ChoiceType Field (select drop-downs, radio buttons & checkboxes)

choices

type: array default: []

This is the most basic way to specify the choices that should be used by this field. The choices option is an array, where the array key is the item's label and the array value is the item's value:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('inStock', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'In Stock' => true,
        'Out of Stock' => false,
    ],
]);

If there are choice values that are not scalar or the stringified representation is not unique Symfony will use incrementing integers as values. When the form gets submitted the correct values with the correct types will be assigned to the model.

choice_attr

type: array, callable, string or PropertyPath default: []

Use this to add additional HTML attributes to each choice. This can be an associative array where the keys match the choice keys and the values are the attributes for each choice, a callable or a property path (just like choice_label).

If an array, the keys of the choices array must be used as keys:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('fruits', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'Apple' => 1,
        'Banana' => 2,
        'Durian' => 3,
    ],
    'choice_attr' => [
        'Apple' => ['data-color' => 'Red'],
        'Banana' => ['data-color' => 'Yellow'],
        'Durian' => ['data-color' => 'Green'],
    ],
]);

// or use a callable
$builder->add('attending', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'Yes' => true,
        'No' => false,
        'Maybe' => null,
    ],
    'choice_attr' => function ($choice, $key, $value) {
        // adds a class like attending_yes, attending_no, etc
        return ['class' => 'attending_'.strtolower($key)];
    },
]);

choice_label

type: string, callable, false or PropertyPath default: null

By default, the array key of each item in the choices option is used as the text that's shown to the user. The choice_label option allows you to take more control:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('attending', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'yes' => true,
        'no' => false,
        'maybe' => null,
    ],
    'choice_label' => function ($choice, $key, $value) {
        if (true === $choice) {
            return 'Definitely!';
        }

        return strtoupper($key);

        // or if you want to translate some key
        //return 'form.choice.'.$key;
    },
]);

This method is called for each choice, passing you the $choice and $key from the choices array (additional $value is related to choice_value). This will give you:

If your choice values are objects, then choice_label can also be a property path. Imagine you have some Status class with a getDisplayName() method:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('attending', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        new Status(Status::YES),
        new Status(Status::NO),
        new Status(Status::MAYBE),
    ],
    'choice_label' => 'displayName',
]);

If set to false, all the tag labels will be discarded for radio or checkbox inputs. You can also return false from the callable to discard certain labels.

choice_loader

type: ChoiceLoaderInterface

The choice_loader can be used to only partially load the choices in cases where a fully-loaded list is not necessary. This is only needed in advanced cases and would replace the choices option.

You can use an instance of CallbackChoiceLoader if you want to take advantage of lazy loading:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\Loader\CallbackChoiceLoader;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('constants', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choice_loader' => new CallbackChoiceLoader(function () {
        return StaticClass::getConstants();
    }),
]);

This will cause the call of StaticClass::getConstants() to not happen if the request is redirected and if there is no pre set or submitted data. Otherwise the choice options would need to be resolved thus triggering the callback.

choice_name

type: callable, string or PropertyPath default: null

Controls the internal field name of the choice. You normally don't care about this, but in some advanced cases, you might. For example, this "name" becomes the index of the choice views in the template and is used as part of the field name attribute.

This can be a callable or a property path. See choice_label for similar usage. By default, the choice key or an incrementing integer may be used (starting at 0).

choice_translation_domain

type: string, boolean or null default: true

This option determines if the choice values should be translated and in which translation domain.

The values of the choice_translation_domain option can be true (reuse the current translation domain), false (disable translation), null (uses the parent translation domain or the default domain) or a string which represents the exact translation domain to use.

choice_value

type: callable, string or PropertyPath default: null

Returns the string "value" for each choice, which must be unique across all choices. This is used in the value attribute in HTML and submitted in the POST/PUT requests. You don't normally need to worry about this, but it might be handy when processing an API request (since you can configure the value that will be sent in the API request).

This can be a callable or a property path. By default, the choices are used if they can be casted to strings. Otherwise an incrementing integer is used (starting at 0).

If you pass a callable, it will receive one argument: the choice itself. When using the EntityType Field, the argument will be the entity object for each choice or null in a placeholder is used, which you need to handle:

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'choice_value' => function (?MyOptionEntity $entity) {
    return $entity ? $entity->getId() : '';
},

expanded

type: boolean default: false

If set to true, radio buttons or checkboxes will be rendered (depending on the multiple value). If false, a select element will be rendered.

group_by

type: string, callable or PropertyPath default: null

You can group the <option> elements of a <select> into <optgroup> by passing a multi-dimensional array to choices. See the Grouping Options section about that.

