daattali / shinyfilebrowser

📁 Simple file browser and list selector for Shiny apps

shinyfilebrowser

Fully functional, but the documentation is a work in progress

There are three modules in this package. All use the same interface but have slightly different use cases:

1. file_browser is for browsing a file system
2. path_browser is for browsing an arbitrary set of path
3. list_selector is to select an item from a list.

Screenshot of file browser

Screenshot of list selector

Example 1: file browser from the current working directory, the user cannot navigate above the working directory.

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Current path:",
  textOutput("cur_wd", inline = TRUE), br(),
  "Selected file:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  file_browser_ui("files")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  filebrowser <- file_browser_server("files")
  output$cur_wd <- renderText({
    filebrowser$path()
  })
  output$selected <- renderText({
    filebrowser$selected()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 2: file browser starting at the user's home but allowing the user to navigate anywhere in the file system.

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Current path:",
  textOutput("cur_wd", inline = TRUE), br(),
  "Selected file:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  file_browser_ui("files")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  filebrowser <- file_browser_server("files", path = "~", root = NULL)
  output$cur_wd <- renderText({
    filebrowser$path()
  })
  output$selected <- renderText({
    filebrowser$selected()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 3: list selector used to select an item from a list

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

names <- c("Bob", "Mary", "Dean", "John", "Julie")

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Selected:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  list_selector_ui("names")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  listsel <- list_selector_server("names", choices = names)
  output$selected <- renderText({
    listsel()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 4: path browser used to select an item from a "tree"

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

paths <- c(
  "vehicles/planes/boeing/747",
  "vehicles/planes/boeing/737",
  "vehicles/planes/airbus/A320",
  "vehicles/planes/airbus/A380",
  "vehicles/cars/honda/civic",
  "vehicles/cars/mazda/mazda 3",
  "vehicles/cars/mazda/mazda cx5",
  "vehicles/cars/toy car",
  "vehicles/train",
  "vehicles/bicycle",
  "countries/france",
  "countries/spain",
  "countries/usa/new york",
  "countries/usa/california",
  "fruits",
  "drinks"
)

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Current path:",
  textOutput("cur_wd", inline = TRUE), br(),
  "Selected:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  path_browser_ui("paths")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  pathbrowser <- path_browser_server("paths", paths = paths)
  output$cur_wd <- renderText({
    pathbrowser$path()
  })
  output$selected <- renderText({
    pathbrowser$selected()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 5: using different paramters - most of them can be reactive

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Current path:",
  textOutput("cur_wd", inline = TRUE), br(),
  "Selected file:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  checkboxGroupInput(
    "options", NULL, inline = TRUE,
    c("Show path" = "show_path", "Show extensions" = "show_extension", "Show file size" = "show_size",
      "Show icons" = "show_icons", "Include hidden files" = "include_hidden", "Include empty files" = "include_empty", "Clear selection when navigating" = "clear_selection_on_navigate"
    ),
    c("show_path", "show_extension", "show_size", "show_icons", "include_hidden", "include_empty", "clear_selection_on_navigate")
  ),
  selectInput("extensions", "Extensions", c("Any file" = "", "csv", "R", "xlsx", "md"), multiple = TRUE),
  textInput("text_parent", "Parent directory text", ".."),
  textInput("text_empty", "Empty directory text", "No files here"),
  file_browser_ui("files")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  filebrowser <- file_browser_server(
    "files",
    path = "~",
    root = "~",
    extensions = reactive(input$extensions),
    show_path = reactive("show_path" %in% input$options),
    show_extension = reactive("show_extension" %in% input$options),
    show_size = reactive("show_size" %in% input$options),
    show_icons = reactive("show_icons" %in% input$options),
    include_hidden = reactive("include_hidden" %in% input$options),
    include_empty = reactive("include_empty" %in% input$options),
    text_parent = reactive(input$text_parent),
    text_empty = reactive(input$text_empty),
    clear_selection_on_navigate = reactive("clear_selection_on_navigate" %in% input$options)
  )
  output$cur_wd <- renderText({
    filebrowser$path()
  })
  output$selected <- renderText({
    filebrowser$selected()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 6: using a named list (providing a named list will use the names as what the use sees and the values as the return value. It also forces the list to be flat and you cannot navigate beyond the top level.)

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

nums <- c("Number One" = "one", "Number Two" = "two", "three")

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Selected:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  list_selector_ui("nums")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  nums <- list_selector_server("nums", choices = nums)
  output$selected <- renderText({
    nums()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Example 7: list selector with HTML

library(shiny)
library(shinyfilebrowser)

names <- c(
  "<div style='color:red'>bobby</div>" = "Bob",
  "<em>Mary</em>" = "Mary",
  "<img src='https://deanattali.com/assets/img/deanimg.jpeg' width=50/> Dean" = "Dean",
  "John", "Julie")

ui <- fluidPage(
  "Selected:",
  textOutput("selected", inline = TRUE), br(),
  list_selector_ui("names")
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  listsel <- list_selector_server("names", choices = names, html = TRUE)
  output$selected <- renderText({
    listsel()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

shinyfilebrowser's Issues

Documentation

add support for row height

Cannot choose any other hard drive than C:

Basically it. The "back" button does not go further back, clicking on C: also does not do anything.

add support for width

add support for show_path parameter

add support for hiding icons

Add directory selector

So I have tried to make a directory selector by switching extensions to "", which did hide all the files, however when opening each directory it still takes a long time to load because it still checks all the files in that directory.
I propose that you add an additional switch in the options panel, e.g. file_browser_server("files", path = "~", directory_view = TRUE) and have it applied in R/utils-get-files-dirs.R:

get_files_dirs_real <- function(path, extensions = NULL, hidden = FALSE, root = NULL) {
if (directory_view == TRUE){
all_files <- list.dirs(path = path, all.files = hidden, full.names = TRUE, recursive = FALSE, no.. = TRUE)
} else {
  all_files <- list.files(path = path, all.files = hidden, full.names = TRUE, recursive = FALSE, no.. = TRUE)
}}

Sorry, I am not used to using github yet to suggest/push the right way.

Sometimes the parent directory shows up even when I'm already at the root

Add support for returning a different value than what is shown to the user