Display only months in dateRangeInput or dateInput for a shiny app [R programming]

Question

I am using shiny for creating a web app. One of my plots uses only months of a particular year to generate the points in the plot.

I want the users to select only th

Answer 1

@MartinJohnHadley: Basically by adding the same three lines @StevenMortimer added to dateInput's code to dateRangeInput. This adds the minViewMode to shinys dateRangeInput.

1. Find the code at https://github.com/rstudio/shiny/blob/master/R/input-daterange.R
2. add default argument minviewmode="months"
3. add data-date-min-view-mode = minviewmode to both divs
4. Add missing arguments (search in github archive of shiny)
5. Enjoy your custom dateRange input :-)

Best regards, sandro

Code:

dateRangeMonthsInput <- function(inputId, label, start = NULL, end = NULL,
                            min = NULL, max = NULL, format = "yyyy-mm-dd", startview = "month",
                            minviewmode="months", # added manually
                            weekstart = 0, language = "en", separator = " to ", width = NULL) {

   # If start and end are date objects, convert to a string with yyyy-mm-dd format
   # Same for min and max
   if (inherits(start, "Date"))  start <- format(start, "%Y-%m-%d")
   if (inherits(end,   "Date"))  end   <- format(end,   "%Y-%m-%d")
   if (inherits(min,   "Date"))  min   <- format(min,   "%Y-%m-%d")
   if (inherits(max,   "Date"))  max   <- format(max,   "%Y-%m-%d")

   htmltools::attachDependencies(
     div(id = inputId,
         class = "shiny-date-range-input form-group shiny-input-container",
         style = if (!is.null(width)) paste0("width: ", validateCssUnit(width), ";"),

         controlLabel(inputId, label),
         # input-daterange class is needed for dropdown behavior
         div(class = "input-daterange input-group",
             tags$input(
               class = "input-sm form-control",
               type = "text",
               `data-date-language` = language,
               `data-date-weekstart` = weekstart,
               `data-date-format` = format,
               `data-date-start-view` = startview,
               `data-date-min-view-mode` = minviewmode, # added manually
               `data-min-date` = min,
               `data-max-date` = max,
               `data-initial-date` = start
             ),
             span(class = "input-group-addon", separator),
             tags$input(
               class = "input-sm form-control",
               type = "text",
               `data-date-language` = language,
               `data-date-weekstart` = weekstart,
               `data-date-format` = format,
               `data-date-start-view` = startview,
               `data-date-min-view-mode` = minviewmode, # added manually
               `data-min-date` = min,
               `data-max-date` = max,
               `data-initial-date` = end
             )
         )
     ),
     datePickerDependency
   )
 }

 `%AND%` <- function(x, y) {
   if (!is.null(x) && !is.na(x))
     if (!is.null(y) && !is.na(y))
       return(y)
   return(NULL)
 }

 controlLabel <- function(controlName, label) {
   label %AND% tags$label(class = "control-label", `for` = controlName, label)
 }

 # the datePickerDependency is taken from https://github.com/rstudio/shiny/blob/master/R/input-date.R
 datePickerDependency <- htmltools::htmlDependency(
 "bootstrap-datepicker", "1.6.4", c(href = "shared/datepicker"),
 script = "js/bootstrap-datepicker.min.js",
 stylesheet = "css/bootstrap-datepicker3.min.css",
 # Need to enable noConflict mode. See #1346.
 head = "<script>
 (function() {
 var datepicker = $.fn.datepicker.noConflict();
 $.fn.bsDatepicker = datepicker;
 })();
 </script>")

Answer 2

I don't believe dateInput has implemented the bootstrap minViewMode option as a function argument, so I added it in my own copy of the function (see below). I had to add some of the other required functions. This is not great. The best option would probably be to submit a request to RStudio since it seems straightforward to add this minviewmode option.

mydateInput <- function(inputId, label, value = NULL, min = NULL, max = NULL,
                      format = "yyyy-mm-dd", startview = "month", weekstart = 0, language = "en", minviewmode="months",
                      width = NULL) {

