server.R

library(ggiraph)
library(maps)


shinyServer(function(input, output, session) {

  selected_car <- reactive({
    if( is.null(input$plot_selected)){
      character(0)
    } else input$plot_selected
  })

  output$plot_ <- renderggiraph({
    data <- mtcars
    data$label <- gsub(pattern = "'", " ", row.names(data) )
    data$onclick <- paste0("set_search_val(`", data$label, "`);")
    p <- ggplot(aes(x=wt, y=mpg, tooltip = label, data_id = label, onclick = onclick ),data=data) +
      geom_point_interactive(size = 3) + theme_minimal()

    ggiraph(code = print(p),width = .5,
            hover_css = "fill:red;cursor:pointer;",
            selection_type = "none",
            selected_css = "fill:red;")
  })

  output$dt_ <- DT::renderDataTable({
    mtcars
  })
})

set_search_val.js

// https://plainjs.com/javascript/events/trigger-an-event-11/
function triggerEvent(el, type){
   if ('createEvent' in document) {
        // modern browsers, IE9+
        var e = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
        e.initEvent(type, false, true);
        el.dispatchEvent(e);
    } else {
        // IE 8
        var e = document.createEventObject();
        e.eventType = type;
        el.fireEvent('on'+e.eventType, e);
    }
}

function set_search_val( value ) {
  var el = document.querySelector('#DataTables_Table_0_filter > label > input[type="search"]');
  el.value = value;
  triggerEvent(el, 'keyup');
}

ui.R

library(ggiraph)
library(htmltools)
shinyUI(fluidPage(
  sidebarLayout(

    sidebarPanel(
      includeScript(path = "set_search_val.js"),
      textInput("title", label = "Title"),
      div(id = "log")
    ),

    mainPanel(
      ggiraphOutput("plot_"),
      DT::dataTableOutput("dt_")
    )
  )
))

This is great! One question though - having included it in my Shiny Dashboard, it works well until other filters on the page are used, after which the link set by the javascript function seems to be broken. Any idea how to fix this?

Cheers,
Elliot