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@pfalcon pfalcon commented Jun 8, 2025

The idea is similar to e.g. Python's dict.get() method, which can take an optional default if a given key doesn't exist in the dict.

This change would allow to users to "bootstrap" otherwise circular dependencies in simple cases. For example, it allows to turn this code:

from shiny.express import input, render, ui

@render.express
def myrender():
    ui.input_select("sel", None, ["All", "So", "Much"], selected="All")
    input.sel()

which doesn't render anything nor produces errors (underneath it throws SilentException which isn't reported) into following code:

from shiny.express import input, render, ui

@render.express
def myrender():
    ui.input_select("sel", None, ["All", "So", "Much"], selected=input.sel.get("All"))
    input.sel.get("All")

which works as expected (initial selected value is "All", and if user chooses another, it's preserved across myrender() run).

The idea is similar to e.g. Python's dict.get() method, which can take an
optional default if a given key doesn't exist in the dict.

This change would allow to users to "bootstrap" otherwise circular
dependencies in simple cases. For example, it allows to turn this
code:

```
from shiny.express import input, render, ui

@render.express
def myrender():
    ui.input_select("sel", None, ["All", "So", "Much"], selected="All")
    input.sel()
```

which doesn't render anything nor produces errors (underneath it throws
SilentException which isn't reported) into following code:

```
from shiny.express import input, render, ui

@render.express
def myrender():
    ui.input_select("sel", None, ["All", "So", "Much"], selected=input.sel.get("All"))
    input.sel.get("All")
```

which works as expected (initial selected value is "All", and if user
chooses another, it's preserved across myrender() run).
@cpsievert
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Thanks for the PR, @pfalcon! There's a bit more nuance to fully address this feature, so I'll be taking it over to #2100

@cpsievert cpsievert closed this Oct 16, 2025
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2 participants