POST unchecked HTML checkboxes

Question

I've got a load of checkboxes that are checked by default. My users will probably uncheck a few (if any) of the checkboxes and leave the rest checked.

Is there any way to make the form POST the checkboxes that are not checked, rather than the ones that are checked?

Answer 1

$('input[type=checkbox]').on("change",function(){
    var target = $(this).parent().find('input[type=hidden]').val();
    if(target == 0)
    {
        target = 1;
    }
    else
    {
        target = 0;
    }
    $(this).parent().find('input[type=hidden]').val(target);
});

<p>
    <input type="checkbox" />
    <input type="hidden" name="test_checkbox[]" value="0" />
</p>
<p>
    <input type="checkbox" />
    <input type="hidden" name="test_checkbox[]" value="0" />
</p>
<p>
    <input type="checkbox" />
    <input type="hidden" name="test_checkbox[]" value="0" />
</p>

If you leave out the name of the checkbox it doesn't get passed. Only the test_checkbox array.

Answer 2

$('form').submit(function () {
    $(this).find('input[type="checkbox"]').each( function () {
        var checkbox = $(this);
        if( checkbox.is(':checked')) {
            checkbox.attr('value','1');
        } else {
            checkbox.after().append(checkbox.clone().attr({type:'hidden', value:0}));
            checkbox.prop('disabled', true);
        }
    })
});

Answer 3

Most of the answers here require the use of JavaScript or duplicate input controls. Sometimes this needs to be handled entirely on the server-side.

I believe the (intended) key to solving this common problem is the form's submission input control.

To interpret and handle unchecked values for checkboxes successfully you need to have knowledge of the following:

1. The names of the checkboxes
2. The name of the form's submission input element

By checking whether the form was submitted (a value is assigned to the submission input element), any unchecked checkbox values can be assumed.

For example:

<form name="form" method="post">
  <input name="value1" type="checkbox" value="1">Checkbox One<br/>
  <input name="value2" type="checkbox" value="1" checked="checked">Checkbox Two<br/>
  <input name="value3" type="checkbox" value="1">Checkbox Three<br/>
  <input name="submit" type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

When using PHP, it's fairly trivial to detect which checkboxes were ticked.

<?php

$checkboxNames = array('value1', 'value2', 'value3');

// Persisted (previous) checkbox state may be loaded 
// from storage, such as the user's session or a database.
$checkboxesThatAreChecked = array(); 

// Only process if the form was actually submitted.
// This provides an opportunity to update the user's 
// session data, or to persist the new state of the data.

if (!empty($_POST['submit'])) {
    foreach ($checkboxNames as $checkboxName) {
        if (!empty($_POST[$checkboxName])) {
            $checkboxesThatAreChecked[] = $checkboxName;
        }
    }
    // The new state of the checkboxes can be persisted 
    // in session or database by inspecting the values 
    // in $checkboxesThatAreChecked.
    print_r($checkboxesThatAreChecked);
}

?>

Initial data could be loaded on each page load, but should be only modified if the form was submitted. Since the names of the checkboxes are known beforehand, they can be traversed and inspected individually, so that the the absence of their individual values indicates that they are not checked.

Answer 4

I use this block of jQuery, which will add a hidden input at submit-time to every unchecked checkbox. It will guarantee you always get a value submitted for every checkbox, every time, without cluttering up your markup and risking forgetting to do it on a checkbox you add later. It's also agnostic to whatever backend stack (PHP, Ruby, etc.) you're using.

// Add an event listener on #form's submit action...
$("#form").submit(
    function() {

        // For each unchecked checkbox on the form...
        $(this).find($("input:checkbox:not(:checked)")).each(

            // Create a hidden field with the same name as the checkbox and a value of 0
            // You could just as easily use "off", "false", or whatever you want to get
            // when the checkbox is empty.
            function(index) {
                var input = $('<input />');
                input.attr('type', 'hidden');
                input.attr('name', $(this).attr("name")); // Same name as the checkbox
                input.attr('value', "0"); // or 'off', 'false', 'no', whatever

                // append it to the form the checkbox is in just as it's being submitted
                var form = $(this)[0].form;
                $(form).append(input);

            }   // end function inside each()
        );      // end each() argument list

        return true;    // Don't abort the form submit

    }   // end function inside submit()
);      // end submit() argument list

Answer 5

Add a hidden input for the checkbox with a different ID:

<input id='testName' type='checkbox' value='Yes' name='testName'>
<input id='testNameHidden' type='hidden' value='No' name='testName'>

Before submitting the form, disable the hidden input based on the checked condition:

if(document.getElementById("testName").checked) {
    document.getElementById('testNameHidden').disabled = true;
}

Answer 6

I know this question is 3 years old but I found a solution that I think works pretty well.

You can do a check if the $_POST variable is assigned and save it in a variable.

$value = isset($_POST['checkboxname'] ? 'YES' : 'NO';

the isset() function checks if the $_POST variable is assigned. By logic if it is not assigned then the checkbox is not checked.