Any way to pass a checkbox value in Freeform (not Pro version)?

Question

I have a contact form that has a checkbox so the user can choose to also be added to the newsletter subscription with their contact form submission. Basically this just needs to post a value of "y" and the client manually adds them to their mailing list.

The free version of Freeform no longer has a checkbox fieldtype (Freeform 3.x did). Freeform Pro is an awesome addon, but the only added feature I need is the checkbox field type.

Has anyone figured out a way to pass the value of a checkbox field with the free version?

I tried the Freeform Values extension: https://github.com/stovepot/freeform_values.ee_addon but I wasn't able to get it to work at all - and there is no support for it (bummer). Basically the tag I used {freeform:value:optin_check} shows up in the html output instead of a value.

I thought maybe I could take the value of the checkbox and pass it to a hidden text field, something like this:

<input type="checkbox" id="optin_check" name="optin_check" value="Yes">
<input type="hidden" id="optin" name="optin" value="">

What I tried with the above extension:

<input type="checkbox" id="optin_check" name="optin_check" value="Yes">
<input type="hidden" id="optin" name="optin" value="{freeform:value:optin_check}">

Any ideas on how I could get something like this to work?

Complete Freeform code in my template:

{exp:freeform:form
    collection="Contact"
    return="/contact/thanks"
    inline_errors="yes"
    require_captcha="yes" 
    inline_error_return="contact/error"
    admin_notify="[email protected]"
    template="contact_us"
    form:id="contact-us"    
}

    <p>
        <label for="first_name" class="left">First Name<br>
            <input type="text" value="" name="first_name" id="first_name">
        </label>
        
        <label for="last_name">Last Name<br>
            <input type="text" value="" name="last_name" id="last_name">
        </label>
    </p>
            
    <p>
        <label for="email" class="left">Email<br>
            <input type="email" value="" name="email" id="email">
        </label>
        
        <label for="confirm_email">Confirm Email<br>
            <input type="email" value="" name="confirm_email" id="confirm_email">
        </label>    
    </p>
            
    <p>
        <label for="user_message">Message<br>
            <textarea rows="10" cols="20" id="user_message" name="user_message">
            </textarea>
        </label>
    </p>
    
    <p class="checkbox left">
        <input type="checkbox" checked="checked" name="optin_check[]" value="Yes">
        <label for="optin_check" class="checker">
            Yes, sign me up to recieve the newsletter!
        </label>
        <input type="hidden" id="optin" name="optin" class="optin" value="">
    </p>
    {if captcha}
    <p class="captcha">
        <label class="long">
        Please answer the security question<span class="required">*</span><br>
        {captcha} &nbsp;&nbsp; <input type="text" name="captcha" id="captcha">
        </label>
    </p>
    {/if}                           
    <p class="left">
        <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Submit">
    </p>
        
{/exp:freeform:form}  

And here's a screenshot for the visual:

Answer 1

How about trying this on it's own (without a hidden input field) using the freeform_values addon:

<input type="checkbox" name="optin" value="Y" {if '{freeform:value:optin}' == 'Y'}checked{/if}>

Just be sure that the name of your checkbox field is in fact "optin".

Does that work?

Answer 2

Try changing:

<input type="checkbox" id="optin_check" name="optin_check" value="Yes">

to :

<input type="checkbox" id="optin_check" name="optin_check[]" value="Yes">

Answer 3

I made it work with {freeform:field:my_newsletter} as my_newsletter is the name of the newsletter.