The group_by option is an alternative way to group choices, which gives you a bit more flexibility.

Take the following example:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('publishAt', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'now' => new \DateTime('now'),
        'tomorrow' => new \DateTime('+1 day'),
        '1 week' => new \DateTime('+1 week'),
        '1 month' => new \DateTime('+1 month'),
    ],
    'group_by' => function($choice, $key, $value) {
        if ($choice <= new \DateTime('+3 days')) {
            return 'Soon';
        }

        return 'Later';
    },
]);

This groups the dates that are within 3 days into "Soon" and everything else into a "Later" <optgroup>:

If you return null, the option won't be grouped. You can also pass a string "property path" that will be called to get the group. See the choice_label for details about using a property path.

multiple

type: boolean default: false

If true, the user will be able to select multiple options (as opposed to choosing just one option). Depending on the value of the expanded option, this will render either a select tag or checkboxes if true and a select tag or radio buttons if false. The returned value will be an array.

placeholder

type: string or boolean

This option determines whether or not a special "empty" option (e.g. "Choose an option") will appear at the top of a select widget. This option only applies if the multiple option is set to false.

• Add an empty value with "Choose an option" as the text:

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  use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
  // ...
  
  $builder->add('states', ChoiceType::class, [
      'placeholder' => 'Choose an option',
  ]);

• Guarantee that no "empty" value option is displayed:

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  use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
  // ...
  
  $builder->add('states', ChoiceType::class, [
      'placeholder' => false,
  ]);

If you leave the placeholder option unset, then a blank (with no text) option will automatically be added if and only if the required option is false:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

// a blank (with no text) option will be added
$builder->add('states', ChoiceType::class, [
    'required' => false,
]);

preferred_choices

type: array, callable, string or PropertyPath default: []

This option allows you to display certain choices at the top of your list with a visual separator between them and the complete list of options. If you have a form of languages, you can list the most popular on top, like Bork and Pirate:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('language', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'English' => 'en',
        'Spanish' => 'es',
        'Bork' => 'muppets',
        'Pirate' => 'arr',
    ],
    'preferred_choices' => ['muppets', 'arr'],
]);

This options can also be a callback function to give you more flexibility. This might be especially useful if your values are objects:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
// ...

$builder->add('publishAt', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'now' => new \DateTime('now'),
        'tomorrow' => new \DateTime('+1 day'),
        '1 week' => new \DateTime('+1 week'),
        '1 month' => new \DateTime('+1 month'),
    ],
    'preferred_choices' => function ($choice, $key, $value) {
        // prefer options within 3 days
        return $choice <= new \DateTime('+3 days');
    },
]);

This will "prefer" the "now" and "tomorrow" choices only:

Finally, if your values are objects, you can also specify a property path string on the object that will return true or false.

The preferred choices are only meaningful when rendering a select element (i.e. expanded false). The preferred choices and normal choices are separated visually by a set of dotted lines (i.e. -------------------). This can be customized when rendering the field:

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{{ form_widget(form.publishAt, { 'separator': '=====' }) }}

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<?= $view['form']->widget($form['publishAt'], [
    'separator' => '=====',
]) ?>

compound

type: boolean default: same value as expanded option

This option specifies if a form is compound. The value is by default overridden by the value of the expanded option.

empty_data

type: mixed

The actual default value of this option depends on other field options:

• If multiple is false and expanded is false, then '' (empty string);
• Otherwise [] (empty array).

This option determines what value the field will return when the submitted value is empty (or missing). It does not set an initial value if none is provided when the form is rendered in a view.

This means it helps you handling form submission with blank fields. For example, if you want the name field to be explicitly set to John Doe when no value is selected, you can do it like this:

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$builder->add('name', null, [
    'required'   => false,
    'empty_data' => 'John Doe',
]);

This will still render an empty text box, but upon submission the John Doe value will be set. Use the data or placeholder options to show this initial value in the rendered form.

If a form is compound, you can set empty_data as an array, object or closure. See the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article for more details about these options.

error_bubbling

type: boolean default: false

Set that error on this field must be attached to the field instead of the parent field (the form in most cases).

trim

type: boolean default: false

Trimming is disabled by default because the selected value or values must match the given choice values exactly (and they could contain whitespaces).

attr

type: array default: []

If you want to add extra attributes to an HTML field representation you can use the attr option. It's an associative array with HTML attributes as keys. This can be useful when you need to set a custom class for some widget:

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$builder->add('body', TextareaType::class, [
    'attr' => ['class' => 'tinymce'],
]);

by_reference

type: boolean default: true

In most cases, if you have an author field, then you expect setAuthor() to be called on the underlying object. In some cases, however, setAuthor() may not be called. Setting by_reference to false ensures that the setter is called in all cases.

