WPAlchemy Metabox rewriting slug

Question

So here's my problem: I've created a Custom Post Type called "Projects". I've successfully added several metaboxes via WPAlchemy already. Those work fine. Where I'm having a problem is when I create a metabox with checkboxes for Related Projects, I can list out all the Project titles with checkboxes, but when I choose at least one and save the Custom post, it rewrites the Slug. I'm assuming it's because I'm calling <?php the_title(); ?>. Here is my code for the meta PHP file:

<div class="my_meta_control">

<p>Add or subtract Athena projects related to this project.</p>

<label>Available Projects</label><br/>

<?php 
    $items = new WP_Query(array(
            'post_type' => 'athena_project', 
            'posts_per_page' => 1000
    )); 
    while ( $items->have_posts() ) : $items->the_post();
?>
        <input type="checkbox" name="<?php $mb->the_name(); ?>" value="<?php echo the_title(); ?>"/><?php the_title(); ?><br />
    <?php endwhile; wp_reset_query(); ?>
    <br />
    <input type="submit" class="button-primary" name="save" value="Save" />
</div>

Does anyone have a good suggestion for getting around this problem?

Answer 1

So the solution after much cursing and pulling of hair was to ditch the WP_Query and go with get_posts instead, while referencing post_title like so:

<div class="my_meta_control">

<p>Add or subtract Athena projects related to this project.</p>

<label>Available Projects</label><br/>

<?php 
    $args = array('post_type' => 'athena_project', 'posts_per_page' => 1000);
    $items = get_posts($args);
    $mb->the_field('item', WPALCHEMY_FIELD_HINT_CHECKBOX_MULTI);

    foreach ($items as $item) { ?>
        <input type="checkbox" name="<?php $mb->the_name(); ?>" value="<?php echo $item->post_title; ?>" <?php $mb->the_checkbox_state($item->post_title); ?> /><?php echo $item->post_title; ?><br />
    <?php } ?>
    <br />
    <input type="submit" class="button-primary" name="save" value="Save" />
</div>

Now everything works beautifully.