Question

Difficulty: HardValidation Rules and Data Quality Enforcement

Match each data quality business requirement on standard or custom objects with the correct Salesforce validation rule formula function or logic pattern used to enforce it.

  • Detect whether a field value has been modified during an update, preventing the validation rule from firing on unchanged records.ISCHANGED(Field_Name__c)
  • Retrieve the previous value of a field prior to an update to ensure a numeric metric cannot be decreased.PRIORVALUE(Field_Name__c)
  • Verify if a text or lookup field is null or contains no value, ensuring robust cross-type empty checks.ISBLANK(Field_Name__c)
  • Evaluate the value of a single-select picklist field inside a validation formula expression.ISPICKVAL(Picklist_Field__c, "Target_Value")

Answer

Each business requirement maps to its corresponding formula function: ISCHANGED checks for field modifications, PRIORVALUE inspects the pre-save value, ISBLANK checks for missing values, and ISPICKVAL tests picklist selections.
Each validation rule requirement corresponds directly to its standard Salesforce formula function: ISCHANGED determines if a field value changed in the current save transaction, PRIORVALUE retrieves the field value immediately preceding the current edit, ISBLANK detects empty or null states across field types, and ISPICKVAL evaluates picklist field options.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze requirement for detecting modifications during record updates
Identify that ISCHANGED returns true whenever the field value changes during an update transaction.
Prevents validation errors from triggering when users save records without altering the target field.
2
Analyze requirement for comparing past and present field values
Identify that PRIORVALUE retrieves the value prior to modification, allowing expressions like Field__c < PRIORVALUE(Field__c).
Enforces business rules preventing reductions in fields such as credit limits or amounts.
3
Analyze requirement for null and empty value evaluation
Identify that ISBLANK correctly handles empty text strings and null lookups, unlike NULLVALUE or ISNULL.
Ensures reliable data entry checks across various Salesforce field types.
4
Analyze picklist field comparison requirements
Identify that picklist fields cannot be directly evaluated with text operators and require ISPICKVAL or TEXT.
Maintains strict formula syntax compliance for picklist data types.

Key Concept

Salesforce Validation Rule Formula Functions for Data Quality Enforcement
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