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CheckboxType Field

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Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 7.1 (the current stable version).

CheckboxType Field

Creates a single input checkbox. This should always be used for a field that has a boolean value: if the box is checked, the field will be set to true, if the box is unchecked, the value will be set to false. Optionally you can specify an array of values that, if submitted, will be evaluated to "false" as well (this differs from what HTTP defines, but can be handy if you want to handle submitted values like "0" or "false").

Rendered as input checkbox field
Default invalid message The checkbox has an invalid value.
Legacy invalid message The value {{ value }} is not valid.
Parent type FormType
Class CheckboxType

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

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

$builder->add('public', CheckboxType::class, [
    'label'    => 'Show this entry publicly?',
    'required' => false,
]);

Field Options

false_values

type: array default: [null]

An array of values to be interpreted as false.

value

type: mixed default: 1

The value that's actually used as the value for the checkbox or radio button. This does not affect the value that's set on your object.

Caution

To make a checkbox or radio button checked by default, use the data option.

Overridden Options

compound

type: boolean default: false

This option specifies if a form is compound. As it's not the case for checkbox, by default, the value is overridden with the false value.

empty_data

type: string default: mixed

This option determines what value the field will return when the placeholder choice is selected. In the checkbox and the radio type, the value of empty_data is overridden by the value returned by the data transformer (see How to Use Data Transformers).

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.

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_bubbling

type: boolean default: false unless the form is compound

If true, any errors for this field will be passed to the parent field or form. For example, if set to true on a normal field, any errors for that field will be attached to the main form, not to the specific field.

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 TranslatableInterface 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'),
    ])
;

6.2

The support for TranslatableInterface objects as help contents was introduced in Symfony 6.2.

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.

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'),
    ])

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_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.

Form Variables

Variable Type Usage
checked boolean Whether or not the current input is checked.
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
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