Radio Button Component

Function

a!radioButtonField( label, instructions, required, disabled, choiceLabels, choiceValues, value, validations, saveInto, validationGroup, requiredMessage, labelPosition, choiceLayout, helpTooltip, accessibilityText, showWhen, choiceStyle, spacing, data, sort, marginAbove, marginBelow )

Displays a limited set of choices from which the user must select one item and saves a value based on the selected choice. To save the index instead of a value, use radio buttons by index.

If the choice is not exclusive, then consider using checkboxes or a multiple dropdown component.

If there are many choices, make the component as large as necessary to display all the options. If a more compact presentation is desirable, consider using a dropdown component.

Parameters

Name	Keyword	Types	Description
Label	`label`	Text	Text to display as the field label.
Instructions	`instructions`	Text	Supplemental text about this field.
Required	`required`	Boolean	Determines if a value is required to submit the form. Default: false.
Disabled	`disabled`	Boolean	Determines if the field should display as potentially editable but grayed out. Default: false.
Choice Labels	`choiceLabels`	List of Variant	Array of options for the user to select. When the data source is a record type, use a record type reference to specify a record field or related record field. To format a record field or display multiple record fields, use `fv!data` and a record type reference. For example, `fv!data[recordType!Order.fields.city] & ", " & fv!data[recordType!Order.fields.state]`
Choice Values	`choiceValues`	List of Variant	Array of values associated with the corresponding choices. When the data source is a record type, this is a record field (usually the primary key field).
Display Value	`value`	Any Type	Value of choice to display as selected.
Validations	`validations`	List of Text String	Validation errors to display below the field when the value is not null.
Save Input To	`saveInto`	List of Save	One or more variables that are updated with the choice value when the user changes the selection. Use `a!save()` to save a modified or alternative value to a variable.
Validation Group	`validationGroup`	Text	When present, the requiredness of the field is only evaluated when a button in the same validation group is pressed. The value for this parameter cannot contain spaces. For example, `“validation group”` is not a valid value. You need to add an underscore between words: `“validation_group”`. See the following recipes for more information: Configure Buttons with Conditional Requiredness Validation Groups for Buttons with Multiple Validation Rules'
Required Message	`requiredMessage`	Text	Custom message to display when the field's value is required and not provided.
Label Position	`labelPosition`	Text	Determines where the label appears. Valid values: `"ABOVE"` (default) Displays the label above the component. `"ADJACENT"` Displays the label to the left of the component. `"COLLAPSED"` Hides the label. The label will still be read by screen readers; see accessibility considerations for more information. `"JUSTIFIED"` Aligns the label alongside the component starting at the edge of the page.
Choice Layout	`choiceLayout`	Text	Determines the layout. Valid values: `"STACKED"` (default), `"COMPACT"`.
Help Tooltip	`helpTooltip`	Text	Displays a help icon with the specified text as a tooltip. The tooltip displays a maximum of 500 characters. The help icon does not show when the label position is `"COLLAPSED"`.
Accessibility Text	`accessibilityText`	Text	Additional text to be announced by screen readers. Used only for accessibility; produces no visible change.
Visibility	`showWhen`	Boolean	Determines whether the component is displayed on the interface. When set to false, the component is hidden and is not evaluated. Default: true.
Choice Style	`choiceStyle`	Text	Determines how the choices should be displayed on the interface. Valid values: `"STANDARD"` (default), `"CARDS"`.
Spacing	`spacing`	Text	Determines the space between the options. Valid values: `"STANDARD"` (default), `"MORE"`, `"EVEN_MORE"`.
Data	`data`	Any	The record type used as the source of the component's choices. This can be specified with a record type reference or `a!recordData()`.
Sort	`sort`	List of SortInfo	Array of Sort Info configurations created with a!sortInfo(). When the data source is a record type, you can use the value `"choiceLabels"` or `"choiceValues"` in the `a!sortInfo()` function to sort by the values in that parameter. For example, `a!sortInfo(field: "choiceLabels", ascending: false)`
Margin Above	`marginAbove`	Text	Determines how much space is added above the component. Valid values: "NONE" (default), "EVEN_LESS", "LESS", "STANDARD" , "MORE", "EVEN_MORE".
Margin Below	`marginBelow`	Text	Determines how much space is added below the component. Valid values: "NONE", "EVEN_LESS", "LESS", "STANDARD" (default), "MORE", "EVEN_MORE".

Usage considerations

Using the choiceLayout parameter

The "COMPACT" option for choiceLayout should only be used for radio buttons with short choice labels, such as "Yes", "No", or "Maybe". When using the "COMPACT" option, labels with text longer than 2 lines will be truncated.
For long labels, use the "STACKED" option for choiceLayout.

