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!





        • Recent Topics

        • Learner transcript Challenges.

          Currently i am working on a Learner Transcript app for my employer using Zoho Creator. The app is expected to accept assessment inputs from tutors, go through an approval process and upon call up, displays all assessments associated with a learner in

        • Client and Vendor Portal

          Some clients like keeping tabs on the developments and hence would like to be notified of the progress. Continuous updates can be tedious and time-consuming. Zoho Sprints has now introduced a Client and Vendor Portal where you can add client users and

        • What's new in Zoho Sheet: Simplify data entry and collaboration

          Hello, Zoho Sheet community! Last year, our team was focused on research and development so we could deliver updates that enhance your spreadsheet experience. This year, we’re excited to deliver those enhancements—but we'll be rolling them out incrementally

        • #7 Tip of the week: Delegating approvals in Zoho People

          With Zoho People, absences need not keep employees waiting with their approval requests. When you are not available at work, you can delegate approvals that come your way to your fellow workmate and let them take care of your approvals temporarily. Learn more!

        • Admin Tip: Manage sub-domain emails using sub-domain stripping

          As an admin, you may need separate domains for different departments such as sales, support, and marketing. While this approach offers flexibility, creating and managing multiple domains can quickly become overwhelming, especially since each domain requires

        • Bring Zoho Shifts Capabilities into Zoho People Shift Module

          Hello Zoho People Product Team, After a deep review of the Zoho People Shift module and a direct comparison with Zoho Shifts, we would like to raise a feature request and serious concern regarding the current state of shift management in Zoho People.

        • Quick Copy Column Name

          Please add the ability to quickly copy the name of a column in a Table or Query View. When you right-click the column there should be an option to copy the name, or if you left-click the column and use the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut it should copy the

        • Ability to Edit YouTube Video Title, Description & Thumbnail After Publishing

          Hi Zoho Social Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Social that enables users to edit YouTube video details after the video has already been published. Your team confirmed that while Zoho Social currently allows editing the

        • How do I remove a data source from Zoho Analytics?

          I am unable to find a delte option on a datasource that i put in the system as an error. On teh web it refers to a setup icon but I do not see that on my interface?

        • Add Employee Availability Functionality to Zoho People Shift Module

          Hello Zoho People Product Team, Greetings and hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance the Zoho People Shift module by adding employee availability management, similar to the functionality available in Zoho Shifts.

        • Bigin, more powerful than ever on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and watchOS 26.

          Hot on the heels of Apple’s latest OS updates, we’ve rolled out several enhancements and features designed to help you get the most from your Apple devices. Enjoy a refined user experience with smoother navigation and a more content-focused Liquid Glass

        • Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

          Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!

        • Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

          I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm

        • Is Desk Down?

          Across department - always an error. [Status Mode] - error [Table View and the rest] - working

        • We Asked, Zoho Delivered: The New Early Access Program is Here

          For years, the Zoho Creator community has requested a more transparent and participatory approach to beta testing and feature previews. Today, I'm thrilled to highlight that Zoho has delivered exactly what we asked for with the launch of the Early Access

        • Can the Product Image on the Quote Template be enlarged

          Hello, I am editing the Quote Template and added ${Products.Product Image} to the line item and the image comes up but it is very tiny. Is there anyway that you can resize this to be larger? Any help would be great! Thanks

        • How do I change the wording of the tile of SignForm?

          When my user opens a SignForm url, the title that is presented is always "SignForm signer Information" and a form is displayed asking for the username and email address. This can be confusing to the end user. How can I change the title at least (Or at

        • How to link tickets to a Vendor/Vendor Contact (not Customer) for Accounting Department?

