JSF 2 checkboxes example

In JSF, <h:selectBooleanCheckbox /> tag is used to render a single HTML input element of “checkbox” type.

//JSF...
<h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{user.rememberMe}" /> Remember Me

//HTML output...
<input type="checkbox" name="j_idt6:j_idt8" /> Remember Me

While <h:selectManyCheckbox /> tag is used to render a set of HTML input element of type “checkbox”, and format it with HTML table and label tags.

//JSF...
<h:selectManyCheckbox value="#{user.favNumber1}">
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="1" itemLabel="Number1 - 1" />
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="2" itemLabel="Number1 - 2" />
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="3" itemLabel="Number1 - 3" />
</h:selectManyCheckbox>

//HTML output...
<table>
<tr>
  <td>
	<input name="j_idt6:j_idt10" id="j_idt6:j_idt10:0" value="1" type="checkbox" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt10:0" class=""> Number1 - 1</label></td>
  <td>
	<input name="j_idt6:j_idt10" id="j_idt6:j_idt10:1" value="2" type="checkbox" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt10:1" class=""> Number1 - 2</label></td>
  <td>
	<input name="j_idt6:j_idt10" id="j_idt6:j_idt10:2" value="3" type="checkbox" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt10:2" class=""> Number1 - 3</label></td>
  <td>
</tr>
</table>		

JSF 2.0 example

Here’s a JSF 2.0 example to show the use of “h:selectBooleanCheckbox” and “h:selectManyCheckbox” tags.

h:selectBooleanCheckbox

Render a single checkbox, and wire it with a boolean property.

h:selectManyCheckbox

Render a group of checkboxes and populate the data in different ways :

• Hardcoded value in “f:selectItem” tag.
• Generate values with an Array and put it into “f:selectItems” tag.
• Generate values with a Map and put it into “f:selectItems” tag.
• Generate values with an Object array and put it into “f:selectItems” tag, then represent the value with “var” attribute.

1. Backing Bean

A backing bean to hold the submitted checkboxes values.

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
 
@ManagedBean(name="user")
@SessionScoped
public class UserBean{
 
	public boolean rememberMe;
	public String[] favNumber1;
	public String[] favNumber2;
	public String[] favNumber3;
	public String[] favNumber4;

	//getter and setter methods...

	public String getFavNumber1InString() {
		return Arrays.toString(favNumber1);
	}
	
	//Generated by Array
	public String[] getFavNumber2Value() {
		
		favNumber2 = new String[5];
		favNumber2[0] = "Number2 - 1";
		favNumber2[1] = "Number2 - 2";
		favNumber2[2] = "Number2 - 3";
		favNumber2[3] = "Number2 - 4";
		favNumber2[4] = "Number2 - 5";
		
		return favNumber2;
	}
	
	public String getFavNumber2InString() {
		return Arrays.toString(favNumber2);
	}
	
	
	//Generated by Map
	private static Map<String,Object> number3Value;
	static{
		number3Value = new LinkedHashMap<String,Object>();
		number3Value.put("Number3 - 1", "1"); //label, value
		number3Value.put("Number3 - 2", "2");
		number3Value.put("Number3 - 3", "3");
		number3Value.put("Number3 - 4", "4");
		number3Value.put("Number3 - 5", "5");
	}
	
	public Map<String,Object> getFavNumber3Value() {
		return number3Value;
	}

	public String getFavNumber3InString() {
		return Arrays.toString(favNumber3);
	}
	
	//Generated by Object array
	public static class Number{
		public String numberLabel;
		public String numberValue;
		
		public Number(String numberLabel, String numberValue){
			this.numberLabel = numberLabel;
			this.numberValue = numberValue;
		}
		
		public String getNumberLabel(){
			return numberLabel;
		}
		
		public String getNumberValue(){
			return numberValue;
		}
		
	}
	
	public Number[] number4List;
	
