Validation Rules in Zoho Vertical Studio allow you to enforce data accuracy and consistency by defining conditions that must be satisfied before a record can be saved. They help prevent invalid, incomplete, or inconsistent data from entering the system by checking field values against specified criteria and displaying clear error messages when those criteria are not met.

Validation Rules are useful for maintaining data integrity across critical business processes, ensuring that mandatory information is provided, business policies are followed, and records comply with your application’s operational standards. By embedding these checks directly into your application logic, you create a more reliable and predictable system for end users.

For more details on how validation rules work in Zoho CRM, please refer to the detailed help documentation here.

Configuring Validation Rules in the Developer Console 

Validation Rules can be created and managed directly in the Developer Console and are fully packagable. To access Validation Rule, go to Developer Console >  Build > Modules > Select the module >  Validation Rules.

Any Validation Rule created here is included when you publish your application package and becomes available in subscriber organizations after they upgrade.

Packaged Validation Rules  

A Packaged Validation Rule is a validation rule created in the Developer Console and included when you publish your application. Once published, the validation rule becomes available to all new sign-ups of your application. Existing subscriber organizations receive the validation rule when they upgrade to the version of the application that contains it.

Subscriber organizations can use packaged validation rules but cannot modify the rule definitions created by the developer. Any updates made in the Developer Console are delivered to subscriber orgs through application upgrades.

To learn more about packaging behavior, please refer to our guide on Components Packaging in the Vertical Studio Platform.

Changes and Impacts

When a Validation Rule is created, modified, published, and deployed as part of an application upgrade, the following impacts apply:

1. Add a new Validation Rule: The new validation rule becomes available in all subscriber organizations that receive the upgrade. The rule is enforced immediately on applicable records.
2. Modify a Validation Rule: Any updates made to the validation condition, error message, execution order, or status are reflected in all subscriber organizations after they upgrade to the corresponding version.
3. Delete a Validation Rule: When a validation rule is deleted in the Developer Console and the application is upgraded, the rule will be removed from subscriber organizations upon upgrading. The corresponding validation checks are will no longer be enforced. Existing records remain unchanged, but any future edits and new records will no longer be validated by the deleted rule.

Caution:

Validation Rules directly control data integrity and user behavior. Deactivating or deleting a validation rule is a destructive action, as it removes its enforcement from subscriber organizations after the next upgrade. Carefully evaluate the impact of every change before publishing upgrades that modify, deactivate, or delete packaged validation rules, as these changes immediately affect live subscriber data and operational processes.