R Shinydashboard dynamic menuItem - r

Question

I'm trying to generate multiple menuItems dynamically, may be simple, but I'm not getting the right idea.
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
port_tables<-c("tab1","tab2","tab3","tab4") # These are from a DB connection in the original code
function(input, output) {
output$smenu1 <- renderMenu({
sidebarMenu( id = "tabs",
h4("Tables",style="color:yellow;margin-left:20px;"),
paste("menuItem(\"",port_tables,"\",tabName=\"",port_tables,"\",icon=icon('th'))",collapse=",")
)
})
)
The menuItems from the paste function doesn't resolve( I get the result of paste function on the sidebar). I tried eval, eval(parse(paste(...))), both didn't work - what am I missing?

Answer 1

I couldn't quite make out what you're asking for, but here's an example of something with a dynamic menu.
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
ui <- dashboardPage(
dashboardHeader(title = "Dynamic Menu"),
dashboardSidebar(
sidebarMenuOutput(outputId = "dy_menu")
),
dashboardBody(
tabItems(
tabItem(tabName = "main",
textInput(inputId = "new_menu_name",
label = "New Menu Name"),
actionButton(inputId = "add",
label = "Add Menu")
)
)
)
)
server <- function(input, output, session){
output$dy_menu <- renderMenu({
menu_list <- list(
menuItem("Add Menu Items", tabName = "main", selected = TRUE),
menu_vals$menu_list)
sidebarMenu(.list = menu_list)
})
menu_vals = reactiveValues(menu_list = NULL)
observeEvent(eventExpr = input$add,
handlerExpr = {
menu_vals$menu_list[[length(menu_vals$menu_list) + 1]] <- menuItem(input$new_menu_name,
tabName = input$new_menu_name)
})
}
shinyApp(ui, server)

Answer 2

I changed the code as follows and it worked :
library(shiny)
library(shinydashboard)
port_tables<-c("tab1","tab2","tab3","tab4") # These are from a DB connection in the original code
text1<-paste("menuItem(\"",port_tables,"\",tabName=\"",port_tables,"\",icon=icon('th'))")
text2<-paste("sidebarMenu(id = 'tabs',textInput('port', 'Enter port:'),h4('Tables',style='color:yellow;margin-left:20px;'),",paste(text1,collapse=","),paste(")"))
function(input, output) {
output$smenu1 <- renderMenu({
eval(parse(text=text2))
})
)
So, the key is put the whole content of sidebarMenu in a text field and evaluate it