Using the choiceLabels and choiceValue parameters

When configuring the Choice Labels and Choice Values parameters, keep the following in mind:

The Choice Labels cannot be null.
The Choice Values cannot contain nulls or duplicate values.
The Choice Labels list and Choice Values list must be the same length.

When you select Record Type as the data source, the Choice Labels and Choice Values are automatically populated with record field references. By default, the labels will be the first text field from the record type, and the values will be the primary key field.

You can format and display multiple record fields in the Choice Labels parameter using fv!data and a record field reference. For example, if you want to display a list of US cities with their states in parentheses, you could use the following expression:

choiceLabels: fv!data[recordType!Location.fields.city] & " (" & fv!data[recordType!Location.fields.state] & ")"
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This would display choice labels as:

1
2
3
4
5
New York City (New York)
Los Angeles (California)
Chicago (Illinois)
Houston (Texas)
Phoenix (Arizona)
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Note: You cannot reference related record fields with fv!data in the Choice Labels parameter. Instead, you should create a component using the related record type as the source to display that data in the Choice Labels parameter.

Sort choices

The way you sort the choices depends on the source of the component. If no sort is applied, the labels will appear in the order they're provided.

When you select Record Type as the data source:

The choice order is determined by the Sort parameter.
You can automatically sort by the values configured in the Choice Labels or Choice Values parameters by using "choiceLabels" or "choiceValues" in the a!sortInfo() function.

For example, a!sortInfo(field: “choiceLabels”, ascending: true) would automatically sort the choices by the values in the Choice Labels parameter.

When you select Other as the data source:

The choices display in the order defined in the Choice Labels.

Row limit for records-powered components

Interface components that use a record type as the data source are known as records-powered components.

Records-powered components can display a maximum of 5,000 rows. As a best practice, you should not display all 5,000 rows in a component since it may impact performance.

Examples

Record type object references are specific to each environment. If you copy and paste the example with record field references into your interface, it will not evaluate. Use that example as a reference only.

Radio button with choices from a record type

In this example, the component's choices are retrieved from a reference record type that contains the industries your customer's represent. choiceLabels uses the name field and the corresponding choiceValues are set using the record type's primary key field, id.

a!radioButtonField(
  data: recordType!AT Industry,
  choiceLabels: recordType!AT Industry.fields.name,
  choiceValues: recordType!AT Industry.fields.id,
  label: "Industry",
  value: ri!record[recordType!AT Customer.fields.districtId],
  saveInto: ri!record[recordType!AT Customer.fields.districtId],
  sort: 
    a!sortInfo(
      field: "choiceLabels",
      ascending: true
    )
)
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Radio Button with first choice selected by default

Use the interactive editor below to test out your code:

Radio Buttons with compact layout and cards style

Use the interactive editor below to test out your code:

Feature compatibility

The table below lists this component's compatibility with various features in Appian.

Feature	Compatibility	Note
Portals	Compatible
Offline Mobile	Compatible
Sync-Time Custom Record Fields	Incompatible
Real-Time Custom Record Fields	Incompatible	Custom record fields that evaluate in real time must be configured using one or more Custom Field functions.
Process Reports	Incompatible	Cannot be used to configure a process report.
Process Events	Incompatible	Cannot be used to configure a process event node, such as a start event or timer event.
Process Autoscaling	Compatible

Old versions

There are older versions of this interface component. You can identify older versions by looking at the name to see if there is a version suffix. If you are using an old version, be sure to refer to the corresponding documentation from the list below.

Old Versions	Reason for Update
a!radioButtonField_23r3	Added the ability to use record field values as radio button choices.

To learn more about how Appian handles this kind of versioning, see the Function and Component Versions page.

The following patterns include usage of the Radio Button Component.

Inline Survey (Radio Buttons, Checkboxes, Buttons): Use this pattern to create a clean and easy to navigate survey.

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Radio Button Component

FunctionCopy link to clipboard

ParametersCopy link to clipboard

Usage considerationsCopy link to clipboard

Using the choiceLayout parameterCopy link to clipboard

Using the choiceLabels and choiceValue parametersCopy link to clipboard

Sort choicesCopy link to clipboard

Row limit for records-powered componentsCopy link to clipboard

ExamplesCopy link to clipboard

Radio button with choices from a record typeCopy link to clipboard

Radio Button with first choice selected by defaultCopy link to clipboard

Radio Buttons with compact layout and cards styleCopy link to clipboard

Feature compatibilityCopy link to clipboard

Old versionsCopy link to clipboard

Related PatternsCopy link to clipboard

FeedbackCopy link to clipboard