Invalid value for unchecked checkboxes

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Using webtest.forms to check the forms generated by my views, the value of a checkbox is None when the checkbox is not checked.

Here is a very simple reproducer.

First, create a checkboxes folder, with acheckboxes/__init__.py file in it, containing the following:

from pyramid.config import Configurator


def home_view(request):
    return {'active': 'id1'}


def main(global_config, **settings):
    config = Configurator(settings=settings)
    config.include('pyramid_jinja2')

    config.add_route('home', '/')
    config.add_view(
        '.home_view', route_name='home',
        renderer='home.jinja2')

    return config.make_wsgi_app()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    from webtest import TestApp

    app = TestApp(main({}, **{}))
    response = app.get('/')

    form = response.forms['home-form']
    checkboxes = form.fields['checkboxes']

    assert checkboxes[0].id == 'id1'
    assert checkboxes[0].checked == True
    assert checkboxes[0].value == 'value1'

    assert checkboxes[1].id == 'id2'
    assert checkboxes[1].checked == False
    assert checkboxes[1].value == 'value2'

In addition, create the checkboxes/home.jinja2 template file, containing the following:

<html>
  <body>
    <form id="home-form">
      <ul>
        <li><input type="checkbox" id="id1" name="checkboxes" value="value1" {% if active == 'id1' %}checked="checked"{% endif %}></li>
        <li><input type="checkbox" id="id2" name="checkboxes" value="value2" {% if active == 'id2' %}checked="checked"{% endif %}></li>
      </ul>
  </body>
</html>

Install pyramid, pyramid_jinja2 and webtest, then run python checkboxes/__init__.py:

$ python checkboxes/__init__.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "checkboxes/__init__.py", line 35, in <module>
    assert checkboxes[1].value == 'value2'
AssertionError

Why is the checkbox value not what is set in the DOM? This makes testing harder.

We found that checkboxes[1]._value == 'value2' which is the correct value. But using private attributes doesn't feel right.

Reproduce the issue with checkboxes/init.py and checkboxes/home.jinja2, then trace how webtest.forms exposes checkbox values. Compare the public value with the private _value shown in the report. Done means an unchecked checkbox exposes its DOM value through the public API and the reproducer assertions pass.

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