Elements

In This Article

Checkbox

Zend\Form\Element\Checkbox is meant to be paired with the Zend\Form\View\Helper\FormCheckbox for HTML inputs with type checkbox. This element adds an InArray validator to its input filter specification in order to validate on the server if the checkbox contains either the checked value or the unchecked value.

Basic Usage

This element automatically adds a type attribute of value checkbox.

use Zend\Form\Element;
use Zend\Form\Form;

$checkbox = new Element\Checkbox('checkbox');
$checkbox->setLabel('A checkbox');
$checkbox->setUseHiddenElement(true);
$checkbox->setCheckedValue('good');
$checkbox->setUncheckedValue('bad');

$form = new Form('my-form');
$form->add($checkbox);

Using array notation:

use Zend\Form\Element;
use Zend\Form\Form;

$form = new Form('my-form');
$form->add([
    'type' => Element\Checkbox::class,
    'name' => 'checkbox',
    'options' => [
        'label' => 'A checkbox',
        'use_hidden_element' => true,
        'checked_value' => 'good',
        'unchecked_value' => 'bad',
    ],
]);

When creating a checkbox element, setting an attribute of checked will result in the checkbox always being checked, regardless of any data object which might subsequently be bound to the form. The correct way to set the default value of a checkbox is to set the value attribute as for any other element. To have a checkbox checked by default, make the value equal to the checked_value eg:

use Zend\Form\Element;
use Zend\Form\Form;

$form = new Form('my-form');
$form->add([
    'type' => Element\Checkbox::class,
    'name' => 'checkbox',
    'options' => [
        'label' => 'A checkbox',
        'use_hidden_element' => true,
        'checked_value' => 'yes',
        'unchecked_value' => 'no',
    ],
    'attributes' => [
         'value' => 'yes',
    ],
]);

Public Methods

The following methods are specific to the Checkbox element; all other methods defined by the parent Element class are also available.

Method signature Description
setOptions(array $options) : void Set options for an element of type Checkbox. Accepted options, in addition to the options inherited from Element , are: use_hidden_element, checked_value and unchecked_value , which call setUseHiddenElement(), setCheckedValue() and setUncheckedValue() , respectively.
setUseHiddenElement(boolean $useHiddenElement) : void If set to true (which is default), the view helper will generate a hidden element that contains the unchecked value. Therefore, when using custom unchecked value, this option have to be set to true.
useHiddenElement() : boolean Return if a hidden element is generated.
setCheckedValue(string $checkedValue) : void Set the value to use when the checkbox is checked.
getCheckedValue() : string Return the value used when the checkbox is checked.
setUncheckedValue(string $uncheckedValue) : void Set the value to use when the checkbox is unchecked. For this to work, you must make sure that use_hidden_element is set to true.
getUncheckedValue() : string Return the value used when the checkbox is unchecked.
getInputSpecification() : array Returns an input filter specification, which includes Zend\Validator\InArray to validate if the value is one of the checked or unchecked values.
isChecked() : boolean Checks if the checkbox is checked.
setChecked(bool $value) : void Checks or unchecks the checkbox.

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