[FIXED] How to get checkbox value in a Laravel controller?

Issue

I have a checkbox in my form and I want to save its value into the database. When I check it, its value will be 1 and when I uncheck it then it's value will be 0. However, in the controller, I am getting NULL all the time. But why? Is it possible to solve without jQuery?

Blade/View

<form action="{{ route('admin.categories.store') }}" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    @csrf
    <div class="form-group>
       <label>
          <input type="checkbox" name="category_is_menu"
                 value="{{ old('category_is_menu', isset($category) ? 'checked' : '') }}"/>
       </label>
    </div>
    <input class="btn btn-success" type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

Controller

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $category = new Category();
    $category->category_is_menu = $request->category_is_menu;

    return $category;
}

Unfortunately, it's giving me NULL for category_is_menu.

Solution

Either use the hidden input trick as mentioned in the other answers or just check if the input was passed at all. If it was passed at all it was checked, if its not there it was not checked:

$category->category_is_menu = $request->has('category_is_menu');

If it was checked you get true, 1, if it wasn't checked you get false, 0.

Answered By - lagbox

Answer Checked By - Willingham (PHPFixing Volunteer)