SelectOption Class

A SelectOption object specifies one of the possible values for a Visualforce selectCheckboxes, selectList, or selectRadio component. It consists of a label that is displayed to the end user, and a value that is returned to the controller if the option is selected. A SelectOption can also be displayed in a disabled state, so that a user cannot select it as an option, but can still view it.

Instantiation

In a custom controller or controller extension, you can instantiate a SelectOption in one of the following ways:

```
SelectOption option = new SelectOption(value, label, isDisabled);
```
where value is the String that is returned to the controller if the option is selected by a user, label is the String that is displayed to the user as the option choice, and isDisabled is a Boolean that, if true, specifies that the user cannot select the option, but can still view it.
```
SelectOption option = new SelectOption(value, label);
```
where value is the String that is returned to the controller if the option is selected by a user, and label is the String that is displayed to the user as the option choice. Because a value for isDisabled is not specified, the user can both view and select the option.

Methods

The SelectOption methods are all called by and operate on a particular instance of SelectOption.

The table below describes the instance methods for SelectOption.

Name	Arguments	Return Type	Description
`getDisabled`		Boolean	Returns the current value of the SelectOption object's `isDisabled` attribute. If `isDisabled` is set to `true`, the user can view the option, but cannot select it. If `isDisabled` is set to `false`, the user can both view and select the option.
`getEscapeItem`		Boolean	Returns the current value of the SelectOption object's `itemEscaped` attribute. If `itemEscaped` is set to `true`, sensitive HTML and XML characters are escaped in the HTML output generated by this component. If `itemEscaped` is set to `false`, items are rendered as written.
`getLabel`		String	Returns the option label that is displayed to the user.
`getValue`		String	Returns the option value that is returned to the controller if a user selects the option.
`setDisabled`	Boolean `isDisabled`	Void	Sets the value of the SelectOption object's `isDisabled` attribute. If `isDisabled` is set to `true`, the user can view the option, but cannot select it. If `isDisabled` is set to `false`, the user can both view and select the option.
`setEscapeItem`	Boolean `itemsEscaped`	Void	Sets the value of the SelectOption object's `itemEscaped` attribute. If `itemEscaped` is set to `true`, sensitive HTML and XML characters are escaped in the HTML output generated by this component. If `itemEscaped` is set to `false`, items are rendered as written.
`setLabel`	String `l`	Void	Sets the value of the option label that is displayed to the user.
`setValue`	String `v`	Void	Sets the value of the option value that is returned to the controller if a user selects the option.

Example

The following example shows how a list of SelectOptions objects can be used to provide possible values for a selectCheckboxes component on a Visualforce page. In the following custom controller, the getItems method defines and returns the list of possible SelectOption objects:

public class sampleCon {

 	String[] countries = new String[]{};

 	public PageReference test() {
 	 	return null;
 	}

 	public List<SelectOption> getItems() {
 	 	List<SelectOption> options = new List<SelectOption>();
 	 	options.add(new SelectOption('US','US'));
 	 	options.add(new SelectOption('CANADA','Canada'));
 	 	options.add(new SelectOption('MEXICO','Mexico'));
 	 	return options;
  	}

 	public String[] getCountries() {
  	 	return countries;
 	}

 	public void setCountries(String[] countries) {
 	 	this.countries = countries;
 	}

}

In the following page markup, the <apex:selectOptions> tag uses the getItems method from the controller above to retrieve the list of possible values. Because <apex:selectOptions> is a child of the <apex:selectCheckboxes> tag, the options are displayed as checkboxes:

<apex:page controller="sampleCon">
 	<apex:form>
 	 	<apex:selectCheckboxes value="{!countries}">
 	 	 	<apex:selectOptions value="{!items}"/>
 	 	</apex:selectCheckboxes><br/>
 	 	<apex:commandButton value="Test" action="{!test}" rerender="out" status="status"/>
 	</apex:form>
 	<apex:outputPanel id="out">
 	 	<apex:actionstatus id="status" startText="testing...">
 	 	 	<apex:facet name="stop">
 	 	 	 	<apex:outputPanel>
 	 	 	 	 	<p>You have selected:</p>
 	 	 	 	 	<apex:dataList value="{!countries}" var="c">{!c}</apex:dataList>
 	 	 	 	</apex:outputPanel>
 	 	 	</apex:facet>
 	 	</apex:actionstatus>
 	</apex:outputPanel>
</apex:page>