Validate Error Action for Workflows
Use the Validate Error action to prevent inconsistent data from being saved. This action is only available for user initiated workflows.
In certain situations, validation should be performed (for example, one action was performed without a consequential action. If the validation fails, an error will display, preventing the user from continuing. This alert should be used where you want users to conform to the business rules of the company.
If you want to warn the user, rather than stop the user from saving the record, use the Validate Warning action. For example, assume that you have two user-defined fields: Status and End Date. If a user changes the Status to Completed, then you want it to be required that the user fill in the End Date before they are allowed to save the record. So you can have a Validate Error action check when the conditions are:
In our example, the Validate Error action would find a match and stop the save. If the Validate Error action does not find a match (the user entered information in both the Status and End Date fields before saving the record), the Validate Error action does nothing else.
The Description field allows you to enter a message that will be sent to the user when Validate Error finds a match, such as "You need to enter a date in the End Date field before you can save the record." The Description field is required for this action. The Conditions field in the Actions grid is required, since at least one condition must be defined for this action.