Mastering Checkbox Selection: A Guide to Selecting All Checkboxes with One Click
Published: 2024-05-02 09:10:15

Hi There!
How have you been doing? Are you alright? I hope so!
Today, I am going to be talking about how you can select 

multiple checkboxes with just a single checkbox.

In this post, we'll delve into the world of checkbox selection, exploring how to implement a feature that allows users to effortlessly select or deselect all checkboxes with just a single click. Whether you're a beginner or seasoned developer, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and techniques to streamline checkbox interaction in your web applications.

Join me as we uncover the ins and outs of checkbox selection and learn how to empower users with intuitive and time-saving functionality. Let's dive in!

Table Of Contents
* [Getting Started](#gettingStarted)
* [Exploring Checkboxes](#explore)
* [Selecting a Single Checkbox](#singeCheckBox)
* [Selecting All Checkboxes](#selectAll)
* [Finishing](#finishing)

##Getting Started <a name="gettingStarted"></a>
For this tutorial, I am going to be using Reactjs. If you don't know how to download reactjs, you can do so by opening up your terminal in vscode or command prompt and then run npx create-react-app my-app. NOTE: You can replace my-app with any name you want for your project.


![Create React App](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/twwj35kmwr8nkkxw7h1l.png)






##Exploring Checkboxes <a name="explore"></a>
Checkboxes are a common user interface element used in web applications for selecting multiple items at once. For example, if you were creating a website where users can select the products they want to order, it would be better and more efficient to use checkboxes beside each item so that a user can be able to select more that one product. Every input of type checkbox has a property called checked, which is a boolean value of either true or false, if it's true then a blue tick would be shown but if false it would be removed


![Products](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ip48ggd345jjx4bgc8gj.png)


In the above image, you can see a list of items but what if a user wanted to select all the items? It wouldn't be good user experience if they had to select all the items one by one, what if there were like 20 or more items? While it's straightforward to allow users to individually select checkboxes, enabling a "select all" functionality can greatly enhance user experience and efficiency.



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pcc31iqxbkk28khtkw2p.png)



##Selecting a Singe Checkbox <a name="singeCheckBox"></a>

To get started, let's write out our html code: 

```
<div>
  <div>
     <input type="checkbox" checked/>
     <p>Select All</p>
  </div>
  <div>
     <input type="checkbox" checked/>
     <p>Rice</p>
  </div>
</div>
```

As we can see above, the checked property hasn't been assigned any value yet. To do this, let's create a state and store the boolean values there and then assign it to the checked properties.

```
import {useState} from 'react'

//Create a state called checkBox which is an array that contains the initial value of the checkbox
const [checkBox, setCheckBox] = useState(false)

//Next, we assign it to the checkbox, apart from the one which would be selecting all of them
<div>
  <input type="checkbox" checked={checkBox}/>
  <p>Rice</p>
</div>
```

Now we need to add an onChange functionality, so that when the selected check box is clicked, it turns to true.

```
const handleChange = () => {
//set the checkbox to true if false and false if true
   setCheckBox(!checkBox)
}

<div>
  <input type="checkbox" checked={checkBox} onChange = {handleChange}/>
  <p>Rice</p>
</div>

```

##Selecting All Checkboxes <a name="selectAll"></a>
Now, let's work on the select all checkbox functionality

```
const {selectAll, handleSelectAll} = useState(false);

//assign the selectAll state to the checked property of the Select All
<div>
  <div>
     <input type="checkbox" checked={selectAll}/>
     <p>Select All</p>
  </div>
  <div>
  <input type="checkbox" checked={checkBox} onChange = {handleChange}/>
  <p>Rice</p>
</div>
</div>
```

Next, let's create a function to select all the checkboxes when clicked

```
const handleSelectAll = () => {
   setSelectAll(!selectAll);
}

//if selectAll is true then the other checkboxes should be true and vice-versa
const handleSelectAll = () => {
   setSelectAll(!selectAll);
   setCheckBox(selectAll)
}

//Now in the checkBox function, if all the checkBoxes are ticked then it the select all checkbox should be ticked

const handleChange = () => {
   setCheckBox(!checkBox);
   if (checkBox === true) setSelectAll(!selectAll);
//note: if there were more options to select from, the above would be different
}

```

##Finishing <a name="finishing"></a>
I hope that with this easy explanation I was able to make you understand the use of a select all checkbox and how to build it.
I hope you that you liked!
Thank you so much and stay well always!

Contacts:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/temidireowoeye/
Github: https://github.com/Temi-Dire
Email: temidireowoeye@gmail.com