Tip 31: How to make a field in a Zoho Creator form mandatory based on criteria

Tip 31: How to make a field in a Zoho Creator form mandatory based on criteria

Hi folks,

 

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Mandatory property available in our form builder. It enables you to ensure that your users enter an input in a required field. If they don't enter an input in that field, they'll be unable to submit the form. All you need to do is select the required field and just enable (check the box) the Mandatory property that you'll find in the Field Properties pane.



Whenever a mandatory field is left empty during form submission, a default alert message will pop up and prevent form submission.

                                                         

This remains static for all users and doesn't override on any condition. However, there is a way to bypass this and allow a form to be submitted even without the mandatory field value. This tip will help you understand how to make a field mandatory based on a particular condition or criteria.

Let's take the example of an Employee Leave Form, which employees use to apply for leave. Regardless of the number of days employees plan to take off or have already taken, they need to add a record using the Employee Leave Form while applying for leave. While entering the details, they can choose from different leave types available. By default the five basic categories are: Sick Leave, Casual Leave, Compulsory Off, On Duty, and Others. The employees can choose Others if their reason doesn't fall in any of the above choices. However, if the employee selects the Others option and submits the form, the person approving the leave needs to know the reason to either approve or reject it. 

If you mark the Leave Type field as mandatory, this wouldn't work if the user chooses the Others option. Hence, we've come up with a workaround—marking a field mandatory based on a condition using Deluge. 

Let's go through it step by step.

Step 1: Create the form, with all the required fields

First, let's create a Leave Form to capture all the details. Here, we've used the following fields:
  •  Name (Name Field)
  •  Email (Email Field)
  •  Employee ID (Single Line field)
  •  Start Date (Date Field)
  •  End Date (Date field)
  •  Leave Type (Radio Button)
  •  Reason (Multi Line Field)
Please note that the Reason field is used to enable employees to enter the reason for their leave if they select the "Others" option in the Leave Type field.




Step 2: Hide the Reason field when the form loads

 

Whenever the employee selects Others in Leave Type , they need to fill in the reason for it in the Reason  field. However, we can hide the field otherwise and show it only when the employee selects Others. To do that, we can create a simple workflow on the "Created or Edited - Load of the Form" condition using the below script.



  1. hide Reason;


Step 3: Show the Reason field only when the employee selects the Others option

 

As mentioned earlier, if the user selects the Others option in the Leave Type field, then the Reason field needs to be shown. For that, create a workflow in "Created or Edited - User input of field" on the Leave Type field using the the below script.

  1. if(input.Leave_Type == "Others")
  2. {
  3.  show Reason;
  4. }
  5. else
  6. {
  7.  hide Reason;
  8. }


Step 4: Mark the required field as mandatory using Deluge

 

Here comes the important part of configuring the Reason field as mandatory whenever the user selects Others as the leave type. For this, we can use a simple if statement to validate the leave type and prompt them to enter the reason. If the users selects the Others option, they have to enter details in the Reason field as well.

 

If the Reason field is empty, then we can display an alert asking the user to fill in the reason for their leave. Create a workflow with "Created or Edited - Validation on form submission" and this part of the workflow will get triggered once the user clicks the Submit button of the form.

  1. if(input.Leave_Type == "Others" && input.Reason == "")
  2. {
  3. alert(Reason,"Kindly mention the reason for the leave");
  4. cancel submit;
  5. }
Check the below-image to see how the validation works in the live form and the alert gets displayed. On clicking the Submit button, a validation will run to check if the Reason field is left empty. If it is empty, it will prevent form submission and an alert message will be shown in the pop-up.



In order to notify the user which field has to be filled, we're using the Inline Alert. Once the user clicks the OK button in the above error pop-up, an alert with our customized message will be displayed below the respective field, as shown in the image below.


We hope you try out this tip out for when you need to make a field mandatory based on conditions. We'll get back to you soon with another useful tip!


    Access your files securely from anywhere








                            Zoho Developer Community




                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts





                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                        Zoho Books Resources


                                                                          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                            Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                              Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                Qntrl Resources


                                                                                  Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                      Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner







                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                              Zoho Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方







                                                                                                              • Recent Topics

                                                                                                              • Bug in Zoho Cliq Signup Flow – "%s" Placeholder Visible Instead of Product Name

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho Team, I would like to report a UI bug in the Zoho Cliq signup/enable flow. During the step where Cliq asks to enable the product for the company, the following text appears: Great! Your company is already available in Zoho, so you just have to
                                                                                                              • Zoho Invoice Customer Login Portal

                                                                                                                Are there any plans for a customer portal to Zoho Invoice, ala Freshbooks?  I would like customers that I invoice to be able to login to review invoices and invoice history.  I have not switched from Freshbooks for this very reason.
                                                                                                              • Exporting tickets

