Checkbox Component

Function

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

Displays a limited set of choices from which the user may select none, one, or many items and saves the values of the selected choices.

To save the index of the choice instead of a value, use checkboxes by index.

To capture a single true or false value, such as agreeing to terms and conditions, use a boolean checkbox.

If the choice is exclusive, then consider using radio buttons or a dropdown.

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

Parameters

Usage considerations

Saving values

• If a single item is selected, the system saves a single-item array.
• If no selection is made, the system saves a null value into the component's saveInto field.

Using the choiceLayout, choiceStyle, and choicePosition parameters

See the SAIL Design System for choice best practices.

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:

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choiceLabels: fv!data[recordType!Location.fields.city] & " (" & fv!data[recordType!Location.fields.state] & ")"

This would display choice labels as:

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New York City (New York)
Los Angeles (California)
Chicago (Illinois)
Houston (Texas)
Phoenix (Arizona)

Handling duplicate values in records-powered components

In a records-powered checkbox component, the fields used in the choiceValue and choiceLabels parameters determine how duplicate values are handled.

Automatically remove duplicate values

When you use the same record field for the choiceValue and choiceLabels parameters, any duplicate field values are automatically removed from the list of options.

For example, let’s say you use an Employee record type as the source of a checkbox component. The record type has a department field with the following values:

• Sales
• Engineering
• Sales
• Marketing
• Engineering

If you set both choiceValue and choiceLabels to the department field, the checkbox component will automatically filter this list to show only the unique values:

• Engineering
• Marketing
• Sales

Display all values, including duplicates

To display all values in the component, including duplicate values, you must provide a unique choice value for each choice label.

For example, let’s say you use an Employee record type as the source of a checkbox component and there are two employees named “Olivia Smith.”

To show two different employees both named "Olivia Smith," you would configure the parameters as:

• choiceValue: recordType!Employee.fields.id (This provides a unique value for each employee)
• choiceLabels: recordType!Employee.fields.displayName (This displays the employee's name)

Because each "Olivia Smith" has a unique ID in the choiceValue, the checkbox component will list both of them as distinct selectable options.

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.

Query timeout for records-powered components

Queries to synced and unsynced record types will timeout after 65 seconds. If you are querying large volumes of data, this may cause the interface or expression to error.

To resolve timeout errors, reduce the amount of data in your query by:

• Reducing the batch size.
• Limiting the number of fields returned.
• Applying more specific filters.

Some complex queries may result in reduced performance. Ensure you're following query best practices.

Examples

Checkbox with first and third values checked

Use the interactive editor below to test out the example code.

Checkbox with no default values checked

Use the interactive editor below to test out the example code.

Checkbox with cards style

Checkbox with choices from a record type

In this example, imagine you are building a form that lets users create an order. The Order record type has a one-to-many relationship with an Order Line record type. The product for each order line is represented by the itemId field.

We'll use the checkbox component so users can add multiple items to their order. The component's choices are retrieved from a Product record type. choiceLabels uses the name field and the corresponding choiceValues are set using the record type's primary key field, id.

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a!checkboxField(
  data: recordType!AT Product,
  choiceLabels: recordType!AT Product.fields.name,
  choiceValues: recordType!AT Product.fields.id,
  label: "Products",
  value: local!products,
  saveInto: local!products,
)

As the user selects products, the corresponding values are saved to the local!products variable. When they are finished making selections, we can add their selections to the rule input that is passed to a process model. The user will click a button to submit the order, and we can use that interaction to finish constructing the rule input. In the button component's saveInto parameter, we'll use a!forEach() to iterate over the local!products list and save each value as the itemId of an Order Line.

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a!buttonWidget(
  label: "Submit order",
  value: local!items,
  saveInto: a!forEach(
    local!products,
    a!save(
      ri!order[recordType!RE Order.relationships.orderLine][fv!index][recordType!RE Order Line.fields.itemId],
      fv!item
    )
  ),
  style: "OUTLINE",
  submit: true
)

Feature compatibility

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.

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

Related recipes

The following recipes include usage of the Checkbox Component.

• Configure a Boolean Checkbox (Choice Components):

  Configure a checkbox component with a single checkbox that saves a boolean (true/false) value, and validate that the user selects the checkbox before submitting a form.

• Configure a Custom Search Box with Smart Search (Grids, Query Data, Records):

  Implement smart search in a custom search box for a read-only grid.

• Dual Picklist Pattern (Choice Components, Cards, Checkboxes, Buttons):

  Use this pattern to view side-by-side lists and move items from one list to the other. The dual picklist is great for moving items from one state to another, like from active to inactive.

• Inline Survey (Radio Buttons, Checkboxes, Buttons):

  Use this pattern to create a clean and easy to navigate survey.

• Make a Component Required Based on a User Selection (Validation):

  Make a paragraph component conditionally required based on the user selection.

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