          Hi all, We’re configuring our Accounting department to handle tickets from both customers and vendors (our independent contractors). Right now, ticket association seems to be built around linking a ticket to a Customer / Customer Contact, but for vendor-originated

        • Problem with CRM Connection not Refreshing Token

          I've setup a connection with Zoom in the CRM. I'm using this connection to automate some registrations, so my team doesn't have to manually create them in both the CRM and Zoom. Connection works great in my function until the token expires. It does not refresh and I have to manually revoke the connection and connect it again. I've chatted with Zoho about this and after emailing me that it couldn't be done I asked for specifics on why and they responded. "The connection is CRM is not a feature to

        • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

          Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

        • Clone Recurring Expenses

          Our bookkeeping practices make extensive use of the "clone" feature for bills, expenses, invoices, etc. This cuts down significantly on both the amount of typing that needs to be done manually and, more importantly, the mental overhead of choosing the

        • Unify Overlapping Functionalities Across Zoho Products

          Hi Zoho One Team, We would like to raise a concern about the current overlap of core functionalities across various Zoho applications. While Zoho offers a rich suite of tools, many applications include similar or identical features—such as shift management,

        • Automation #7 - Auto-update Email Content to a Ticket

          This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Email is one of the most commonly

        • Ticket to article and Ticket to template

          Hello! I would like to know if it is possible (and how) to do the following actions: 1. To generate an article from a ticket (reply + original message) 2. Easy convert an answer to an email template

        • Is there API Doc for Zoho Survey?

          Hi everyone, Is there API doc for Zoho Survey? Currently evaluating a solution - use case to automate survey administration especially for internal use. But after a brief search, I couldn't find API doc for this. So I thought I should ask here. Than

        • Windows Desktop App - request to add minimization/startup options

          Support Team, Can you submit the following request to your development team? Here is what would be optimal in my opinion from UX perspective: 1) In the "Application Menu", add a menu item to Exit the app, as well as an alt-key shortcut for these menus

        • Creating Parent Child relationship in Accounts

          We have customers with multiple locations, I setup the HQ as an account, then I setup the different sites marking the HQ as the parent to that location. If I then do a Deal for one of the locations, is there a way to show by looking at the parent account

        • Kaizen #225 - Making Query-based Custom Related Lists Actionable with Lookups and Links

          Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series! This week, we will discuss an exciting enhancement in Queries in Zoho CRM. In Kaizen #190, we discussed how Queries bridge gaps where native related lists fall short and power custom related

        • WebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing

          I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful

        • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

          Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

        • Non-responsive views in Mobile Browser (iPad)

          Has anyone noticed that the creator applications when viewed in a mobile browser (iPad) lost its responsiveness? It now appears very small font size and need to zoom into to read contents. Obviously this make use by field staff quite difficult. This is not at all a good move, as lots of my users are depending on accessing the app in mobile devices (iPads), and very challenging and frustrating. 

        • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - AI-Enhanced Logistics Management in Zoho Creator

          Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. About Learning Table Series Learning Table Series is a free, 45-60

        • Customizable UI components in pages | Theme builder

          Anyone know when these roadmap items are scheduled for release? They were originally scheduled for Q4 2025. https://www.zoho.com/creator/product-roadmap.html

        • Feature Request - Set Default Values for Meetings

          Hi Zoho CRM Team, I would be very useful if we could set default values for meeting parameters. For example, if you always wanted Reminder 1 Day before. Currently you need to remember to choose it for every meeting. Also being able to use merge tags to

        • Analytics <-> Invoice Connection DELETED by Zoho

          Hi All, I am reaching out today because of a big issue we have at the moment with Zoho Analytics and Zoho Invoice. Our organization relies on Zoho Analytics for most of our reporting (operationnal teams). A few days ago we observed a sync issue with the

        • How to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?

          I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possible

        • Zoho Creator to Zoho CRM Images

          Right now, I am trying to setup a Notes form within Zoho Creator. This Notes will note the Note section under Accounts > Selected Account. Right now, I use Zoho Flow to push the notes and it works just fine, with text only. Images do not get sent (there

        • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

          Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

        • Error Logs / Failure logs for Client Scripts Functions

          Hi Team, While we are implementing client scripts for the automation, it is working fine in few accounts but not working for others. So, it would be great if we can have error Logs for client scripts also just like custom functions. Is there any way that

        • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

          Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They

        • Next Page