Question

I have a bunch of values from checkboxes that are boolean. Al I want to do is set them to yes if they are 1 and no if they are 0.

My code fails, looks ok to me?

$item =  $form_state['values']['item1'] == 1 ? 'Yes' : 'No';

Answer 1

If your checkboxes have value attribute equal to 1, it should be OK:

<input ... type="checkbox" value="1" />

If you have not set these values or in all the cases you may just check, if they exists in $_GET or $_POST array (assuming $form_state is taken from there):

$item = isset($form_state['values']['item1']) ? 'Yes' : 'No';

The above example, should works for you. Keep in mind radio buttons and check boxes will not be set in $_GET or $_POST if they are not selected, at all, which also may generate Notice or Warning, if trying to access non-existing index.

In older versions of php you might need to use $_REQUEST.