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

Warning: You are browsing the documentation for Symfony 5.x, which is no longer maintained.

Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 7.2 (the current stable version).

A multi-purpose field used to allow the user to "choose" one or more options. It can be rendered as a select tag, radio buttons, or checkboxes.

To use this field, you must specify either choices or choice_loader option.

Rendered as can be various tags (see below)
Default invalid message The selected choice is invalid.
Legacy invalid message The value {{ value }} is not valid.
Parent type FormType
Class ChoiceType

Tip

The full list of options defined and inherited by this form type is available running this command in your app:

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# replace 'FooType' by the class name of your form type
$ php bin/console debug:form FooType

Example Usage

The easiest way to use this field is to define the choices option to specify the choices as an associative array where the keys are the labels displayed to end users and the array values are the internal values used in the form field:

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

$builder->add('isAttending', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices'  => [
        'Maybe' => null,
        'Yes' => true,
        'No' => false,
    ],
]);

This will create a select drop-down like this:

A choice list form input with the options "Maybe", "Yes" and "No".

If the user selects No, the form will return false for this field. Similarly, if the starting data for this field is true, then Yes will be auto-selected. In other words, the choice of each item is the value you want to get/set in PHP code, while the key is the label that will be shown to the user.

Advanced Example (with Objects!)

This field has a lot of options and most control how the field is displayed. In this example, the underlying data is some Category object that has a getName() method:

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

$builder->add('category', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        new Category('Cat1'),
        new Category('Cat2'),
        new Category('Cat3'),
        new Category('Cat4'),
    ],
    // "name" is a property path, meaning Symfony will look for a public
    // property or a public method like "getName()" to define the input
    // string value that will be submitted by the form
    'choice_value' => 'name',
    // a callback to return the label for a given choice
    // if a placeholder is used, its empty value (null) may be passed but
    // its label is defined by its own "placeholder" option
    'choice_label' => function (?Category $category) {
        return $category ? strtoupper($category->getName()) : '';
    },
    // returns the html attributes for each option input (may be radio/checkbox)
    'choice_attr' => function (?Category $category) {
        return $category ? ['class' => 'category_'.strtolower($category->getName())] : [];
    },
    // every option can use a string property path or any callable that get
    // passed each choice as argument, but it may not be needed
    'group_by' => function () {
        // randomly assign things into 2 groups
        return rand(0, 1) == 1 ? 'Group A' : 'Group B';
    },
    // a callback to return whether a category is preferred
    'preferred_choices' => function (?Category $category) {
        return $category && 100 < $category->getArticleCounts();
    },
]);

You can also customize the choice_name of each choice. You can learn more about all of these options in the sections below.

Caution

The placeholder is a specific field, when the choices are optional the first item in the list must be empty, so the user can unselect. Be sure to always handle the empty choice null when using callbacks.

Select Tag, Checkboxes or Radio Buttons

This field may be rendered as one of several HTML fields, depending on the expanded and multiple options:

Element Type Expanded Multiple
select tag false false
select tag (with multiple attribute) false true
radio buttons true false
checkboxes true true

Customizing each Option's Text (Label)

Normally, the array key of each item in the choices option is used as the text that's shown to the user. But that can be completely customized via the choice_label option. Check it out for more details.

Grouping Options

You can group the <option> elements of a <select> into <optgroup> by passing a multi-dimensional choices array:

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

$builder->add('stockStatus', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => [
        'Main Statuses' => [
            'Yes' => 'stock_yes',
            'No' => 'stock_no',
        ],
        'Out of Stock Statuses' => [
            'Backordered' => 'stock_backordered',
            'Discontinued' => 'stock_discontinued',
        ],
    ],
]);
A choice list with the options "Yes" and "No" grouped under "Main Statuses" and the options "Backordered" and "Discontinued" under "Out of Stock Statuses".

To get fancier, use the group_by option instead.

Field Options

5.1

The ChoiceList class was introduced in Symfony 5.1, to help configuring choices options.

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)];
    },
]);

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use App\Entity\Category;
use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choice_attr' => ChoiceList::attr($this, function (?Category $category) {
        return $category ? ['data-uuid' => $category->getUuid()] : [];
    }),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

choice_filter

type: callable, string or PropertyPath default: null

5.1

The choice_filter option has been introduced in Symfony 5.1.

