Use the validate error action to prevent inconsistent data from being saved. In certain situations, validation should be performed and if the validation fails, an error displays preventing you from continuing. This action can only be called from a User-Initiated Alerts application.
The Validate Error alert uses the Conditions column to evaluate if the user input is erroneous and the Description column to serve as the error message. Both of these fields are found in the Action grid.
For example, you have two user-defined fields: Status and End Date. If a user changes the status to Completed, 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:
Status = Completed
End Date = is Null (empty)
In the 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 the 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.
If you only want to warn the user, rather than stop them from saving the record, use the Validate Warning action.
Create a Validate Error Action for a Workflow
Create a Validate Warning Action for a Workflow