title: Spring MVC and tiles -- how to set non-boolean "true/false" to checkbox
body: <p>I have a web application with back end table has a column called <code>type</code> and another column called <code>value</code>. <code>type</code> indicates the components type (textfield, combobox, checkbox..etc), <code>value</code> is the actual value of the component, both columns are VARCHAR2.</p>
  
  <p>The challenge is, when the type is <code>combobox</code>, then the <code>value</code> of the component is either <code>true</code> or <code>false</code> in String. And I have no privilege to modify the database attribute.</p>
  
  <p>Then when I put a checkbox on the front end:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;field:checkbox field="enableEditing.setting" id="systemsetting_${formSettings.enableEditing.name}" z="user-managed"/&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get the following exception:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Attribute 'value' is required when binding to non-boolean values
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>even I make a <code>value</code> attribute in the <code>checkbox.tagx</code>, </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;field:checkbox field="enableEditing.setting" id="systemsetting_${formSettings.enableEditing.name}" value="${formSettings.enableEditing.setting}" z="user-managed"/&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I still have the same exception.</p>
  
  <p>It seems like if the field is not a <code>boolean</code> type, then there is no way to make the checkbox work.</p>
  
  <p>But I know I must break something, so please enlighten me and thanks in advance. </p>