desired input does not appear within the app. I managed it to include the input widget under any of the menu items but i failed to make it appear under menuSubItems.

Answer 1

menuSubItems are intended to navigate tabItems in the body - that is why they can't have child elements.
You can use nested menuItems to place additional inputs in the sidebar (please see the below example) which "behave" differently when childfull / childless.
When a menuItem is childfull it accepts the parameters expandedName and startExpanded.
When a menuItem is childless it accepts the parameters tabName and selected.
A menuSubItem is always childless.
library(shiny)
library(shinyWidgets)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Example App"),
dashboardSidebar(sidebarMenu(
menuItem(
text = "A",
# tabName = "analytics", # childfull menuItems ignore the tabName parameter they use expandedName instead
icon = icon("signal"),
startExpanded = TRUE,
menuItem(
text = "a",
menuSubItem(
text = "a1",
tabName = "tab_a1",
icon = NULL
),
pickerInput(
inputId = "Id086",
label = "Placeholder",
choices = c("a", "b", "c", "d"),
options = list(title = "This is a placeholder")
),
icon = NULL,
startExpanded = TRUE
),
menuSubItem(
text = "b",
tabName = "tab_b",
icon = NULL
)
)
)),
dashboardBody(tabItems(
tabItem(tabName = "tab_a1",
h2("tab_a1 content")),
tabItem(tabName = "tab_b",
h2("tab_b content"))
))
)
server <- function(input, output) {
}
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)
Here you can find a related question.
However, personally I'd recommend using shinydashboardPlus's right sidebar for inputs and use the left sidebar only for navigation.