PDF Radio Button Editor — Single-Select Groups

A checkbox and a radio button may both look like small click targets on a PDF page, but they behave very differently. Checkboxes can represent booleans or multi-select choices. Radio buttons represent one selected option inside a mutually exclusive group. If a system treats both field types the same way, the single-select behavior starts to break down as soon as real data touches the form.

That is why DullyPDF now treats radio fields as their own first-class template metadata instead of relying on checkbox hints. The template needs to know which options belong together, which option key each widget represents, and how one selected value should be resolved later.

Once the radio group is explicit, the same metadata can drive multiple workflows cleanly. Search & Fill can choose one option key from a row value. API Fill can expose the same expectation in the published schema. Fill By Web Form Link can translate the single-select choice into the right downstream PDF behavior without inventing a second model for respondent questions.

That consistency matters because radio fields often represent business-critical selections: employment status, coverage class, marital status, application type, or other mutually exclusive answers. Those fields need a stronger contract than a visual checkbox guess.

The best QA loop is to test one option from each radio group, then retest the same template with a different option from the same group. That confirms the group is actually single-select and that no old option stays active after refill. If a template passes that check across the important groups, the radio behavior is usually production-safe.

Radio QA also becomes easier once the inspector shows the group key and option key directly. You are validating explicit metadata instead of trying to infer what the PDF author meant later.