Help: Adding or changing a rule

Validation rules

A rule is either a test on a record (when some fields hold, another field must pass a test, such as NumUnits is greater than 0 when MeasAppType equals 'AR') or a constraint on one field (filled in, a number, at most so many characters, a code of a value list, within a range). Choose the kind, then fill in that part of the form; the other part is ignored.

The checker runs the rule once on a blank record before it is saved, so a rule it cannot run is never saved. A rule's ID is worked out from its test, so a changed test gives the rule a new ID that records the one it replaces. Leave the message and fix blank to have them written from the test.

How to

• Choose the kind of rule, whether a failing record is rejected or warned, the table and the field.
• For a test on a record, choose the test and its value, and any conditions that pick out the records it applies to.
• For a constraint on one field, choose what the field must be and what that constraint needs.
• Give the reason, then Add the rule or Save the change.

A tour of the page

On the page, the (?) beside the heading opens this help, and Take a tour of this page shows these steps one at a time beside the part of the page each describes. Some steps are only for parts that some people see, or that only some pages of this kind have.

1. What the rule tests

   The kind of rule, its severity, the table and the field.

2. A test on a record

   The test, its value and up to five conditions; read when the kind is a test on a record.

3. A constraint on one field

   What the field must be; read when the kind is a constraint on one field.

4. What a filer reads

   The message and fix a filer sees (blank to write them from the test), the modules that apply the rule and your reason.

5. Help on every page

   The question mark beside a page's heading opens this page's guide and its tour. All of Help, with the user guides and how to get support, is in the header.