To explain this further, here's a simple example:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\EmailType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\FormType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\TextType;
// ...

$builder = $this->createFormBuilder($article);
$builder
    ->add('title', TextType::class)
    ->add(
        $builder->create('author', FormType::class, ['by_reference' => ?])
            ->add('name', TextType::class)
            ->add('email', EmailType::class)
    )

If by_reference is true, the following takes place behind the scenes when you call submit() (or handleRequest()) on the form:

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$article->setTitle('...');
$article->getAuthor()->setName('...');
$article->getAuthor()->setEmail('...');

Notice that setAuthor() is not called. The author is modified by reference.

If you set by_reference to false, submitting looks like this:

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$article->setTitle('...');
$author = clone $article->getAuthor();
$author->setName('...');
$author->setEmail('...');
$article->setAuthor($author);

So, all that by_reference=false really does is that it clones the object, which enforces the framework to call the setter on the parent object.

Similarly, if you're using the CollectionType field where your underlying collection data is an object (like with Doctrine's ArrayCollection), then by_reference must be set to false if you need the adder and remover (e.g. addAuthor() and removeAuthor()) to be called.

data

type: mixed default: Defaults to field of the underlying structure.

When you create a form, each field initially displays the value of the corresponding property of the form's domain data (e.g. if you bind an object to the form). If you want to override this initial value for the form or an individual field, you can set it in the data option:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\HiddenType;
// ...

$builder->add('token', HiddenType::class, [
    'data' => 'abcdef',
]);

disabled

type: boolean default: false

If you don't want a user to modify the value of a field, you can set the disabled option to true. Any submitted value will be ignored.

error_mapping

type: array default: []

This option allows you to modify the target of a validation error.

Imagine you have a custom method named matchingCityAndZipCode() that validates whether the city and zip code match. Unfortunately, there is no matchingCityAndZipCode field in your form, so all that Symfony can do is display the error on top of the form.

With customized error mapping, you can do better: map the error to the city field so that it displays above it:

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public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults([
        'error_mapping' => [
            'matchingCityAndZipCode' => 'city',
        ],
    ]);
}

Here are the rules for the left and the right side of the mapping:

• The left side contains property paths;
• If the violation is generated on a property or method of a class, its path is the propertyName;
• If the violation is generated on an entry of an array or ArrayAccess object, the property path is [indexName];
• You can construct nested property paths by concatenating them, separating properties by dots. For example: addresses[work].matchingCityAndZipCode;
• The right side contains the names of fields in the form.

By default, errors for any property that is not mapped will bubble up to the parent form. You can use the dot (.) on the left side to map errors of all unmapped properties to a particular field. For instance, to map all these errors to the city field, use:

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$resolver->setDefaults([
    'error_mapping' => [
        '.' => 'city',
    ],
]);

help

type: string default: null

Allows you to define a help message for the form field, which by default is rendered below the field:

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$builder->add('zipCode', null, [
    'help' => 'The ZIP/Postal code for your credit card\'s billing address.',
]);

help_attr

type: array default: []

Sets the HTML attributes for the element used to display the help message of the form field. Its value is an associative array with HTML attribute names as keys. These attributes can also be set in the template:

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{{ form_help(form.name, 'Your name', {
    'help_attr': {'class': 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS'}
}) }}

help_html

type: boolean default: false

By default, the contents of the help option are escaped before rendering them in the template. Set this option to true to not escape them, which is useful when the help contains HTML elements.

inherit_data

type: boolean default: false

This option determines if the form will inherit data from its parent form. This can be useful if you have a set of fields that are duplicated across multiple forms. See How to Reduce Code Duplication with "inherit_data".

label

type: string default: The label is "guessed" from the field name

Sets the label that will be used when rendering the field. Setting to false will suppress the label. The label can also be directly set inside the template:

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{{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name') }}

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echo $view['form']->label(
    $form['name'],
    'Your name'
);

label_attr

type: array default: []

Sets the HTML attributes for the <label> element, which will be used when rendering the label for the field. It's an associative array with HTML attribute as a key. This attributes can also be directly set inside the template:

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{{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name', {
    'label_attr': {'class': 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS'}
}) }}

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echo $view['form']->label(
    $form['name'],
    'Your name',
    ['label_attr' => ['class' => 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS']]
);

label_format

type: string default: null

Configures the string used as the label of the field, in case the label option was not set. This is useful when using keyword translation messages.