  # If value is a date object, convert it to a string with yyyy-mm-dd format
  # Same for min and max
  if (inherits(value, "Date"))  value <- format(value, "%Y-%m-%d")
  if (inherits(min,   "Date"))  min   <- format(min,   "%Y-%m-%d")
  if (inherits(max,   "Date"))  max   <- format(max,   "%Y-%m-%d")

  htmltools::attachDependencies(
    tags$div(id = inputId,
             class = "shiny-date-input form-group shiny-input-container",
             style = if (!is.null(width)) paste0("width: ", validateCssUnit(width), ";"),

             controlLabel(inputId, label),
             tags$input(type = "text",
                        # datepicker class necessary for dropdown to display correctly
                        class = "form-control datepicker",
                        `data-date-language` = language,
                        `data-date-weekstart` = weekstart,
                        `data-date-format` = format,
                        `data-date-start-view` = startview,
                        `data-date-min-view-mode` = minviewmode,
                        `data-min-date` = min,
                        `data-max-date` = max,
                        `data-initial-date` = value
             )
    ),
    datePickerDependency
  )
}

`%AND%` <- function(x, y) {
  if (!is.null(x) && !is.na(x))
    if (!is.null(y) && !is.na(y))
      return(y)
  return(NULL)
}

controlLabel <- function(controlName, label) {
  label %AND% tags$label(class = "control-label", `for` = controlName, label)
}

datePickerDependency <- htmlDependency(
  "bootstrap-datepicker", "1.0.2", c(href = "shared/datepicker"),
  script = "js/bootstrap-datepicker.min.js",
  stylesheet = "css/datepicker.css")

Answer 3

To whom wants to use the codes in the previous answer: you need to use the updated datePickerDependecy (which can be taken from https://github.com/rstudio/shiny/blob/master/R/input-date.R).

Currently it is:

datePickerDependency <- htmlDependency(
"bootstrap-datepicker", "1.6.4", c(href = "shared/datepicker"),
script = "js/bootstrap-datepicker.min.js",
stylesheet = "css/bootstrap-datepicker3.min.css",
# Need to enable noConflict mode. See #1346.
head = "<script>
(function() {
var datepicker = $.fn.datepicker.noConflict();
$.fn.bsDatepicker = datepicker;
})();
</script>")

I post this remark as an answer due to not enough reputation :(

Answer 4

Here is a another method (with less code redundancy and hopefully simpler), contributed by a colleague. Instead of copying the shiny::dateInput function code, it is possible to add the min/max-view-mode part to the Shiny object afterwards. Then the old parameter 'startview' and the new 'minview'/'maxview' can be used as expected:

dateInput2 <- function(inputId, label, minview = "days", maxview = "decades", ...) {
  d <- shiny::dateInput(inputId, label, ...)
  d$children[[2L]]$attribs[["data-date-min-view-mode"]] <- minview
  d$children[[2L]]$attribs[["data-date-max-view-mode"]] <- maxview
  d
}

dateRangeInput2 <- function(inputId, label, minview = "days", maxview = "decades", ...) {
  d <- shiny::dateRangeInput(inputId, label, ...)
  d$children[[2L]]$children[[1]]$attribs[["data-date-min-view-mode"]] <- minview
  d$children[[2L]]$children[[3]]$attribs[["data-date-min-view-mode"]] <- minview
  d$children[[2L]]$children[[1]]$attribs[["data-date-max-view-mode"]] <- maxview
  d$children[[2L]]$children[[3]]$attribs[["data-date-max-view-mode"]] <- maxview
  d
}

And here is a minimal Shiny example:

library(shiny)
shinyApp(
  ui = fluidPage(
    dateInput2("test1", "Year", startview = "year", minview = "months", maxview = "decades"),
    dateRangeInput2("test2", "Years", startview = "year", minview = "months", maxview = "decades")
  ),
  server = function(input, output, session) {}
)

Update:

To address darKnight's question below, I extended the example and introduced a parameter for setting also the maximum selectable time resolution. For a complete list of possible parameters, please refer to:

https://bootstrap-datepicker.readthedocs.io/en/latest/options.html