How do I add an image to shinydashboard menuItem()s? - r

Question

In essence, I would like to replace the icon in each menuItem() in a shinydashboard with an image. More specifically, I just need each menuItem() to have an image then text next to it.
Here's some moderately successful attempts I have tried (commented in code below);
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Dashboard MenuItems"),
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenu(
id = "tabs",
menuItem(
"Dashboard",
tabName = "dashboard",
## creates a drop down w/ no image
# label = img(src = "logo.png",
# title = "logo", height = "35pt")
## creates a drop down with the images
# `tag$` isn't needed
# tags$img(src = "logo.png",
# title = "logo", height = "35pt")
),
menuItem(
"Not Dashboard",
tabname = "not_dashboard"
)
) # end sidebarMenu
), # end dashboardSidebar
dashboardBody(
fluidRow(
box(
title = "stuff goes here",
width = 12
)
)
) # end dashboardBody
)
server <- function(input, output, session) {
message("You can do it!")
}
shinyApp(ui, server)
I successfully used action buttons with background images to simulate the behavior, but I would prefer to find a solution using menuItem()s, if possible.
I was hoping there would be a similar method to add the image to the background of the menuItem() or concatenate the image with the text within the menuItem().
I am not good with shiny tags. I don't really know much about HTML/CSS/JS or Bootstrap, most of the time I can find a solution here and hack my way to what I want, but this one has eluded me.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can keep your images in the www folder and use a div to wrap the image along with the text as shown below.
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Dashboard MenuItems"),
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenu(
id = "tabs",
menuItem( div(tags$img(src = "YBS.png", width="20px"), "Dashboard2"),
tabName = "dashboard" # , icon=icon("b_icon")
),
menuItem(
div(tags$img(src = "mouse.png", width="35px"),"Not Dashboard"),
tabname = "not_dashboard" #, icon=icon("home")
)
) # end sidebarMenu
), # end dashboardSidebar
dashboardBody(
fluidRow(
box(
title = "stuff goes here",
width = 12
)
)
) # end dashboardBody
)
server <- function(input, output, session) {
message("You can do it!")
}
shinyApp(ui, server)