Create a Custom Question with a Shiny Widget

This function creates a custom survey question that incorporates any Shiny widget and captures its interaction value. It allows for the integration of interactive visualizations (e.g., maps, plots) or other custom Shiny outputs into a survey, storing the result of user interaction as survey data.

Usage

sd_question_custom(id, label, output, value, height = "400px")

Arguments

id

Character string. A unique identifier for the question.

label

Character string. The label text for the question, which can include HTML formatting.

output

Shiny UI element. The output of a Shiny widget (e.g., leafletOutput(), plotlyOutput()).

value

Reactive expression that returns the value to be stored in the survey data when the user interacts with the widget.

height

Character string. The height of the widget output. Defaults to "400px".

Value

None (called for side effects)

Details

The function creates a custom question container that includes:

• A visible widget output that users can interact with

• A hidden text input that stores the value from the interaction

• Automatic tracking of user interaction for progress monitoring

The value to be stored is controlled by the reactive expression provided to the value parameter, which should update whenever the user interacts with the widget in the desired way.

See also

sd_question() for standard question types

Examples

if (interactive()) {
  library(surveydown)
  library(leaflet)

  server <- function(input, output, session) {
    # Create map output
    output$usa_map <- renderLeaflet({
      leaflet() |>
        addTiles() |>
        setView(lng = -98.5795, lat = 39.8283, zoom = 4)
    })

    # Reactive value for selected location
    selected_location <- reactiveVal(NULL)

    # Click observer
    observeEvent(input$usa_map_click, {
      click <- input$usa_map_click
      if (!is.null(click)) {
        selected_location(
          sprintf("Lat: %0.2f, Lng: %0.2f", click$lat, click$lng)
        )
      }
    })

    # Create the custom question
    sd_question_custom(
      id = "location",
      label = "Click on your location:",
      output = leafletOutput("usa_map", height = "400px"),
      value = selected_location
    )

    sd_server()
  }

  shinyApp(ui = sd_ui(), server = server)
}