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Using `sortable` with `shiny` modules

Source: vignettes/shiny_modules.Rmd
shiny_modules.Rmd

Summary

If you use sortable with shiny modules, opt into a fix by adding this line of code to your app:

enable_modules(TRUE)  # or simply enable_modules()

Introduction

Modules provide a way to create reusable components shiny applications. When working with modules, using the correct namespace of input and output IDs is crucial.

Due to an early design decision, the sortable package (versions <= 0.5.0) did not fully support shiny modules.

This vignette explains how to use sortable with shiny modules and the changes that were made to support this functionality.

Understanding the module namespace issue

In shiny modules, element IDs are automatically namespaced using a prefix followed by a dash. For example, if you create a module with ID mymodule and an input with ID myinput, shiny will create an ID like mymodule-myinput.

Initially, the sortable package used ID formats that were incompatible with this namespace approach. The IDs were created as rank-list-{id} or bucket-list-{id}, which placed the key part at the beginning of the ID.

Enabling and disabling shiny modules support

The sortable package provides functions to control whether module support is enabled:

To check if module support is currently enabled:

To enable module support:

enable_modules(TRUE)  # or simply enable_modules()

When module support is enabled, the ID format changes: - as_rank_list_id("myid") will return "myid-rank-list" (instead of "rank-list-myid") - as_bucket_list_id("myid") will return "myid-bucket-list" (instead of "bucket-list-myid")

This change puts the key part at the end, making it compatible with the shiny module namespace system.

To disable module support (reverting to <= 0.5.0 behavior):

Backward Compatibility

The fix was designed to be backward compatible:

  1. By default, module mode is disabled (sortable_env$modules = FALSE)
  2. Users must explicitly opt-in by calling enable_modules()
  3. Existing code that doesn’t use modules continues to work without changes

This approach ensures that existing applications won’t break, while providing a path forward for applications that need module support.