Importing img instead of SVG

Question

I recently went through a tutorial on building a menu that I wanted to use for a site I'm putting together. The functionality seems to be working but the issue I'm having is with the 'leftIcon' for the 'My Profile' section. I believe the 'leftIcon' is only meant to take a *.svg file and was wondering how I would go about seeing the imported {avatar} .jpg as the left icon.

I have attached a copy of the files below and really appreciate any input on the matter.

App.js

import "./index.css";
import { ReactComponent as BellIcon } from "./icons/bell.svg";
import { ReactComponent as MessengerIcon } from "./icons/messenger.svg";
import { ReactComponent as PlusIcon } from "./icons/plus.svg";
import { ReactComponent as CogIcon } from "./icons/cog.svg";
import { ReactComponent as ChevronIcon } from "./icons/chevron.svg";
import { ReactComponent as ArrowIcon } from "./icons/arrow.svg";
import { ReactComponent as BoltIcon } from "./icons/bolt.svg";
import { ReactComponent as MenuIcon } from "./icons/menu.svg";
import avatar from "./assets/userAvatar.jpg";

import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef } from "react";
import { CSSTransition } from "react-transition-group";

function App() {
  return (
    <Navbar>
      <NavItem icon={<PlusIcon />} />
      <NavItem icon={<BellIcon />} />
      <NavItem icon={<MessengerIcon />} />

      <NavItem icon={<MenuIcon />}>
        <DropdownMenu></DropdownMenu>
      </NavItem>
    </Navbar>
  );
}

function Navbar(props) {
  return (
    <nav className="navbar">
      <ul className="navbar-nav">{props.children}</ul>
    </nav>
  );
}

function NavItem(props) {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);

  return (
    <li className="nav-item">
      <a href="#" className="icon-button" onClick={() => setOpen(!open)}>
        {props.icon}
      </a>

      {open && props.children}
    </li>
  );
}

function DropdownMenu() {
  const [activeMenu, setActiveMenu] = useState("main");
  const [menuHeight, setMenuHeight] = useState(null);
  const dropdownRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    setMenuHeight(dropdownRef.current?.firstChild.offsetHeight);
  }, []);

  function calcHeight(el) {
    const height = el.offsetHeight;
    setMenuHeight(height);
  }

  function DropdownItem(props) {
    return (
      <a
        href="#"
        className="menu-item"
        onClick={() => props.goToMenu && setActiveMenu(props.goToMenu)}
      >
        <span className="icon-button">{props.leftIcon}</span>
        {props.children}
        <span className="icon-right">{props.rightIcon}</span>
      </a>
    );
  }

  return (
    <div className="dropdown" style={{ height: menuHeight }} ref={dropdownRef}>
      <CSSTransition
        in={activeMenu === "main"}
        timeout={500}
        classNames="menu-primary"
        unmountOnExit
        onEnter={calcHeight}
      >
        <div className="menu">
          <DropdownItem leftIcon={avatar}>My Profile</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem
            leftIcon={<CogIcon />}
            rightIcon={<ChevronIcon />}
            goToMenu="settings"
          >
            Settings
          </DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem
            leftIcon="🦧"
            rightIcon={<ChevronIcon />}
            goToMenu="animals"
          >
            Animals
          </DropdownItem>
        </div>
      </CSSTransition>

      <CSSTransition
        in={activeMenu === "settings"}
        timeout={500}
        classNames="menu-secondary"
        unmountOnExit
        onEnter={calcHeight}
      >
        <div className="menu">
          <DropdownItem goToMenu="main" leftIcon={<ArrowIcon />}>
            <h2>My Tutorial</h2>
          </DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon={<BoltIcon />}>HTML</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon={<BoltIcon />}>CSS</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon={<BoltIcon />}>JavaScript</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon={<BoltIcon />}>Awesome!</DropdownItem>
        </div>
      </CSSTransition>

      <CSSTransition
        in={activeMenu === "animals"}
        timeout={500}
        classNames="menu-secondary"
        unmountOnExit
        onEnter={calcHeight}
      >
        <div className="menu">
          <DropdownItem goToMenu="main" leftIcon={<ArrowIcon />}>
            <h2>Animals</h2>
          </DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon="🦘">Kangaroo</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon="🐸">Frog</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon="🦋">Horse?</DropdownItem>
          <DropdownItem leftIcon="🦔">Hedgehog</DropdownItem>
        </div>
      </CSSTransition>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

index.css

body {
  margin: 0;
  background: #151616;
  font-family: roboto;
  -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
  -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}

code {
  font-family: source-code-pro, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, "Courier New",
    monospace;
}

:root {
  --bg: #242526;
  --bg-accent: #484a4d;
  --text-color: #dadce1;
  --nav-size: 60px;
  --border: 1px solid #474a4d;
  --border-radius: 8px;
  --speed: 500ms;
}

ul {
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

a {
  color: var(--text-color);
  text-decoration: none;
}

/* Top Navigation Bar */

/* <nav> */
.navbar {
  height: var(--nav-size);
  background-color: var(--bg);
  padding: 0 1rem;
  border-bottom: var(--border);
}

/* <ul> */
.navbar-nav {
  max-width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: flex-start;
}

/* <li> */
.nav-item {
  width: calc(var(--nav-size) * 0.8);
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
}

/* Icon Button */
.icon-button {
  --button-size: calc(var(--nav-size) * 0.5);
  width: var(--button-size);
  height: var(--button-size);
  background-color: #484a4d;
  border-radius: 50%;
  padding: 5px;
  margin: 2px;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  transition: filter 300ms;
}

.icon-button:hover {
  filter: brightness(1.2);
}

.icon-button svg {
  fill: var(--text-color);
  width: 20px;
  height: 20px;
}

/* Dropdown Menu */

.dropdown {
  position: absolute;
  top: 58px;
  width: 300px;
  transform: translateX(45%);
  background-color: var(--bg);
  border: var(--border);
  border-radius: var(--border-radius);
  padding: 1rem;
  overflow: hidden;
  transition: height var(--speed) ease;
}

.menu {
  width: 100%;
}

.menu-item {
  height: 50px;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  border-radius: var(--border-radius);
  transition: background var(--speed);
  padding: 0.5rem;
}

.menu-item .icon-button {
  margin-right: 0.5rem;
}

.menu-item .icon-button:hover {
  filter: none;
}

.menu-item:hover {
  background-color: #525357;
}

.icon-right {
  margin-left: auto;
}

/* CSSTransition classes  */
.menu-primary-enter {
  position: absolute;
  transform: translateX(-110%);
}
.menu-primary-enter-active {
  transform: translateX(0%);
  transition: all var(--speed) ease;
}
.menu-primary-exit {
  position: absolute;
}
.menu-primary-exit-active {
  transform: translateX(-110%);
  transition: all var(--speed) ease;
}

.menu-secondary-enter {
  transform: translateX(110%);
}
.menu-secondary-enter-active {
  transform: translateX(0%);
  transition: all var(--speed) ease;
}
.menu-secondary-exit {
}
.menu-secondary-exit-active {
  transform: translateX(110%);
  transition: all var(--speed) ease;
}

Answer 1

Pass it as a component instead of a string:

import avatar from "./icons/avatar.jpg";
const avatarComp = (<img src={avatar} alt="avatar" height="100%" width="100%" />);



<DropdownItem leftIcon={avatarComp}>My Profile</DropdownItem>

OR

const Func =(function () {
  return (<img src={avatar} alt="avatar" height="100%" width="100%" />);
});
const avatarComp = (<Func/>);

<DropdownItem leftIcon={avatarComp}>My Profile</DropdownItem>

Here is sandbox link: https://codesandbox.io/s/suspicious-glade-zjtq6