Advanced rules for data input and validation

[Davide_Cencini]

Hi, I discovered Airtable just a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with this application. It’s so cool! I am still new to it, but I’m learning so much.
However, as a former Access user, I’m surprised it doesn’t feature almost any advanced rules for data input and validation in fields. I’m even more surprised that so very few people are asking for them.
Data validation is important. For a solid database, it’s a core feature. Say I want to record a customer’s IBAN for money transfers. An IBAN always has exactly 27 characters; it’s not all right if someone by mistake inputs 25 or 28 characters or puts spaces into it. I need to set the IBAN field’s lenght to 27 characters and request that you fill out those 27 characters, not one less, not one more!
Same goes for zip/postal codes, or tax codes. Validation rules are needed for such fields. A lot of stuff can get messed up if this kind of data is not recorded correctly, such as payments, shipments, fees. It’s a serious matter!
Phone numbers and email fields should be validated, too, because they should not accept invalid characters.
I should be able to set Date fields to accept only certain ranges of data. Such as: “you cannot input a delivery date that is before today”.
I can’t even find such a thing as setting a field to “required”.
Even though the application is fantastic, these shortcomings are a major kickback for Airtable. Please consider introducing these features, I’m sure many users will be grateful!
As I said, I am new to the application so pardon me if I’ve said something wrong or I missed out on issues that have already been addressed.
Love ️

[DamonH]

+1 Data validation for drop down lists.

[Mat_Gauvin]

+1 Data validation for drop down lists and multi select lists at the very least

[ScottWorld]

Airtable could really learn a lot from their competition. Check out the screenshot below to see just a few of the validation options in Apple’s FileMaker. And these are just a few of the validation options that are available to us in FileMaker… you can actually validate every single keystroke, every single mouse click, and so much more.

[Brad_Laney]

AIRTABLE … are you listening? If you need some programmers to do this I can lend you some of my team. They could program this, test and implement in about 30 days. This request started April 2018 and is one of your largest and most active discussions in Product Suggestions – let’s get going on this!

[Eric_Gaudiello]

@Brad_Laney That would be awesome. I would also be willing to lend a hand with testing and feedback, though I’m short on dev time at the moment :). The interface @ScottWorld gave as an example is a wonderful start.

Validation is one of the key features air table is missing that makes me hesitant to use it with a team at-large.

[ScottWorld]

Eric_Gaudiello:

Validation is one of the key features air table is missing that makes me hesitant to use it with a team at-large.

I totally agree this this can cause teams to have hesitancy!

If you want to use Apple’s FileMaker instead of Airtable, FileMaker is quite possibly the most advanced consumer-friendly database-building & app-building product on the market. There’s pretty much nothing it CAN’T do.

In addition to being an expert Airtable consultant, I am also a Certified FileMaker Developer of 25+ years. So if you need to hire a developer to help you out, please feel free to reach out to me through my website at scottworld.com.

[Simon_H]

I think the technical limitation AirTable has with validation stems from the fact that unlike typical relational databases that require Insert statements and transactions, with AirTable records are added and updated in real time. There is no submit or save event to trigger the validation on.
By the time you are entering data into the cells the record has already been created.
Form views at least have blur events on every field that can trigger validation, but in grid view, you can paste drag and otherwise enter data via automations that would break down with restrictive validations.

However I believe there would still be tremendous value in being able to set rules at the column level and then being able to track the “validity” of a cell.
For example, highlighting cells that are invalid, creating view that show or hide records containing invalid cells, as well as adding a function like “is_valid” to formulas and scripts and at the very least, restrict entering bad data in any records expanded view

This would allow AirTable to remain flexible with it’s data input methods but allow users to track and thus maintain data integrity.

[Edward_Robertso]

Well, a super ugly yet affective hack here is to add a separate formula field with a bunch of IF statements to cover all the options you expect in a certain field. If those conditions are not met, then you can trigger any number of things to happen as a result. (yes…this is ugly, yet it might get people out of a jam)

[Edward_Robertso]

You can also setup a “When record enters a view” trigger to set an automation for outliers to the expected values in a field: When record enters a view trigger – Airtable Support.

[Allen_Moldovan]

Mehh, i would rather have more marketing work flow guides. an airhorn field type would also be nice.