New! Add real-time validation to fields on your form

StevenBlackburnMBA · 08/03/21

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/300020#Comment_300020

Wouldn't the contact field already be a validation itself, before this feature? It forced accurate email address entry before. This new feature can be used in alot of ways in the future. What are SmartSheet's plans to bring this to other areas of the system?

manley85am · 08/03/21

I noticed that the number validation did allow for a single "e" entry. Not sure if this happens for anyone else, but thought I'd mention.

I'm so happy to have this new feature and can't wait for more to come rolling down the line! 😍

cthrasher97141 · 08/03/21

This is a very nice and needed update, thumbs up. I am also unable to add validation to a Contact List field type, is there any ETA on the fix?

Caroline Sheldon · 08/03/21

@Aaron Manley I also found it strange that you can type a single "e" into the number field, but my developers reminded me that it is for exponential numbers for our scientist friends using forms ;) As the Help Article explains that is a valid entry in the number field.

Kelsey Seitter · 08/03/21

A much needed feature! I'm very excited to see it! 😊

Any plans for future "validation phases" to prevent users from submitting a form if a field does not meet certain criteria?

Example: Form submitters who change a Boolean field to 1 need to be redirected to another form, so a description box is shown with logic, but they can still click the "Submit" button and generate a 99% blank row in the sheet. We've been using a required file upload field to prevent almost all of these, but it makes more sense to have control through validation.

L_123 · 08/03/21

This is huge for me. I have many operators submitting quality data and had no way to enforce data entry. This was breaking several of my formulas and charts. I would like to be able to limit to a specific range, or even include x decimals in a response as well for notes going forward.

Chris Mondeau · 08/03/21

@Caroline Sheldon Great news on the update! I really like that for the number, phone, and % validation that on mobile devices the numpad shows up instead of the keyboard. Much better for field entries!

I tested out the email validation on the contact list, and it appears that the validation only shows up when there's at least one contact pre-defined as a value in the list, AND if the contact list is unrestricted:

However, when filling out the form (even with the email validation), I typed "catdog" and was able to submit even when the value did not meet the email format:

Might just be me, but it seems bugged? I'd definitely like to apply email validation on an unrestricted, and empty contact column so I can use the values in automations.

Thanks!

Matt Stofka · 08/03/21

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/300128#Comment_300128

Yeah, I can confirm this behavior that @Chris Mondeau mentioned here regarding the Contact List column. Email validation does not show up as an option until I add at least one value in the Contact List column. If I remove that value, the validation option goes away.

Otherwise, I love the new feature and I've already implemented on several forms. Thanks!

Steven Evans · 08/05/21

This is great!

Caroline Sheldon · 08/05/21

@StevenBlackburnMBA This is true, the contact list field already validated for accurate email addresses in certain scenarios for multi-select contact fields that had values to choose from, but was also unrestricted so the person filling out the form could enter their own email as well. This functionality has not changed with the addition of this new validation. However, now that we have a validation option for the contact list field, you can now choose to validate for an email address in contact lists that don't have values, or the single contact list that allows someone to enter their own instead of picking from the dropdown (unrestricted). Scenarios where users may not want to validate for email in these fields could include wanting to let people type in "N/A" or "Engineering Team" instead of an actual email for the contact. But most of the time I would say that validating for an email in the contact list field is best practice because now it will work really well with automated actions.

As for incorporating this validation into other areas of Smartsheet, which areas in particular are you interested in seeing this validation functionality?

Caroline Sheldon · 08/05/21

@Matt Stofka , @Chris Mondeau , @cthrasher97141 , @Karen Botha , @S Wood

Thank you all for your excitement for this new feature and for trying it out right away!!

So astute of you to see that the validation for contact list fields didn't quite fulling make it out to our users. We resolved that and you can now see the validation option for the following:

Contact list - single select - no values
Contact list - multi select - no values
Contact list - single select - values - not restricted (allows submitters to type in their own value)

For 'Contact list - multi select - values - not restricted' we already do email validation as a requirement because the sheet does not allow a combination of text and emails to be entered into the sheet. As a form builder you do not have the option to change the validation functionality there as it is defined by the sheet.

We are so excited for this new validation and are already adding it to our own form. Please share any other feedback with us.

Arlene C · 08/05/21

Yay! Was looking for this - can't wait for more enhancements (like number formatting graphs on dashboards to express M or K)

Bassam Khalil · 08/08/21

@Caroline Sheldon

Thanks for this great update, but please add the all countries international code and number format because i found some countries only and we are dealing with deferent list of countries than you added in phone number validation.

Caroline Sheldon · 08/09/21

@Bassam Khalil We currently support 46 common phone number formats. Can you please share the formats you are looking for that we don't currently have as an option? Thank you.

Bassam Khalil · 08/09/21

@Caroline Sheldon

The following is mobile number

Middle East:

United Arab Emirates : +971 55 1234567

Saudi Arabia : +966 530 97 3300

Kuwait: +965-23456789

Qatar: +974-56781234

Bahrain: +973-34567891

New! Add real-time validation to fields on your form

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