In addition to text boxes and the string field, selection and multi-select are commonly used field types. They allow site visitors to choose a selection from a list, drop-down menu, radio bullet or checkbox.

Selection Field

As before, you must in your Form Folder to add additional fields using the Add Item drop down menu. Choose Selection Field from the list.

In addition to the regulars like Title and Field Help, there is Options and Presentation Widget to look at:

Options is for establishing what the options in the field are going to be. The Presentation Widget is where you choose either radio button or drop-down menu. On the left is a drop-down menu (or selection list) and on the right are radio buttons.

The option Flexible simply means that you leave it up to PloneFormGen to decide which widget is most appropriate. Basically, if you have more than three choices it will use the selection list. Less than three will appear as radio buttons.

Entering Options can be done in one of two ways. Either "one line per option" or the "Value|Label format". One line per option should be obvious, but what about Value|Label?

Let's say you want to present some choices, but the actual value recorded is different. From the example below, a site visitor would see the choices "Idaho, Oregon, Ohio . . .", but what is actually recorded is what each corresponding value happens to be. So if I choose "Oregon" a value of "northwest" would be recorded instead. Most of the time, the simple one line per option is best, but you may find situations where you want to use Value|Label.

Multi-Select

Multi-select is very similar to a Selection Field except that you have an additional widget (the checkbox) and your site visitors can choose many options from one list. Below, are examples of a selection list on the left, and checkboxes are on the right:

If you plan to use the Selection List widget for a multi-select field, it is helpful to include a note about the Control key in Field Help. In order to actually choose more than one option in the list, you must hold down the control key (CRTL) on your keyboard and then click to select/de-select options.