Periodically switch tab in shinydashboard - r

Question

In a shinydashboard with several tabs like here
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Sample Shiny"),
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenu(
menuItem("Tab 1", tabName = "tab1"),
menuItem("Tab 2", tabName = "tab2")
)
),
dashboardBody(
tabItems(
tabItem(
"tab1",
fluidRow(
box(title = "Foo")
)
),
tabItem(
"tab2",
fluidRow(
box(title = "Bar")
)
)
)
)
)
server <- function(input, output) { }
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)
is it possible to let the application switch the active tab periodically? I want to have the dashboard on my screen with switching the active tab every x minutes.
I already checked the Shiny docs for a solution but haven't found an appropriate function. But maybe I simply overlooked such a feature. If Shiny does not offer a suitable feature, is it possible to include some custom JavaScript that does the job?

Answer 1

Here's a way to do it, using invalidateLater and updateTabItems:
app.R:
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Sample Shiny"),
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenu(
id = 'tabs',
menuItem("Tab 1", tabName = "tab1"),
menuItem("Tab 2", tabName = "tab2")
)
),
dashboardBody(
tabItems(
tabItem(
"tab1",
fluidRow(
box(title = "Foo")
)
),
tabItem(
"tab2",
fluidRow(
box(title = "Bar")
)
)
)
)
)
tabnames = c('tab1', 'tab2')
server <- function(input, output, session) {
#keep track of active tab
active <- reactiveValues(tab = 1)
observe({
#Change every 5 secs, you can set this to whatever you want
invalidateLater(5000,session)
#update tab
isolate(active$tab <- active$tab%%length(tabnames) + 1)
updateTabItems(session,'tabs',tabnames[active$tab])
})
}
shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)