Shiny open multiple browser tabs - r

Question

In my Shiny app I want to open several URL's with a short delay between opening.
Here is some example code that works just fine when I run the app in my RStudio.
library(shiny)
URLs <- c("http://www.google.com", "http://www.stackoverflow.com")
ui <- fluidPage(
actionButton(
"click",
"Click here to open several browser tabs"
)
)
server <- function(input, output){
observeEvent(input$click, {
for (i in URLs){
browseURL(i)
Sys.sleep(1) #Short delay of 1 second
}
})
}
shinyApp(ui, server)
However, when I run this app on shinyapps.io, browseURL() doesn't work (as mentioned here).
Does anyone know how to open multiple browser tabs with a short delay between opening them, so that it also works when the app is deployed on shinyapps.io?
Would it be possible with R code or is JavaScript necessary?

Answer 1

This is a pretty old question, but answering in case others stumble upon while searching.
As mentioned in the reference you linked, I think you need to use some JS to accomplish this task. Below is an example of using the shinyjs package to define a shiny compatible browseURL function. Once we have the function defined we add a few lines to the ui and then call it in the server as js$browseURL().
Note that a pop-up blocker might block the effects of opening multiple tabs. Check your blocker settings if things don't seem to work.
library(shiny)
library(shinyjs)
# define js function for opening urls in new tab/window
js_code <- "
shinyjs.browseURL = function(url) {
window.open(url,'_blank');
}
"
URLs <- c("http://www.google.com", "http://www.stackoverflow.com")
ui <- fluidPage(
# set up shiny js to be able to call our browseURL function
useShinyjs(),
extendShinyjs(text = js_code, functions = 'browseURL'),
actionButton(
"click",
"Click here to open several browser tabs"
)
)
server <- function(input, output){
observeEvent(input$click, {
for (i in URLs){
js$browseURL(i)
Sys.sleep(1) #Short delay of 1 second
}
})
}
shinyApp(ui, server)