                                                                                                                I went to Setup -> Organization -> Import/Export in order to export tickets but found 2 issues: 1. The email body never gets exported. 2. There are some large numbers (like 5.57E+16) under certain columns of the exported CSV file. I could not find any export options. Please can you help with this?
                                                                                                              • Editing the Ticket Properties column

                                                                                                                This is going to sound like a dumb question, but I cannot figure out how to configure/edit the sections (and their fields) in this column: For example, we have a custom "Resolution" field, which parked itself in the "Ticket Information" section of this
                                                                                                              • Copy field information to clipboard

                                                                                                                I need to be able to transfer some field information in to the clipboard, so that I can then paste it in to our helpdesk system. Is there a way I could add a button to a detail report that does this?
                                                                                                              • Issuing reconciling a bank statement

                                                                                                                HELP! I'm trying to reconcile a bank statement. The prior month reconciled perfectly. Beginning balance is correct yet I'm off by the same amount each time. Both myself and my office manager, separately and together, have tried to complete this reconciliation
                                                                                                              • Unknown table or alias 'A1'

                                                                                                                I would like to create a subquery but i am getting the following error: Unknown table or alias 'A1' used in select query. This is the sql statement:  SELECT A1.active_paying_customers, A1.active_trial_customers, A1.new_paying_signup, date(A1.date_active_customers), 
                                                                                                              • Detect and ignore bots in visitors

                                                                                                                The SalesIQ visitor numbers are basically useless to us because there is no bot detection. We get the same bots coming in from the same countries looking at the same pages every day. It can't be that difficult to tell the difference between an actual
                                                                                                              • Add Real-Time Microphone Audio-Level Indicator During Screen Recording

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement to the Zoho WorkDrive screen-recording experience. Current Limitation: During a recording session, there is no visual indication that the microphone is
                                                                                                              • Zero Personalization of the File Sharing Experience

                                                                                                                By now (2025) this is the maximum level of personalization available for a Zoho sharing link. We gently asked Zoho if we could modify at least the background, and they replied that it cannot be customized. We're truly disappointed – and surprised every
                                                                                                              • External Share > Edit: Cannot Create Zoho Files

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho, When we create an external share link with Edit permission, our external users are unable to create a Zoho file (Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet and Zoho Show). They can only upload files. They can edit the Zoho files if we create them internally and
                                                                                                              • Two factor authentication for helpdesk users

                                                                                                                The company i work for wants use the helpdesk site in Zoho desk, as a place for their distribution partners to ask question and look for information about our product. The things there is suppose to go up there is somewhat confidential between my company
                                                                                                              • Kiosk can't merge picklist or multiselect

                                                                                                                There is no ability to load a multiselect or picklikst field into a kiosk with the values that have been previously selected. So, I essentially have 3 unacceptable options: 1.)Load the value into a text string and include instructions like this: "Picklist
                                                                                                              • AGE field from DATE OF BIRTH Field.

                                                                                                                HI! I have a field called date of birth in my CRM (LEADS, CONTACT etc…)     How can I know the AGE today   I would like to create a field AGE. I now how to create a field but I don´t which calculation (CUSTOM FUCTION) to make ¿ANY HELP?
                                                                                                              • How to update/remove file in zoho creator widgets using javascript API

                                                                                                                Hi Team, I have developed a widget which allows inserting and updating records I have file upload field with multiple file upload. Now while doing insert form record, I am using uploadFile API to upload files for that record. I am using updateRecord API
                                                                                                              • Introducing Enhanced Storage Management

                                                                                                                We’re excited to roll out two new enhancements in Zoho Recruit, Subscription Information and Storage Management — designed to give admins complete visibility into subscription details, feature limits, and storage consumption — all from one place inside
                                                                                                              • Announcing new features in Trident for Windows (v.1.34.4.0)

                                                                                                                Hello Community! Trident for Windows just got better! With this update we have features that make your daily work easier and more efficient. We've added some features that are exclusive to our app and we're sure you'll find them useful. Let’s dive into
                                                                                                              • Report Hover Setting

                                                                                                                Would be great if we will able to show information to the user while hovering a record in a report.
                                                                                                              • Vertical images displayed as horizontal

                                                                                                                Some pictures that originally are in vertical position are displayed in horizontal after the upload. It seems that system rotates them by 90 degrees. How can I fix this issue?
                                                                                                              • Zoho Desk iOS app update: Saved filters and sort options

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! Saved filters created on the web(desk.zoho.com) for tickets are now accessible on the Zoho Desk iOS app. You can easily rename, delete, or clear filters on the go. We have also introduced Sort options on the ticket listing screen, allowing
                                                                                                              • Introducing VeriFactu Support in Zoho Books

                                                                                                                Hello users, Spain has introduced the VeriFactu system under Real Decreto 1007/2023 to ensure integrity, traceability, and anti-fraud compliance in e-invoicing. Starting January 1, 2026, all B2B invoices must be reported to Agencia Estatal de Administración
                                                                                                              • Big Things Just Dropped in the SalesIQ Universe: Top Upgrades You’ll Love in Nova’25

