Reference Guide

Checkbox

The Checkbox component allows you to add a list of one or more checkboxes to a screen. Checkboxes are especially useful when you want an end-user to select more than one item from a list.

Checkboxes are useful where more than one item can be selected

By default, an end-user can select as many checkboxes as they like, but you can set a limit. You can force your end-users to select a minimum and maximum number of options, and Nutshell will validate their input automatically.

Required Fields

If this list of checkboxes in your form is mandatory, Nutshell can automatically validate that an end-user has not left it blank. Just set the field to be a required field, and Nutshell will do the rest.

Managing List Items

You can specify your list of checkboxes manually – by entering them by hand in the Properties panel – or dynamically from a data-source, such as a Nutshell database table.

To add your checkboxes by hand, make sure the Static Items option is selected, and add items to the list using the little “+” button.

List items and default selections are managed in the Properties Panel

Each item has an Option and a Value. The Option is the visible label that will appear alongside the checkbox on-screen. The Value is the actual value that will be saved or processed when the form is submitted. You can set them to the same value if you like.

If you’d like your list to be generated dynamically from a data-source, choose the “Dynamic from data source” option instead. This allows you to generate the list from a Database table, displaying every record in that table as a checkbox.

Default Options

Normally, if your form is just capturing data, your list of checkboxes will be un-ticked by default. Sometimes, it’s helpful to auto-populate fields by either ticking them manually in the properties panel, or by selecting them dynamically from a data-source. What do we mean by dynamically? Dynamic data is content that changeable based on something your end-user does, or loaded at run-time from a database table.

In the Properties panel, you can select which checkboxes should be ticked by default, either by ticking them yourself, or by selecting a value from a database record. Use the lightning bolt button to choose exactly which record. The process of dynamically populating components and form controls is detailed in Key Concepts.

Read-only

Sometimes, you’ll need to display data – for example, in an edit form – which should not be edited. When you set a checkbox list to be read-only, your data will be displayed but will not be editable by the end-user.

Resizing a Checkbox Component

To resize a checkbox component, click and drag on a corner of its bounding box. A checkbox list can only be resized horizontally. The height of a checkbox list is dictated by the number of list items within it.

Checkbox Properties

When a Checkbox component is selected on the Canvas, the following settings are available in the Properties panel: