Using a checkbox

In this recipe, you will learn how to display a checkbox and, when the form is submitted, retrieve its state (selected or not) in a controller method.

How to do it…

Use the form:checkbox element in the JSP and a boolean attribute to store its value when the form is submitted:

1. If a default value is necessary, use a boolean attribute of the default object (refer to the Setting a form's default values using a model object recipe):

   user.setMarried(false);

2. In the JSP, use the form:checkbox element:

   <form:checkbox path="married" />

3. In the controller that processes the form submission, make sure that the @ModelAttribute object has a corresponding boolean attribute:

   public class User {
     private boolean married;
   ...

How it works…

This is the generated HTML code:

<input id="married1" name="married" type="checkbox" value="true"/>
<input type="hidden" name="_married" value="on"/>

If the checkbox is checked, married=true is sent when the form is submitted. If it's not checked...