Why is it difficult to use multiple checkbox values on a single form?

[Anonymous]

I have a form with a field labeled "Best time to call."  There are two options to choose from which would be AM or PM.  I have tried using checkboxes/radio buttons but when the form submits it always defaults to the first checkbox value no matter what i check.  Is marketo unable to create and array of checkbox values?  

I've seen on other forums where people have created 2 seperate boolean fields in the field managment and styled them in their form to line up.  This has proven to be a very dirty way of doing things and just seems wrong.  Any knowledge on this would be fantastic!

[John_Wolf1]

When editing the form, make sure you have "Form Prefill" disabled for that field. (It's in the blue on the right.)

[Anonymous]

Hey John,
Thank you for responding!  I disabled "Form Prefill" and i'm still getting the same problem.  Any thoughts?

P.S The returned value is always "1".  It seems odd that the returned value is not the "Displayed Value" or the "Stored Value" which can be found in the "Values" section in the blue.  

[Dory_Viscoglio]

Hey Chris, if it's returning a 1, it sounds like the field is a boolean field (which would normally be used for a true/false question). Is it possible that this is the wrong type of field for what you're looking to do?

[Anonymous]

Hi Dory,
Yes i am using a boolean as my field type.  I assumed at the very least it would return true or false, or perhaps 1 or 2.  Given all of the other field type possibilities, boolean seemed to be the only one that fit this scenerio.  I would've used Checkbox as my field type but from what i understand that is only for one single check box.

[Dory_Viscoglio]

Based on the fact that it is boolean, you can't have anything other than a 1 or 0, which is likely why you're running into issues with the Displayed Value/Stored Value not appearing. It's possible that this field is set to true by default, which would explain why it is always coming back 1. To collect multiple values for this field (AM, PM), you'll need to change the field type so that it isn't boolean.

[Anonymous]

Which field type would you recommend to use?  String?

[Dory_Viscoglio · Accepted solution]

Yes, string would be best here. You can then populate using the Displayed value and Stored value options. You could either do this as a radio select, or a dropdown picklist at that point. 

[Dory_Viscoglio]

Or, going back to your original question, you could make it multiple checkboxes, but I can't recall how that would work with fields being required. It might be easier as a picklist or radio select. 

[Anonymous]

I switched it to a string and presto!  Worked like a charm!  Thank you for taking the time to help me today.  I really appreciated it!