Streamlit multiple Checkboxes with one allowed Selection

Question

I want to make multiple checkboxes in streamlit like in this image below.

Screenshot Checkboxes

But I want the behavior, that just on checkbox can be selected. That means, if a checkbox is selected and you select another one that cancels out the first selection.

I also tried it out with st.radio, but the problem there is that I can't have no selection and it doesn't fulfill my use case.

Answer 1

The simplest could be to use st.radio with another radio Show All or Show Nothing

With st.checkbox you could use on_change to run code which set False on other checkboxes.

Every checkbox needs unique key, and it has to send this key to on_check.

It also need to keep all keys on list - to use it late to uncheck all other checkboxes

---

Minimal working code:

import streamlit as st

def on_change_checkbox(current_key):
    #print('current_key:', current_key)

    # uncheck all checkboxes except current
    for key in checkbox_keys:
        if key != current_key:
            st.session_state[key] = False

checkbox_keys = []

key = 'cb pdf'
st.checkbox('Select PDF', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key,))
checkbox_keys.append(key)

key = 'cb database'
st.checkbox('Select Database', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key,))
checkbox_keys.append(key)

key = 'cb something else'
st.checkbox('Select Something Else', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key,))
checkbox_keys.append(key)

---

Example which use dictionary with lists to group checkboxes

#!/usr/bin/env python3

"""
# author: Bartlomiej "furas" Burek (https://blog.furas.pl)
# date: 2024.06.20
# [python - Streamlit multiple Checkboxes with one allowed Selection - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78647325/streamlit-multiple-checkboxes-with-one-allowed-selection/78648360#78648360)
"""

import streamlit as st

def on_change_checkbox(current_key, group):
    print('current_key:', current_key, group)

    # uncheck all checkboxes except current
    for key in checkbox_keys[group]:
        if key != current_key:
            st.session_state[key] = False

checkbox_keys = {}

# ----

st.text('Source')

checkbox_keys['Source'] = []

key = 'cb source pdf'
st.checkbox('Select PDF', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Source'))
checkbox_keys['Source'].append(key)

key = 'cb source database'
st.checkbox('Select Database', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Source'))
checkbox_keys['Source'].append(key)

key = 'cb source something else'
st.checkbox('Select Something Else', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Source'))
checkbox_keys['Source'].append(key)

# ----

st.text('Target')

checkbox_keys['Target'] = []

key = 'cb target pdf'
st.checkbox('Select PDF', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Target'))
checkbox_keys['Target'].append(key)

key = 'cb target database'
st.checkbox('Select Database', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Target'))
checkbox_keys['Target'].append(key)

key = 'cb target something else'
st.checkbox('Select Something Else', key=key, on_change=on_change_checkbox, args=(key, 'Target'))
checkbox_keys['Target'].append(key)

---

With st.radio you may only add button which assigns None and this will clear selection.

import streamlit as st

def clear_radio(current_key):
    #print('current_key:', current_key)

    # uncheck radio
    st.session_state[current_key] = None


key = 'r select'
st.radio('Select:', key=key, index=None, options=['Select PDF', 'Select Database', 'Select Something Else'])
st.button('Clear', on_click=clear_radio, args=(key,))