When using predefined choice types from Symfony core or vendor libraries (i.e. CountryType) this option lets you define a callable that takes each choice as the only argument and must return true to keep it or false to discard it:

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// src/Form/Type/AddressType.php
namespace App\Form\Type;

use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\CountryType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolver;

class AddressType extends AbstractType
{
    public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
    {
        $resolver
            ->setDefaults([
                // enable this type to accept a limited set of countries
                'allowed_countries' => null,
            ])
        ;
    }

    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {
        $allowedCountries = $options['allowed_countries'];

        $builder
            // ...
            ->add('country', CountryType::class, [
                // if the AddressType "allowed_countries" option is passed,
                // use it to create a filter
                'choice_filter' => $allowedCountries ? function ($countryCode) use ($allowedCountries) {
                    return in_array($countryCode, $allowedCountries, true);
                } : null,

            ])
        ;
    }

The option can be a callable or a property path when choices are objects:

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// ...
$builder
    ->add('category', ChoiceType::class, [
        // ...
        'choice_filter' => 'isSelectable',
    ])
;

Tip

Considering this AddressType could be an entry of a CollectionType you should use the ChoiceList class helper to enable caching:

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// src/Form/Type/AddressType.php
// ...
use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
'choice_filter' => $allowedCountries ? ChoiceList::filter(
    // pass the type as first argument
    $this,
    function ($countryCode) use ($allowedCountries) {
        return in_array($countryCode, $allowedCountries, true);
    },
    // pass the option that makes the filter "vary" to compute a unique hash
    $allowedCountries
) : null,
// ...

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.'.$key;
        //return new TranslatableMessage($key, false === $choice ? [] : ['%status%' => $value], 'store');
    },
]);

5.2

The support for TranslatableMessage objects in choice_label was introduced in Symfony 5.2.

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:

A choice list with the options "Definitely!", "NO" and "MAYBE".

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.

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choice_label' => ChoiceList::label($this, 'displayName'),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

choice_loader

type: ChoiceLoaderInterface

The choice_loader option can be used instead of the choices option. It allows to create a list lazily or partially when fetching only the choices for a set of submitted values (i.e. querying a search engine like ElasticSearch can be a heavy process).

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

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

$builder->add('loaded_choices', 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.

If the built-in CallbackChoiceLoader doesn't fit your needs, you can create your own loader by implementing the ChoiceLoaderInterface or by extending the AbstractChoiceLoader. This abstract class saves you some boilerplate by implementing some methods of the interface so you'll only have to implement the loadChoices() method to have a fully functional choice loader.

5.1

The AbstractChoiceLoader class was introduced in Symfony 5.1.

When you're defining a custom choice type that may be reused in many fields (like entries of a collection) or reused in multiple forms at once, you should use the ChoiceList static methods to wrap the loader and make the choice list cacheable for better performance:

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use App\Form\ChoiceList\CustomChoiceLoader;
use App\StaticClass;
use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\Options;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolver;

class ConstantsType extends AbstractType
{
    public function getParent(): string
    {
        return ChoiceType::class;
    }

    public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
    {
        $resolver->setDefaults([
            // the example below will create a CallbackChoiceLoader from the callable
            'choice_loader' => ChoiceList::lazy($this, function() {
                return StaticClass::getConstants();
            }),

            // you can pass your own loader as well, depending on other options
            'some_key' => null,
            'choice_loader' => function (Options $options) {
                return ChoiceList::loader(
                    // pass the instance of the type or type extension which is
                    // currently configuring the choice list as first argument
                    $this,
                    // pass the other option to the loader
                    new CustomChoiceLoader($options['some_key']),
                    // ensure the type stores a loader per key
                    // by using the special third argument "$vary"
                    // an array containing anything that "changes" the loader
                    [$options['some_key']]
                );
            },
        ]);
    }
}

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).

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choice_name' => ChoiceList::fieldName($this, 'name'),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

Caution

The configured value must be a valid form name. Make sure to only return valid names when using a callable. Valid form names must be composed of letters, digits, underscores, dashes and colons and must not start with a dash or a colon.

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_translation_parameters

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

The choice values are translated before displaying it, so it can contain translation placeholders. This option defines the values used to replace those placeholders. 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).

