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Rules and validations

Set field values on save with rules, or block invalid records with validations.

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Rules​

Rules are automations that set the value of a field in a record when it’s saved. While the use cases for rules aren’t common, they can be useful for situations like these:

  • Ensure the values in records are valid when they are saved.
  • Reduce tedious data entry.
  • Create a compound unique constraint to ensure records within an object are unique.

Examples of rules​

  • Automatically populate the name field in a record with the owner’s last name.
  • Clear the value in a field when saving a record.
  • When saving an invoice line item, automatically populate the owner’s name with the name of the person who owns the related invoice.
  • When saving a record for an opportunity with a contract value of more than $100,000, automatically mark it as an enterprise deal.
  • When saving a record for a class signup, use a rule to concatenate the name of a student with the name of a class and populate it in the name field of the record, then mark the field as unique. The student will only be able to sign up for the class one time because they will not be able to create a signup record with a duplicate name.

You can also use a rule to populate the name field from a formula, or to enforce a one-to-one relationship.

How rules are applied​

Rules will be applied when a record is saved anywhere in Rippling, including the following:

  • In Catalog
  • In a custom app
  • Via API

Apply a rule on record create, update, or both​

When you create a rule, you can choose whether it applies when records are created, updated, or both.

If you create a rule that’s applied when records are updated, you can also choose more granular logic for when the rule will apply:

  • Any time the record is updated and it meets the conditions. For example, say you set up a rule to mark a project as high priority when its contract value is more than $10,000. Any project record that gets saved and has a value of more than $10,000 will get set to high priority, regardless of which field you change in the record.
  • Only when it is updated to meet the conditions. In this case, project records will only get marked as high priority if the contract value is changed to be more than $10,000. If the contract value is already more than $10,000 and you change some other field in the record, it will not get marked as high priority.

Rules only apply when saving a record​

Rules only fire on the specific record(s) that are being saved. They do not fire for records that already exist if they are not actively being created or updated. For example, say you create a new rule to populate the owner of a record whenever it is created or updated.

  • When you add a new record, its name field will be automatically populated with the value you specify.
  • However, the rule will NOT be applied to existing records. You must attempt to update and save them before the rule will be applied and the name will be updated in those records.

Order in which rules are applied​

The rules you create are not guaranteed to be executed in any particular order, regardless of the order they appear on the Rules tab.

For records requiring approval, rules fire twice​

If you’ve set up policies that require records to be approved, rules will fire twice:

  • Once when the change to the record is requested.
  • A second time when the change is approved.

This is because records aren’t finalized until after they receive approval. For more information, see Approvals for custom objects.

Validations​

Validations are policies that will prevent records in custom objects from being saved based on conditions you define.

Validations are helpful to ensure the data that gets added to Rippling is clean and valid. Validations are hard and fast rules that cannot be broken, unlike approval policies, which give approvers the power to decide whether or not changes to records will be allowed. For more information, see Approvals for custom objects.

Examples of validations​

  • When saving a record for a line item on an invoice, reject the save if the dollar amount is higher than the maximum indicated on the invoice.
  • When saving a record for a project assignment, reject the save if the assignment start date is before the project start date.
  • When saving a record for a vehicle, reject the save if the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is not exactly 17 characters long.
  • When saving a record for a project, reject the save if the end date is before the start date.
  • When saving a record for an incident report, reject the save if the incident date is in the future.

How validations are applied​

Validations will be applied when a record is created or updated anywhere in Rippling, including the following:

  • In Catalog
  • In a custom app
  • Via API

Validations only fire on the specific record(s) that are being saved. They do not fire for records that already exist if they are not actively being created or updated. For example, say you create a new validation to limit a dollar amount.

  • When you try to add a new record that exceeds the dollar amount, you will not be able to save it.
  • However, the validation will NOT be applied to existing records that exceed the dollar amount. Even though they now have values that violate the validation check, you must attempt to update and save them before the validation will be applied to these records.

See also​

In this article: