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Use List Field As Choices for Gravity Forms

Adds support for populating choice-based fields (i.e. checkboxes, selects, radio buttons) with values entered in a List field.

Last updated | Written by 98 Comments

  • August 31, 2022: Added gwlfac_list_field_values filter to allow filtering the List field values that will be used to populate choices. Improves compatibility with Gravity Flow!

  • February 7, 2022: Migrated to Snippet Library.

  • June 24, 2014: Added support for a "sort" parameter which will sort the choices alphanumerically based on the "text" value.

  • January 28, 2014: Fixed issue where requiring a populated choice field failed validation unless the first option was selected.

  • January 2, 2014: Added example for formatting value_template for pricing fields.

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gw-list-field-as-choices

I always have a hard time coming up with titles for snippets where the use case for something is not immediately obvious. Here’s a great use case that will help you understand the power of this handy snippet.

Let’s say you have a group activity sign-up form. You offer a variety of activities for groups but you need to know which members of the group will be participating in which activities.

This snippet can help you accomplish this by collecting the group members’ names in a List field and then populating those names in a checkbox field (or any other choice-based field) designated for each activity.

View DemoView CodeDownload Plugin

How do I get started?

  1. Make sure you’re running Gravity Forms v1.7.13 or later.
  2. Copy and paste the snippet into your theme’s functions.php file.
  3. Awesome! Now you just need to configure the snippet for your Gravity form. See the usage instructions below.

Basic Usage

new GW_List_Field_As_Choices( array(
 'form_id' => 1,
 'list_field_id' => 2,
 'choice_field_ids' => 3
) );

Enable Alphanumeric Sorting for Choices

new GW_List_Field_As_Choices( array(
 'form_id' => 1,
 'list_field_id' => 2,
 'choice_field_ids' => 3,
 'sort' => true
) );

Populate Multiple Fields

new GW_List_Field_As_Choices( array(
  'form_id' => 384,
 'list_field_id' => 3,
 'choice_field_ids' => array( 6, 7 )
) );

Customize the Choice Label and Value

new GW_List_Field_As_Choices( array(
 'form_id' => 384,
 'list_field_id' => 2,
 'choice_field_ids' => array( 4, 5 ),
 'label_template' => '{Name} <span style="color:#999;font-style:italic;">({Age})</span>',
 'value_template' => '{Name}'
) );

Combine this functionality with Gravity Forms Auto List Field!

Auto List Field auto-syncs the number of rows in a List field with a Number or Quantity field value. It can also count the number of List field rows and use that value in Gravity Forms List field calculations.

This allows you to automatically add or subtract new List field rows based on the number value in another field!

Parameters

The form_id, list_field_id, and choice_field_ids parameters are required. The snippet will fail silently; no error message is displayed.

  • form_id (integer) (required) The form ID of your form.
  • list_field_id (integer) (required) The field ID of the List field whose submitted values will be used to populate the choice fields.
  • choice_field_ids (integer|array) (required) The field ID or fields IDs of the choice-based field(s) that will be populated from the user-entered List field values.
  • label_template (string) (optional) Template used to determine how the user-entered data from the List field is used to generate the label of each choice in the choice field. Defaults to ‘{0}’. See Label Template below for more information on this.
  • value_template (string) (optional) Description. Defaults to value of label_template parameter. See Value Template below for more information on this.

Label Template

Let’s say our List field has two columns: “Name” and “Age”. Now we’ll imagine the user has entered the following data into the list field:

David|26
Laura|27
Lee|19

The default generated choices would be:

David
Laura
Lee

Using the label_template parameter, we can add additional user-entered data to the label. Simply use the name of the List field column to indicate which data you would like to display.

Template
'{Name}, {Age}'

Choice Labels
David, 26
Laura, 27
Lee, 19

You can also add formatting to further style and customize the choice label.

Template
'{Name} ({Age})'

Choice Labels
David (26)
Laura (27)
Lee (19)

Value Template

The value of the choice field will default to the label unless you provide a value_template. This parameter works in the same way as the label_template. Having separate settings for the label and value templates allows you to have a choice label like “David (26)” with a value like “David“.

Value Template for Pricing Fields

If you want to populate a choice-based pricing field, you will need to format the value_template like so:

value|price

Here is an example with actual values:

{Name}|5.25

Summary

What do you think? This is a pretty cool snippet, huh? As always, if you use it and like it, let me know!

Did this resource help you do something awesome with Gravity Forms?

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Comments

  3. Lee says

    Your free snippets have helped me immensely to accomplish things my large budget competitors pay through the nose to develop. I am going to buy your perks out of sheer gratitude.

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      I’m really glad to hear that, Lee! Both that we’ve been a help to you and that we get to have you as a Gravity Perks customer. :)

  4. a-t-i says

    Hi David,

    This is a great snippet! Would it be used unicode column names of field list? Could you help me to modify the code to be able to use unicode in the Field list ‘label_template’ and ‘value_template’?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • a-t-i says

      Hi,

      In your example the name of the column is {Name} and {Age} that is also the name of the column of the Field list (also the label displayed on the form). I would like to use ‘Járatszám’ as column name in the Field list, which implies to have {Járatszám} in your code as ‘label_template’ and also ‘value_template’. However, using unicode character the snippet does not work (fine with English characters). I hope it clarifies the issue that I have.

      Regards, a-t-i

  5. Sam Mitzmann says

    Would this snippet be able to populate to multiple form? I have a radio button field that has trip dates in it. I would like to 1. Populate the field choices from one area (either from a form field or custom post type) so the choices can be used on multiple forms with that trip date field. 2. Disable the choices after trip deadline has passed so people cannot choose those dates, deleting the choices messes up the past entries. A more advances option would be to add an expiration to each choice so that they disable on their own.

    Reply

  6. aaron says

    Can this snippet be used to get data from multple lists and add them to one field? Ie: I have three list fields that all have ‘Name’. I want to then get them to check if any of the ‘Names’ want a coffee. So I need to combine 3 lists into one checkbox list.

    And to add to the confusion, I’d like the checkboxes to be a product/option field.

    Possible?

    Reply

  7. michael loewenberg says

    Hi. I’ve built a Team Order Portal for my client so that Team Managers can order multiple meals for their players on a single form. I used the List field with drop downs and the form uses a sticky function to present the registered user with the last order placed. Currently the meals are delivered COD.

    Now my client wants to offer the option to pay for the order with a credit card. Does one of the perks allow the counting of the number of list fields in a way that can be captured by a GF field (Number?) so we can charge the client. It’s not clear to me how I can count the number of meals entered into the List field. The URL for the form is http://americanburrito.com/team-order-portal/

    Thanks for your help

    Reply

  8. Edi Michael says

    Hi David, Quite remarkable snippet here! I wonder if it’s possible to do that reversely: To populate the multiselect box or multi-dropdown values to a list field? If that’s possible, can you do that or can I hire you to achieve this function? Thanks in advance! Edi

    Reply

  9. Mike Eslick says

    Hey David,

    Would it be possible to use one column of a multiple-column list field to populate a drop-down (created using the ‘Drop Down List Field for Gravity Forms’ plugin by Adrian Gordon) inside another multiple-column list field?

    Regards,

    Phil Meyer (for Mike Eslick)

    Reply

  10. Jon Watson says

    Hey David!

    I’m having a bit of an issue with this one… Essentially, the form is working fine for logged in users, but for everyone else it’s stuck on the first page.

    When I tested it as admin it worked perfectly. But I’ve just had someone else try it and it just refreshes the first page of the form, instead of progressing to the second…

    http://www.jonandstevewedding.com/test/

    Any idea what might be going on here?

    Reply

  11. Mark Root-Wiley says

    This is a great snippet that I’m sure I’ll return to in the future. Right now, unfortunately, it seems like this can’t export the checkbox values on Import/Export > Export Entries. I’ve been running into this quite a bit as a search for a way to add dynamic and variable options to a Gravity Form in a way that can export entries.

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      Dang, you are right. This is a limitation of this snippet. Support could be added for it but I’ll hold off until more demand is expressed. Thanks for letting me know.

  12. SA says

    Thanks for this snippet,

    Got a little challenge in my usecase, how do I merge the list field with the original choice value?

    For instance, I have a choice label that says : I like to go on a date with ___ I want to insert the list field in the choice label, so I have : I like to go on a date with {Name}

    Kindly share how this can be achieved.

    Thanks.

    Reply

  13. Rose says

    Hi there!

    I am wondering if it would be possible to use these values in a calculation. They do not seem to be appearing in the formula creation in the calculations box.

    Thanks so much! Rosi

    Reply

  14. TM says

    I want to use your brilliant snippet to dynamically populate a choice based pricing field based on a backend query that returns a “value | price” not from a list field ID.

    We are using a GF hook (gform_post_render function) to send our ajax request to be queried by our custom script, and then, returned with choices with value | price values.

    Do you think that’s doable?

    Reply

  15. Brij Raj Singh says

    Hi There,

    I’m using this extension and I’m facing a problem with my requirement. I’m using List (advanced Field Type) to add multiple input fields and radio button. I’m able to add multiple input boxes but I’m unable to add radio box along with.

    For instance, please visit and you will notice that you can add more than one member using this form. https://demos.gravitywiz.com/use-list-field-as-choices-for-gravity-forms/ This allows us to populate textbox only. I have to use radio, for e.g., you are using name and age here, I need name, age, gender(using radio button).

    I guess I’m clear with the requirement. Is this possible with your extension or not, if yes, then who I can do that. Any help is highly appreciated.

    Many Thanks!

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      Hi Brij, I assume you mean that you’re converting one of the columns on the List field to use a radio button rather than a text input? If so, I would still expect this to work. Could you share an export of your form?

  16. Michelle says

    Hi Again,

    I have another question. I have two different sponsorship types – TIC Sponsorship & Guest Sponsorship. Within each sponsorship you can choose a package – Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc. These packages cost different amounts depending on the sponsorship. Once the user picks the package, they can sign up their players and go to the next page to choose which players to add on to some extra events (at extra cost).

    When I click the first first package, add my team members, and go to the next page, all the member’s names are populated and once a checkbox is clicked, the value i’ve set updates the total. However, when I click the second package (Guest), I enter team members, go the the next page, and all my team members are there but the total is not being calculated. When I check a checkbox, nothing happens. The value doesn’t seem to be passed to the “total” field.

    Here’s the code i’m using: Snippet And here’s my form export: Form Export

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      Hi Michelle, the first thing I saw is that the value template should not include a space between the value and the price: {First Name} | $75.00 should be {First Name}|$75.00.

    • Michelle says

      Hi David,

      Thanks for getting back to me. I changed the value spacing as per your comment and am still getting {First Name} in my notifications. I have also set {all_fields:value} in the notification settings to try to pull that value in. Any other suggestions? Thanks again for your help!

  17. Michelle says

    Thank you for this, works great! One question – In the entries and notifications from the form, I’m getting {First Name} (the value I set for the checkboxes) rather than the actual name that was entered by the user. Is there a way to change this so I can see the actual name entered?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      Thanks for the quick reply. Heres a link to my export Let me know if you want me to email that to you. I’m using multiple lists and checkboxes with this code so I have multiple IDs. I have conditional logic set up so a certain list shows up depending on what was chosen in a dropdown. Then on the next page, different checkbox fields will show up depending on what was chosen in that same dropdown as well.

      Here’s a link to my snippet so you can see all the ids that are being called. Hopefully that’s helpful.

      Thanks!

    • Michelle says

      Hi,

      I sent a reply a few days ago with links to the code you requested. Want to make sure you got it.

      Thanks

  18. Shane Richardson says

    Thanks David. Your snippets and perks have helped me accomplish unthinkable things in the past and I’m hoping this snippet can help me today. I have an event form. I want a user to be able to add multiple attendees via a List and checkout. Within the list, the user will select via drop-down if the attendee is a member or non-member. There is a different value for each. I would then like it to total up the attendees within the list. Can this snippet accomplish this somehow? Thanks!

    Reply

  19. Ilan says

    Your article has given me the hope that i can achieve what i want, however i dont know how.

    I have this form. http://www.sydneyjewishcommunity.com.au/tehilim-signup/

    In short once a user signs up and select any amount of the checkboxes on the form i would like that these checkboxes either become greyed out or hidden from the list.

    I have contacted GF support and they have no snippet to achieve this. Maybe you can help me here.

    Reply

  20. Mikkel says

    I’ve build a large booking-form with a list element. But there are no +/- buttons, only two underscores ( _ ) where the buttons are supposed to be.

    I can’t link to the site as it is still under development (password protected), but have a look at this screenshot: http://take.ms/se0un

    Also this is the code being outputted:

    Why is it showing the image ‘blankspace.png’? I’ve looked in gravityforms/images, and as far as I can see, the correct files are there: add.png remove.png

    Another question is how to replace these icons with either an iconfont, or svg files (for HiRes-compatibility).

    Thanks.

    Reply

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