Given this translation message:

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# translations/messages.en.yaml
form.order.yes: 'I confirm my order to the company %company%'
form.order.no: 'I cancel my order'

You can specify the placeholder values as follows:

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$builder->add('id', null, [
    'choices' => [
        'form.order.yes' => true,
        'form.order.no' => false,
    ],
    'choice_translation_parameters' => function ($choice, $key, $value) {
        if (false === $choice) {
            return [];
        }

        return ['%company%' => 'ACME Inc.'];
    },
]);

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

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$builder->add('id', null, [
    'choices' => [
        'form.order.yes' => true,
        'form.order.no' => false,
    ],
    'choice_translation_parameters' => [
        'form.order.yes' => ['%company%' => 'ACME Inc.'],
        'form.order.no' => [],
    ],
]);

The translation parameters of child fields are merged with the same option of their parents, so children can reuse and/or override any of the parent placeholders.

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() : '';
},

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choice_value' => ChoiceList::value($this, 'uuid'),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

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>:

A choice list with "now" and "tomorrow" grouped under "Soon", and "1 week" and "1 month" grouped under "Later".

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.

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'group_by' => ChoiceList::groupBy($this, 'category'),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

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 TranslatableMessage 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',
    
        // or if you want to translate the text
        'placeholder' => new TranslatableMessage('form.placeholder.select_option', [], 'form'),
    ]);
  • 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:

A choice list with "now" and "tomorrow" on top, separated by a line from "1 week" and "1 month".

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': '=====' }) }}

Tip

When defining a custom type, you should use the ChoiceList class helper:

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use Symfony\Component\Form\ChoiceList\ChoiceList;

// ...
$builder->add('choices', ChoiceType::class, [
    'preferred_choices' => ChoiceList::preferred($this, 'taggedAsFavorite'),
]);

See the "choice_loader" option documentation.

Overridden Options

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.

Note

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

Caution

Form data transformers will still be applied to the empty_data value. This means that an empty string will be cast to null. Use a custom data transformer if you explicitly want to return the empty string.

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).

invalid_message

type: string default: This value is not valid

This is the validation error message that's used if the data entered into this field doesn't make sense (i.e. fails validation).

This might happen, for example, if the user enters a nonsense string into a TimeType field that cannot be converted into a real time or if the user enters a string (e.g. apple) into a number field.

Normal (business logic) validation (such as when setting a minimum length for a field) should be set using validation messages with your validation rules (reference).

Inherited Options

These options inherit from the FormType:

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'],
]);

See also

Use the row_attr option if you want to add these attributes to the form type row element.

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',
]);

Caution

The data option always overrides the value taken from the domain data (object) when rendering. This means the object value is also overridden when the form edits an already persisted object, causing it to lose its persisted value when the form is submitted.

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 or TranslatableMessage 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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use Symfony\Component\Translation\TranslatableMessage;

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

    // ...

    ->add('status', null, [
        'help' => new TranslatableMessage('order.status', ['%order_id%' => $order->getId()], 'store'),
    ])
;

5.4

Support for passing TranslatableMessage objects was introduced in Symfony 5.4.

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".

Caution

When a field has the inherit_data option set, it uses the data of the parent form as is. This means that Data Transformers won't be applied to that field.

label

type: string or TranslatableMessage 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:

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use Symfony\Component\Translation\TranslatableMessage;

$builder
    ->add('zipCode', null, [
        'label' => 'The ZIP/Postal code',
        // optionally, you can use TranslatableMessage objects as the label content
        'label' => new TranslatableMessage('address.zipCode', ['%country%' => $country], 'address'),
    ])

5.2

The support for TranslatableMessage objects in label was introduced in Symfony 5.2.

The label can also be set in the template:

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{{ 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'}
}) }}

label_html

type: boolean default: false

5.1

The label_html option was introduced in Symfony 5.1.

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

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.

Note

The label_format option is evaluated in the form theme. Make sure to update your templates in case you customized form theming.

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.

Note

The required option also affects how empty data for each field is handled. For more details, see the empty_data option.

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' => '...'],
]);

See also

Use the attr option if you want to add these attributes to the form type widget element.

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.

Field Variables

Variable Type Usage
multiple boolean The value of the multiple option.
expanded boolean The value of the expanded option.
preferred_choices array A nested array containing the ChoiceView objects of choices which should be presented to the user with priority.
choices array A nested array containing the ChoiceView objects of the remaining choices.
separator string The separator to use between choice groups.
placeholder mixed The empty value if not already in the list, otherwise null.
choice_translation_domain mixed boolean, null or string to determine if the value should be translated.
is_selected callable A callable which takes a ChoiceView and the selected value(s) and returns whether the choice is in the selected value(s).
placeholder_in_choices boolean Whether the empty value is in the choice list.

Tip

In Twig template, instead of using is_selected(), it's significantly faster to use the selectedchoice test.

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 %}
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
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