                                                                                                                Nova'25 has landed, and it’s packed with meaningful upgrades to help you engage smarter, work faster, and scale with ease. Whether you're into proactive messaging, smarter automation, or better admin control, there's something here for everyone. Here's
                                                                                                              • Time Entries in Analytics

                                                                                                                I am trying to import a zoho sheet into zoho analytics. In my sheets one of the columns has "time Entries" in this "format HH:MM am/pm" example 11:00 PM. After import, i noticed that analytics converted the time to "00 Jan 1900 23:00:00".. how do i maintain
                                                                                                              • Amazon invoice in Zoho Books

                                                                                                                I have just made my first few sales on Amazon India. Amazon Seller account generates invoices for the sales made on Amazon. These invoices are sent to customers also. Now when I was only making offline sales, I used to create Invoices in Zoho Book. Now
                                                                                                              • Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates - November 2025

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, Welcome to your monthly roundup of new features and enhancements! We hope you've already taken a look at Release Projection 2—it details the features coming your way for the rest of the year. And this month, we're excited to start rolling
                                                                                                              • Zoho Webinar + HubSpot : Simplifiez la gestion de vos données de webinaires

                                                                                                                Les webinaires sont aujourd’hui essentiels pour interagir avec vos prospects et vos clients. Cependant, la gestion des données entre plusieurs plateformes peut vite devenir complexe. Grâce à la nouvelle intégration entre Zoho Webinar et HubSpot, vos outils
                                                                                                              • I am trying to give access to one of our educators access to 3 forms in Zoho and she is not able to view the data - Access issue

                                                                                                                Hi Team, When I try to provide read access to one of our educators on Zoho for Pre-training , post training and Impact survey forms submit form access which also allows them to read , it does not show them data
                                                                                                              • How to book GST paid in zoho books

                                                                                                                hi, i am a new user to Zoho books and not able to book GST paid in books, kindly suggest how i can book it in books. thanks, siddharth
                                                                                                              • PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK (CORPORATE) INDIA - NOT AVAILABLE IN BANKING

                                                                                                                Dear sir, Kindly fix it. PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK (INDIA) is available but PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK (CORPORATE) is not available. Kindly enable this banking since we need to categorize the entries. Regards, Sanjay Jena email id/ user id : travewithmerchant@
                                                                                                              • Is it possible to create a word cloud chart in ZoHo Analystics?

                                                                                                                Hi there, I have a volume of transaction text that I would like to analyse using word cloud (or other approcah to detect and present word frequency in a dataset). For example, I have 50,000 records describing menu items in restaurants. I want to be able
                                                                                                              • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

                                                                                                                Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are
                                                                                                              • Facturation électronique 2026 - obligation dès le 1er septembre 2026

                                                                                                                Bonjour, Je me permets de réagir à divers posts publiés ici et là concernant le projet de E-Invoicing, dans le cadre de la facturation électronique prévue très prochainement. Dans le cadre du passage à la facturation électronique pour les entreprises,
                                                                                                              • Your bot just got smarter: AI-Powered routing that reads between the lines

                                                                                                                What if your bot could tell the difference? Between a visitor who just needs a quick answer, someone actively comparing options, and a frustrated customer one click away from leaving? Most bots can't. They deliver the same response to everyone, missing
                                                                                                              • Weekly Tips : Master Keyboard Shortcuts in Zoho Mail

                                                                                                                If you spend a lot of time managing emails, switching between your mouse and keyboard can slow you down. Whether you are replying to clients, organizing your inbox, or searching for messages, every second counts. So, how can you streamline your email
                                                                                                              • Introducing custom lookup fields in the Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts modules

                                                                                                                Hello all, We are excited to announce a new enhancement that will empower you to further customize the Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts modules. Now, you will be able to create custom lookup fields in your Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts layouts for more
                                                                                                              • DKIM cannot be enabled for the domain as no verified default selector present

                                                                                                                Can't get the DKIM working. May you please check my account (nksy.us) to see what's wrong?
                                                                                                              • Contacts per department

                                                                                                                Hello, Is it possible to limit Contacts to a Department? Thanks
                                                                                                              • Collections Management: #3 Tackling Payment Failures

                                                                                                                Sam refreshed the dashboard. "Payment failed". Same customer. Same subscription. This is happening for the third time. He sends a usual email: "Your renewal payment failed again. Could you please check and retry?" A couple of days passed, and there was
                                                                                                              • How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

                                                                                                                It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly
                                                                                                              • Custom Field in Zoho Projects pulling into Analytics

                                                                                                                We have a client that we have built our their new business process using Zoho Projects, and we have build a lot of custom fields with their their Projects where they are capturing specific data points that we want to be able to track and pull data, as
                                                                                                              • Next Page