If you're using keyword translation messages as labels, you often end up having multiple keyword messages for the same label (e.g. profile_address_street, invoice_address_street). This is because the label is built for each "path" to a field. To avoid duplicated keyword messages, you can configure the label format to a static value, like:

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// ...
$profileFormBuilder->add('address', AddressType::class, [
    'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);

$invoiceFormBuilder->add('invoice', AddressType::class, [
    'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);

This option is inherited by the child types. With the code above, the label of the street field of both forms will use the form.address.street keyword message.

Two variables are available in the label format:

%id%

A unique identifier for the field, consisting of the complete path to the field and the field name (e.g. profile_address_street);

%name%

The field name (e.g. street).

The default value (null) results in a "humanized" version of the field name.

mapped

type: boolean default: true

If you wish the field to be ignored when reading or writing to the object, you can set the mapped option to false.

required

type: boolean default: true

If true, an HTML5 required attribute will be rendered. The corresponding label will also render with a required class.

This is superficial and independent of validation. At best, if you let Symfony guess your field type, then the value of this option will be guessed from your validation information.

row_attr

type: array default: []

An associative array of the HTML attributes added to the element which is used to render the form type row:

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$builder->add('body', TextareaType::class, [
    'row_attr' => ['class' => 'text-editor', 'id' => '...'],
]);

translation_domain

type: string default: messages

In case choice_translation_domain is set to true or null, this configures the exact translation domain that will be used for any labels or options that are rendered for this field.

label_translation_parameters

type: array default: []

The content of the label option is translated before displaying it, so it can contain translation placeholders. This option defines the values used to replace those placeholders.

Given this translation message:

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# translations/messages.en.yaml
form.order.id: 'Identifier of the order to %company%'

You can specify the placeholder values as follows:

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$builder->add('id', null, [
    'label' => 'form.order.id',
    'label_translation_parameters' => [
        '%company%' => 'ACME Inc.',
    ],
]);

The label_translation_parameters option of children fields is merged with the same option of their parents, so children can reuse and/or override any of the parent placeholders.

attr_translation_parameters

type: array default: []

The content of the title and placeholder values defined in the attr option is translated before displaying it, so it can contain translation placeholders. This option defines the values used to replace those placeholders.

Given this translation message:

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# translations/messages.en.yaml
form.order.id.placeholder: 'Enter unique identifier of the order to %company%'
form.order.id.title: 'This will be the reference in communications with %company%'

You can specify the placeholder values as follows:

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$builder->add('id', null, [
    'attr' => [
        'placeholder' => 'form.order.id.placeholder',
        'title' => 'form.order.id.title',
    ],
    'attr_translation_parameters' => [
        '%company%' => 'ACME Inc.',
    ],
]);

The attr_translation_parameters option of children fields is merged with the same option of their parents, so children can reuse and/or override any of the parent placeholders.

help_translation_parameters

type: array default: []

The content of the help option is translated before displaying it, so it can contain translation placeholders. This option defines the values used to replace those placeholders.

Given this translation message:

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# translations/messages.en.yaml
form.order.id.help: 'This will be the reference in communications with %company%'

You can specify the placeholder values as follows:

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$builder->add('id', null, [
    'help' => 'form.order.id.help',
    'help_translation_parameters' => [
        '%company%' => 'ACME Inc.',
    ],
]);

The help_translation_parameters option of children fields is merged with the same option of their parents, so children can reuse and/or override any of the parent placeholders.

Accessing Form Choice Data

The form.vars variable of each choice entry holds data such as whether the choice is selected or not. If you need to get the full list of choices data and values, use the choices variable from the parent form of the choice entry (which is the ChoiceType itself) with form.parent.vars.choices:

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{# `true` or `false`, whether the current choice is selected as radio or checkbox #}
{{ form.vars.data }}

{# the current choice value (i.e a category name when `'choice_value' => 'name'` #}
{{ form.vars.value }}

{# a map of `ChoiceView` or `ChoiceGroupView` instances indexed by choice values or group names #}
{{ form.parent.vars.choices }}

Following the same advanced example as above (where choices values are entities), the Category object is inside form.parent.vars.choices[key].data:

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{% block _form_categories_entry_widget %}
    {% set entity = form.parent.vars.choices[form.vars.value].data %}

    <tr>
        <td>{{ form_widget(form) }}</td>
        <td>{{ form.vars.label }}</td>
        <td>
            {{ entity.name }} | {{ entity.group }}
        </td>
    </tr>
{% endblock %}