generating-validation-rule

SKILL.md

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

Create validation rules to enforce data quality

Prevent invalid records from being saved

Generate validation rule metadata with formulas

Add business logic validation to objects

Troubleshoot deployment errors related to validation rules

Specification

ValidationRule Metadata Specification

📋 Overview

Validation Rules are declarative metadata components used to enforce data quality and business logic in Salesforce. They evaluate a formula expression when a record is saved and prevent the save operation if the expression returns TRUE.
🎯 Purpose

-Enforce business rules at the data layer
-Prevent invalid or incomplete records from being saved
-Display meaningful error messages to guide users

⚙️ Required Properties

Core Validation Rule Properties

fullName

The unique API name of the validation rule

Must start with a letter

Can contain letters, numbers, and underscores

Cannot end with an underscore

Cannot contain consecutive underscores

Cannot exceed 40 character.

active
-Indicates whether the validation rule is enabled
true → Rule is enforced
false → Rule is inactive

errorConditionFormula

The logical formula that evaluates record data

Must return TRUE or FALSE

If TRUE, the validation rule triggers an error

errorMessage

The message displayed to the user when validation fails

Maximum length: 255 characters

Specific Function Guidelines

TEXT - TEXT() function MUST NOT be used with Text fields, to fix this you can just remove the TEXT() function.

CASE - In salesforce CASE() function, last parameter is the default value. Admins often miss to provide this and number of parameters to CASE() function are always even.

VALUE - VALUE() function should only be used with Text fields. If a number is being used as a parameter to the VALUE() function, remove the VALUE() function.

DAY - DAY() function should only be used with Date fields. If a Datetime field is being used as a parameter to the DAY() function, convert it into a Date first.

MONTH - MONTH() function should only be used with Date fields. If a Datetime field is being used as a parameter to the MONTH() function, convert it into a Date first.

DATEVALUE - DATEVALUE() function should only be used with DateTime fields. If a Date is being used as a parameter to the DATEVALUE() function, remove the DATEVALUE() function.

ISPICKVAL - If checking equality of a picklist type field, the function ISPICKVAL() MUST be used.

ISCHANGE - Use ISCHANGE() function to check the value of a record has changed.

Critical Rules

Formula XML Handling(MOST COMMON ERROR)

ANY errorConditionFormula containing XML tags MUST be inside a CDATA section in the metadata XML.

Interpretation of "Update" Instructions. When receiving instructions to modify a formula, distinguish between a replacement and an addition:

"Update the formula to [Action]": Completely replace the existing formula logic with the new requirement.

"Update the formula to also [Action]": Keep the existing logic and append the new requirement (usually by wrapping the logic in an AND() or OR() function).

File Format Requirement

Validation rule files MUST always use the .validationRule-meta.xml extension.