	public Number[] getFavNumber4Value() {
		
		number4List = new Number[5];
		number4List[0] = new Number("Number4 - 1", "1");
		number4List[1] = new Number("Number4 - 2", "2");
		number4List[2] = new Number("Number4 - 3", "3");
		number4List[3] = new Number("Number4 - 4", "4");
		number4List[4] = new Number("Number4 - 5", "5");
		
		return number4List;
	}
	
	public String getFavNumber4InString() {
		return Arrays.toString(favNumber4);
	}
	
}

2. JSF Page

A JSF page to demonstrate the use “h:selectBooleanCheckbox” and “h:selectManyCheckbox” tags.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"   
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
      xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
      >
    <h:body>
    	
    	<h1>JSF 2 checkboxes example</h1>
    	<h:form>
    	
    	    <h2>1. Single checkbox</h2>
	    <h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{user.rememberMe}" /> Remember Me
	    
	    <h2>2. Mutiple checkboxes</h2>
	    
	    1. Hard-coded with "f:selectItem" : 
   		<h:selectManyCheckbox value="#{user.favNumber1}">
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="1" itemLabel="Number1 - 1" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="2" itemLabel="Number1 - 2" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="3" itemLabel="Number1 - 3" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="4" itemLabel="Number1 - 4" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="5" itemLabel="Number1 - 5" />
   		</h:selectManyCheckbox>
	    
	    <br />
	    
	    2. Generated by Array :
   		<h:selectManyCheckbox value="#{user.favNumber2}">
   			<f:selectItems value="#{user.favNumber2Value}" />
   		</h:selectManyCheckbox>
   		
   		<br />
	    
	    3. Generated by Map :
   		<h:selectManyCheckbox value="#{user.favNumber3}">
   			<f:selectItems value="#{user.favNumber3Value}" />
   		</h:selectManyCheckbox>
   		
	    <br />
	    
	    4. Generated by Object with var :
   		<h:selectManyCheckbox value="#{user.favNumber4}">
   			<f:selectItems value="#{user.favNumber4Value}" var="n"
   			itemLabel="#{n.numberLabel}" itemValue="#{n.numberValue}" />
   		</h:selectManyCheckbox>
   		
	    <br />
	    
    	    <h:commandButton value="Submit" action="result" />
	    <h:commandButton value="Reset" type="reset" />

    	</h:form>
    	
    </h:body>
</html>

result.xhtml…

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"   
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
      >
 
    <h:body>
    	
    	<h1>JSF 2 checkboxes example</h1>
    	
    	<h2>result.xhtml</h2>
    	
    	<ol>
    		<li>user.rememberMe : #{user.rememberMe}</li>
    		<li>user.favNumber1 : #{user.favNumber1InString}</li>
    		<li>user.favNumber2 : #{user.favNumber2InString}</li>
    		<li>user.favNumber3 : #{user.favNumber3InString}</li>
    		<li>user.favNumber4 : #{user.favNumber4InString}</li>
    	</ol>
    </h:body>

</html>

3. Demo

When “submit” button is clicked, link to “result.xhtml” page and display the submitted checkboxe values.

How to checked checkbox’s value by default?

h:selectBooleanCheckbox
The value of “f:selectItem” tag is checked if the boolean value is set to true. In above example, if you set boolean property “rememberMe” to true :

@ManagedBean(name="user")
@SessionScoped
public class UserBean{

	public boolean rememberMe = true;

	//...

The “rememberMe” checkbox value is checked by default.

h:selectManyCheckbox

The values of “f:selectItems” tag are checked if it matched to the “value” of “h:selectManyCheckbox” tag. In above example, if you set favNumber3 to {“1″,”3″} :

@ManagedBean(name="user")
@SessionScoped
public class UserBean{

	public String[] favNumber3 = {"1","3"};

	//...

The “favNumber3″ checkboxes, “Number 1″ and “Number 3″ values are checked by default.