Checkbox Group Component

See Also | Tutorials

You can drag the Checkbox Group component  from the Palette's Basic category to the Visual Designer to create a table of labeled checkboxes.

The checkboxes are rendered in rows and columns in an HTML <table> element. The number of rows is defined by the number of checkboxes. The number of columns is defined by the columns property. The default layout is a single vertical column. For example, if you want the checkboxes laid out in a single row, set columns property to the number of checkboxes.

The items property is bound to an array, a list, or a collection p of com.sun.rave.web.ui.model.Option objects that populate the list. Right-click the component and choose Bind to Data to set this property. In the Outline window, you can see the default object that populates the list, which has a name similar to checkboxGroup1DefaultOptions. The option labels become the checkbox labels. When the user selects one or more checkboxes, the component's selected property contains an array of the selected values.

You set the selected property to associate the component with a model object that picks up the items selected by the user. The model object must be an array of objects whose values represent the values of the com.sun.rave.web.ui.model.Option objects in the list. The first time the component is rendered, the options that correspond to the value of the selected property, if there are any, are marked as selected.

For information on binding the component to an object to set up the list, see Bind to Data below.

After dragging the component to the Visual Designer, you can do a number of things with it:

• Select the Checkbox Group component and drag it to another location on the page.
   
  
• Right-click the component and choose one of the following pop-up menu items:
  • Edit Event Handler. Write code for one of the following event handlers.
    • validate. Opens the Java Editor with the cursor positioned in the component's validate method so you can insert code to validate the value of the component.
       
      
    • processValueChange. Opens the Java Editor with the cursor positioned in the component's processValueChange method so you can insert code that executes when the value of this component changes (for example, the user changes the value of another component that is controlling the value of this component).
       
      
    
     
    
  • Set Initial Focus. Gives this component focus when the user opens the page.
     
    
  • Auto-submit on Change. Causes the form to be automatically submitted if the value of the component changes. Sets the component's JavaScript onclick property to common_timeoutSubmitForm(this.form, 'component-id');. At runtime, this code causes the form to be automatically submitted if the user changes the component value. Once the form is submitted, conversion and validation occur on the server and any value change listener methods execute, and then the page is redisplayed.
     
    A component configured to Auto-submit on Change can use virtual forms to limit the input fields that are processed when the form is submitted. If the auto-submit component is defined to submit a virtual form, only the participants in that virtual form will be processed when the auto-submit occurs.
     
    
  • Bind to Data. Bind the component's items property to an object or to a data provider, as described in Bind to Data Dialog Box.
    • To bind the items property to an object, select the Bind to Object tab and then select a bean property that will be used to populate the list. The bean property must be an Object array, map, or collection whose members are all subclasses of com.sun.rave.web.ui.model.Option. For a tutorial showing how to associate a listbox with an array, which is similar to associating a checkbox group with an array, see the following web page:
      Using Listbox Components
       
      
    • To bind the items property to a data provider for a database table or JavaBeans object that will be used to populate the list, select the Bind to Data Provider tab and choose a data provider.
       
      
    
     
    
  • Property Bindings. Bind the component's properties to an object or data provider. A typical property to bind is the selected property, which you can bind to an Object array, or an array of primitives. You must have added the array to a managed bean, such as the session bean, as a property. You can use this bean property to evaluate what the user chose after the page is submitted.
     
    
  • Configure Default Options. Enables you to edit the default checkboxgroup#defaultOptions object and change the displayed checkboxes. It is more likely that you will want to bind the items property to a database or object to use to set checkbox list items, as described above under Bind to Data.
     
    
  • Configure Virtual Forms. Enables you to add the component to a virtual form.
     
    
  
   
  
• Select the Checkbox Group component on the page in the Visual Designer and edit its properties in the Checkbox Group Properties window. These properties affect the overall style and behavior of the list. Some typical properties you might set are:
  • id. The name of the Checkbox Group component. In the JSP file, this name is the value of the component's id attribute. In the page bean, this property's value is the name of the CheckboxGroup object.
     
    
  • columns. Indicates the number of columns to use to lay out the checkboxes.
     
    
  • label. A label for the checkbox group that appears to the left of the first checkbox. The label's for property is set to the first checkbox in the group.
     
    
  • labelLevel. Sets the style level for the label specified in the label property. Values are 1 (largest), 2, and 3 (smallest). The default value is 2.
     
    
  
   
  

See Also

Binding Component Properties

Working With Components

Component Tasks: Quick Reference

Component Web Tutorials

Data Source Web Tutorials

About the Palette

Tutorials

Delving Into Components Tutorial

Using Virtual Forms