I am trying to get a varchar message from a database to display the selected values of a checkbox field in a jsp for patient's medication's dosage frequency. The possible values will be saved in comma-delimited string in the varchar. For most form fields there is simply a one form value to one database field ratio, but in this case, I am needing to merge the values that would come as a string[] into the comma-delimited string and then when retrieving that record for that medication of that patient, display the selected values from the comma-delimited string as selected from the selectableDosageFrequencyList. You assistance in this is greatly appreciated as I am not sure what I am missing here. In the application context, I created the list of possible values as part of the ServiceBean. <property name="selectableDosageFrequencyList"> <set> <value>On an empty stomach</value> <value>Every other day</value> <value>4 times daily</value> <value>3 times daily</value> <value>Twice daily</value> <value>At bedtime</value> <value>With meal</value> <value>As needed</value> <value>Once daily</value> </set> </property> This is set up in the flow as requestscope. <view-state id="addEditMedication" model="medication"> <on-render> <set name="requestScope.selectableDosageFrequencyList" value="memberService.buildSelectableDosageFrequencyList(patient)" /> </on-render> ... <transition on="next" to="assessment" > <evaluate expression="memberService.updateMedication(patient, medication)" /> </transition> </view-state> I have helper methods in the memberService that need to be executed when the form is init and then when the form is completed. //get the form fields selected and build the new string for db public String setSelectedDosageFrequency(String [] dosageFrequencies){ String frequencies = null; if (dosageFrequencies != null){ for (String s : dosageFrequencies){ frequencies = frequencies + "," + s; } } return frequencies; } //get value from database and build selected Set public LinkedHashSet<String> getSelectedDosageFrequencyList(String dosageFrequency){ String copyOfDosages =dosageFrequency;//may not need to do this LinkedHashSet<String> setofSelectedDosageFrequency = new LinkedHashSet<String> (); while (copyOfDosages!= null && copyOfDosages.length()>0){ for (String aFrequency: selectableDosageFrequencyList){ if (copyOfDosages.contains(aFrequency)){ setofSelectedDosageFrequency.add(aFrequency); if (!copyOfDosages.equals(aFrequency) && copyOfDosages.endsWith(aFrequency)){ copyOfDosages.replaceAll(","+aFrequency, ""); }else if (!copyOfDosages.equals(aFrequency) && copyOfDosages.contains(aFrequency=",")){ copyOfDosages.replaceAll(aFrequency+",", ""); }else copyOfDosages.replaceAll(aFrequency, ""); copyOfDosages.trim(); } } } return setofSelectedDosageFrequency; } The Medication class that backs the form will have a variable for dosage-frequency as a string. private String dosageFrequency; The jsp I currently am doing this. <div class="formField"> <form:label path="dosageFrequency">Dosage Frequency</form:label> <ul class="multi-column double" style="width: 550px;"> <form:checkboxes path="dosageFrequency" items="${selectableDosageFrequencyList}" itemLabel="${selectableDosageFrequencyList}" element="li" /> </ul> </div>